RECOMMENDING CANNABIS IN SOUTH DAKOTA

A physician, physician assistant, or advanced practice registered nurse who is licensed with authority to prescribe drugs to humans, may enroll in the South Dakota Medical Cannabis program to become a certified provider.  

To  certify patients, there must be a ‘bona fide practitioner-patient relationship, a treatment or consulting relationship between a practitioner and patient, during which:

  1. The practitioner completes, at the initial visit, an assessment of the patient's medical history and current medical condition, including an appropriate in-person physical examination;
  2. The patient is under the practitioner's care for the debilitating medical condition that qualifies the patient for the medical use of cannabis or has been referred by the practitioner caring for the patient's debilitating medical condition that qualifies the patient for the medical use of cannabis to another practitioner;
  3. The patient has a reasonable expectation that the practitioner providing the written certification will continue to provide follow-up care to the patient to monitor the medical use of cannabis; and
  4. The relationship is not for the sole purpose of providing a written certification for the medical use of cannabis unless the patient has been referred by a practitioner providing care for the debilitating medical condition that qualifies the patient for the medical use of cannabis.

A practitioner from being sanctioned for:

  1. Issuing a written certification to a patient with whom the practitioner does not have a bona fide practitioner-patient relationship; or
  2. Failing to properly evaluate a patient's medical condition.

Qualifying Medical Conditions:

Patients with a chronic or debilitating disease or medical condition or its treatment that produces one or more of the following:

  • cachexia or wasting syndrome
  • severe, debilitating pain
  • severe nausea;
  • seizures
  • severe and persistent muscle spasms, including those characteristic of multiple sclerosis

Medical professionals have a legal right to recommend cannabis as a treatment in any state, as protected by the First Amendment. Established by a 2004 United States Supreme Court decision to uphold earlier federal court rulings that found doctors and their patients have a fundamental Constitutional right to freely discuss treatment options.

More resources for medical professionals can be found here.