South Dakota plans shift to digital medical marijuana cards

South Dakota medical marijuana cards will soon be primarily digital.

The cannabis card news came Tuesday at the Capitol during a meeting of the House of Representatives’ Health and Human Services Committee.

Rep. Josephine Garcia, R-Watertown, had planned to testify on her bill to create digital cards, but instead sat down before the committee and asked its members to table it.

Garcia is the chairwoman of the state’s Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee, which had discussed legislation to require the Department of Health to provide digital cards.

On Tuesday, Garcia announced that the Department of Health had agreed to pursue digital cards without legislation.

The department is looking for vendors now and will select one during the summer, Garcia said, reading from a letter to the committee from Health Secretary Melissa Magstadt. The vendor will build the digital card system in the fall. Once the system is ready, the department will begin issuing digital cards to anyone who doesn’t ask for a plastic card. No implementation date was offered.

The shift to digital cards will “enhance convenience for patients and caregivers,” the letter said.

Magstadt was in the room for the hearing and thanked Garcia for reading the letter. The committee voted 13-0 to table Garcia’s bill.

Patients with a medical recommendation for marijuana pay initial and annual fees for plastic, driver’s license-sized cards, which let them legally purchase marijuana products at dispensaries around the state. Recreational marijuana use remains illegal in South Dakota.

Digital cards would be accessible on patients’ smartphones.

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