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Three US Marshal task force officers killed in NC shootout; MA municipalities aim to lower the voting age for local elections; breaking barriers for health equity with nutritional strategies; "Product of USA" label for meat items could carry more weight under the new rule.

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Big Pharma uses red meat rhetoric in a fight over drug costs. A school shooting mother opposes guns for teachers. Campus protests against the Gaza war continue, and activists decry the killing of reporters there.

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More rural working-age people are dying young compared to their urban counterparts, the internet was a lifesaver for rural students during the pandemic but the connection has been broken for many, and conservationists believe a new rule governing public lands will protect them for future generations.

Deadline Looms for SD Cannabis Measures to Make 2020 Ballot

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Friday, October 4, 2019   

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – A group that advocates legalizing medical marijuana in South Dakota has until October 31 to collect enough signatures for the measure to appear on the 2020 ballot.

Melissa Mentele is leading the effort as director of the group New Approach South Dakota, and says the state has some of the strictest cannabis laws in the nation. Mentele believes state residents should have the ability to manage their own health without relying on pharmaceuticals.

"People are ready,” says Mentele. “Ready to have an alternative to opioids. We are seeing a ton of opioid deaths just in this last year in our state, and people are really starting to understand that you can't live on pain meds for the rest of your life."

Another advocacy group is collecting signatures for an initiative that would go beyond legalization of 'medical' marijuana, and amend the state's constitution to legalize both marijuana and hemp.

The governor has said she believes legalization of marijuana in other states will end badly, and vetoed a bill earlier this year that would have allowed farmers to grow hemp for industrial purposes.

This is the third time Mentele has tried to get medical marijuana on the ballot. She says her group only needs 17,000 signatures, but is trying to collect 30,000 after having thousands of signatures invalidated in previous attempts.

"I started working in cannabis six years ago after an injury that left me disabled,” says Mentele. “And my first legislative session was basically, 'Well you're just a pothead – you just want to smoke marijuana.' And I'm like, 'No, actually I need a lotion that works really well at helping my nerve pain.'"

A recent study by the FBI shows about 14% of South Dakota's more than 63,000 arrests in 2017 were for drug offenses. That made the state the nation's front-runner for the number of drug arrests in 2017 based on population.


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