License renewal fees will jump nearly 70% to $9,000 for all cannabis operators in the state.South Dakota medical marijuana companies will shortly have to fork over a good bit more to the state to renew their business permits.
Under the terms of Senate Bill 43, which Gov. Kristi Noem signed into law in March, permit fees will increase to $9,000 from the current level of $5,310, KELOLAND reported.
Though that may seem a steep hike, it’s just a third of what was originally proposed by lawmakers, given that the original medical cannabis legalization ballot measure called for the fees to be adjusted annually with inflation. The initial business permit fees cost $5,000 in the first year of the medical marijuana program in 2021, and then increased to $5,310.
The initial draft of a fee increase this year put the annual permit price at $28,000, KELOLAND reported. That was whittled down through negotiations at the state capitol.
The new law requires the Department of Health to implement the increase no later than Sept. 30, which will impact the 141 registered medical cannabis companies doing business in the state, including 78 dispensaries, 21 manufacturers, 40 cultivators, and three testing labs.
The fee increase could be offset in the near future by the addition of recreational marijuana sales, if a ballot measure to legalize adult-use cannabis succeeds at the ballot box in November. Voters first approved recreational marijuana in 2020, before they shot down a second such ballot question in 2022 after the results of the first were overturned by a lawsuit. A third measure qualified for this fall’s ballot earlier this month.