This story has been updated.
PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — Two proposed rules that would have placed more restrictions on medical cannabis products in South Dakota have been sent back.
The Legislature’s Rules Review Committee took the action on Tuesday.
The panel voted 4-1 against more-complicated testing of pre-rolled cannabis cigarettes and 5-0 against banning non-cannabis additives, such as non-cannabis terpenes, from manufactured cannabis products.
Several medical-cannabis advocates testified against those two changes.
The rest of the changes sought by the South Dakota Department of Health were allowed to proceed.
Tamara Lee explained the department’s point of view regarding pre-rolls. “We just want to have everything tested before it gets to the consumer,” she said.
Jeremiah Murphy, representing the Cannabis Industry Association of South Dakota, opposed the pre-roll change. He said it would require pre-rolls to go through a second round of testing. He suggested that the department could instead develop a list of pre-approved rolling papers.
Tyler Koehne, who’s involved in a Rapid City cannabis-product manufacturing business, said non-cannabis terpenes are in a wide variety of flavored edible products already on the market. He said the proposed ban could cause products to no longer be available in South Dakota and lead patients to choose less-safe methods of ingestion such as smoking or inhalation.
Countered Lee, “We want to keep it pure and we want to keep it safe for the patient.”