The South Dakota Department of Health says it’s evaluating the medical marijuana measures passed by state voters.

South Dakota passed both recreational and medical marijuana on election night.

Proponents of medical marijuana say medical cannabis is needed because recreational marijuana is taxed.

Melissa Mentele is the executive director of New Approach South Dakota, which backed Initiated Measure 26—the strictly medical cannabis ballot question.

Mentele says cannabis in the patient market can be a lot cheaper than buying for recreational use.

“We have so many patients who are on fixed incomes, or parents of disabled children,” Mentele says. “Cannabis as medicine is not covered by insurance. It is not a cheap medicine to have. With the medical program, we pass the taxes backward instead of passing them forward to the patient. So, medical products—and products bought through the medical market have no tax on them.”

Voters overwhelmingly approved the medical marijuana ballot question with 70 percent of votes.

Prospective South Dakota patients must obtain a registration card from the state Department of Health.

Recreational marijuana will get taxed at 15 percent.

Recreational and medical marijuana become legal on July 1, 2021.