(SDBA – Pierre, SD) The South Dakota House Judiciary Committee voted 10-3 today (Wednesday) to send a bill reducing penalties for drug ingestion to the floor without recommendation, following contested testimony from both sides of the issue.
Senate Bill 83 would change ingestion of controlled substances from a felony to a Class 1 misdemeanor for first and second offenses, with a third offense within ten years becoming a Class 6 felony.
Rep. Brian Mulder, R-Sioux Falls, the House prime sponsor, emphasized rehabilitation over incarceration.
“We are the only state right now in the nation that has ingestion as a Class 6 felony,” Mulder said. “We cannot expect to continue to do the same thing and get different results.”
Sen. Tamara Grove, R-Lower Brule, the bill’s prime Senate sponsor, cited statistics showing South Dakota ranks ninth highest in incarceration despite being the 41st most populated state.
“Our current inmates, as of December 31, 2024 — 150 people cost $24 million, 123 people cost $8 million, and 112 are repeat offenders. We’ve already spent at least $6.5 million on them,” Grove said.
Opponents argued the change would weaken tools needed to address addiction effectively.
“If you take away the threat of imprisonment, they’re going to have no incentive to show up for court,” Stanley County State’s Attorney Tom Maher testified. “We’re going to have bench warrants. We’re going to have people that don’t show up.”
Attorney General Marty Jackley opposed the bill but said most first-time offenders don’t serve time.
“Rarely, if ever, are you going to the state penitentiary on your first ingestion case,” Jackley said.
The committee’s initial vote on a do-pass motion failed 5-8. A motion to kill the bill by sending it to the 41st day deadlocked 7-7, also failing. Rep. Will Mortenson, R-Fort Pierre, then moved to send the bill to the full House without recommendation, which passed 10-3.
Rep. John Hughes, R-Sioux Falls, who initially planned to oppose the bill, ultimately supported it.
“When are we going to stop the stupidity of locking people away with addictions?” Hughes asked. “Labeling them as a felon, they can’t get a job, they can’t rent an apartment.”
Rep. Tim Reisch, R-Howard, a former South Dakota State Penitentiary warden, supported the bill.
“We’ve got to have those people to do that treatment in order to make this work,” Reisch said. “The only way that I broke out of that cycle is I had to take myself away from those people that I hung around all the time that were using this drug.”
The bill previously passed the Senate by a narrow 18-17 vote. The full House will now consider the measure.
