SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO AM0 - The House Health and Human Services Committee today sent a bill to the consent calendar declaring an emergency over the meth epidemic in South Dakota.
What stood out at the hearing was that the emergency section received no testimony or statements from legislators.
Joan Adam with the State Health Department did explain why the state must keep up with federal drug scheduling.
Adam says every year underground chemists make a slight alteration in a drug's makeup and that twist skirts the law essentially making the new compound legal. For South Dakota law to keep up, the new compounds must be added to state law and mirror the FDA's scheduling laws.
Sending the measure to the consent calendar means no debate in the House either.
“Most of the meth now is being produced on an industrial scale and trafficked into South Dakota from outside our state,” explained Governor Dennis Daugaard in front of the Sioux Falls Rotary club yesterday.