There's a jar in the GrassRoots smoke shop on Rapid City's north side collecting tips for a purpose.

"We're going to rent a bus and a driver and go all the way to Pierre," Sharon Neva, the shop's owner, said Thursday.

The farm bill awaiting President Trump's signature aims to legalizes industrial hemp and its offshoot products across the country — but not necessarily in South Dakota. With that in mind, South Dakota merchants who previously sold cannabidiol (CBD) oils and lotions, especially the hemp-extracted kind with cures reported for aches and pains to anxiety and seizures, want to be heard at the legislative session in January.

We've previously told you about the 

A writing error might cost a ballot measure campaign its chances of legalizing recreational marijuana in South Dakota next year.

A marijuana advocacy group has been gathering signatures for four months in support of a ballot measure intended to legalize small amounts of marijuana.

The way the measure is worded, though, it would only legalize marijuana paraphernalia, not the drug itself, according to the state's official interpretation.

The measure's sponsor downplayed the problem as a "typo," one that could be fixed later by the courts or the Legislature. Fixing it before it goes to the ballot would force the group back to the starting line with only four months left to gather new petitions. 

Two years ago, the Flandreau Santee Sioux had high hopes of capitalizing on the collapse of mariuana prohibition by opening a resort where cannabis could be purchased and consumed on their reservation in South Dakota. It all ended in fire and tears as the tribe decided to burn its first cannabis crop rather than risk the wrath of state and federal officials. But yesterday a jury in Flandreau delivered an implicit rebuke to South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley, the marijuana resort's leading opponent, by acquitting a consultant who worked on the project of state drug charges.

South Dakota voters could boost funding to teachers and reduce the state's sales tax burden by supporting a ballot measure aimed at legalizing marijuana for recreational use.

And the measure's sponsors are hoping to emphasize that point as they ask voters to sign petitions that could put the question on the 2018 ballot.

Under the proposal, South Dakota residents 21 and older would be able to legally possess and use one ounce of cannabis or grow five marijuana plants. Non-residents would be limited to a quarter ounce.

House lawmakers have passed a bill that would allow people in South Dakota with a prescription to use a non-intoxicating compound found in marijuana if it’s approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Members voted 54-13 Tuesday for the bill, which will be sent back to the Senate to consider changes made in the House.

The legislation would exclude cannabidiol, if it receives FDA approved, from the definition of marijuana in state law and classify it as a Schedule IV controlled substance that could be prescribed.

Republican Rep. Spencer Gosch, the bill’s main House sponsor, says it would allow cannabidiol to be available to children with seizure disorders.