South Dakota Cannabis Advertising Laws

South Dakota regulates advertising through a twelve-item prohibited content list rather than a channel prohibition. Two items are unusual: no parody or other use that has similarity to the original, and no assertion that cannabis is safe because it is regulated by the department, tested by a testing facility, or otherwise endorsed by any government agency. Potency may be stated only as cannabinoid content verified by a testing facility.

Working with a partner that already knows these rules shortens the launch cycle. See how we run campaigns as a cannabis marketing agency in South Dakota.

Rule 44:90:10:17 regulates content rather than prohibiting advertising, and sets no audience threshold, no mandatory warning and no channel closure. The constraints are the twelve prohibited content items, alongside any placement rules elsewhere in Article 44:90 and local ordinances.

South Dakota legalised medical cannabis through Initiated Measure 26 in November 2020, with the programme operating from 2021 and dispensary sales from 2022. Adult-use measures have been rejected: Amendment A passed in 2020 but was struck down by the South Dakota Supreme Court, and subsequent measures failed in 2022 and 2024. The regulator is the Department of Health.

Advertising sits at S.D. Admin. R. 44:90:10:17, Prohibited content, Advertisements, within the medical cannabis rules at Article 44:90.

The rule is drafted as a list of prohibited content rather than as a list of permitted activities, so it regulates what an advertisement may contain rather than whether advertising may occur.

There is one advertising rule set. South Dakota has no adult-use programme and no second framework.

This page is part of our state-by-state cannabis advertising laws library, covering all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

The twelve prohibited items

No advertisement for a medical cannabis establishment may:

• Make deceptive, false or misleading statements
• Make claims related to potency beyond listing the cannabinoid content of the cannabis or cannabis product advertised, as verified by a testing facility
• Depict consumption of cannabis or cannabis products
• Depict pregnancy, breastfeeding, or operating a motorized vehicle, boat or machinery
• Depict or refer to candy or a specific type of candy
• Use a trademark associated with a non-cannabis product
• Use a parody or other use that has similarity to the original
• Encourage the transportation of cannabis across state lines or otherwise encourage illegal activity
• Assert that cannabis is safe because it is regulated by the department, tested by a testing facility, or otherwise endorsed by any government agency
• Make claims that cannabis has curative or therapeutic effects
• Claim any health or physical benefits
• Encourage excessive or rapid consumption

Three items worth close reading

Potency. Item two permits listing cannabinoid content, and conditions that on verification by a testing facility. It prohibits any claim related to potency beyond that listing.

Parody and trademark. Item seven prohibits a parody or other use that has similarity to the original, and sits alongside item six, which prohibits using a trademark associated with a non-cannabis product. The second limb of item seven reaches beyond parody to any similar use.

Safety through regulation or testing. Item nine prohibits asserting that cannabis is safe because it is regulated by the department, tested by a testing facility, or otherwise endorsed by any government agency. Item two separately permits listing test-verified cannabinoid content, so the listing is permitted and the safety inference is not.

Business name and licence number

Not required by this rule.

The required warning statements

Rule 44:90:10:17 imposes none. It is drafted purely as a prohibited content list. Check Article 44:90 more broadly for any separate disclosure provision before finalising creative.

How the warnings have to appear

Not applicable, as none are required by this rule.

When the warnings are not required

Not applicable. There is no disclosure requirement in this rule to disapply.

Hotline number

Not required by this rule.

Discounts, coupons, and price promotion

Rule 44:90:10:17 contains no price or discount prohibition. Promotions are subject to item one on deceptive statements and item twelve on encouraging excessive or rapid consumption.

Pre-approval

Not required by this rule.

What the Law Requires

Rule 44:90:10:17 contains no age-based audience test and no express youth-appeal provision. The nearest equivalents are the candy prohibition at item five and the trademark and parody provisions at items six and seven.

South Dakota's programme permits qualifying patients under 18 through a caregiver.

Audience Percentage Thresholds

Rule 44:90:10:17 sets no audience composition percentage. This is an absence in the rule rather than an omission from this page. Other states do set one: Connecticut requires reliable evidence that at least 90 percent of the audience is 21 or older, and Delaware requires at least 85 percent.

What the rule uses instead

The twelve content items, which apply regardless of where the advertising runs.

Event sponsorship

Rule 44:90:10:17 sets no audience threshold specific to event sponsorship.

Where the burden sits

Rule 44:90:10:17 imposes no audience composition evidence or recordkeeping duty.

Age Gating and Consent

Websites

Rule 44:90:10:17 prescribes no website age gate and no age verification requirement.

Direct communication

Rule 44:90:10:17 contains no age affirmation requirement for direct or individualized communication.

Location-based devices

Rule 44:90:10:17 contains no location-based device provision.

Established customers

Rule 44:90:10:17 contains no exception removing communications to existing patients from the content list.

People Depicted in Ads

Under item three, no depiction of consumption of cannabis or cannabis products. Under item four, no depiction of pregnancy, breastfeeding, or operating a motorized vehicle, boat or machinery.

Rule 44:90:10:17 sets no minimum age for persons appearing in advertising and contains no cartoon, mascot or celebrity provision. Item four is drafted as a depiction prohibition covering conditions rather than conduct: pregnancy and breastfeeding are states of being, and the rule prohibits showing them.

Restricted Locations and Buffer Distances

Rule 44:90:10:17 contains no buffer distance. It is a content rule, and it sets no distance requirement around schools, childcare facilities, playgrounds, parks or libraries, and no transit or public property prohibition. This is an absence in the rule rather than an omission from this page.

Check the wider article

Because this page is written from the content rule, confirm whether Article 44:90 contains separate placement, signage or premises provisions.

Tribal Jurisdiction

Several tribal nations in South Dakota operate cannabis programmes under their own law, and the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe has operated ahead of state developments. Tribal regulation governs on tribal land, and a campaign delivering into or near reservation land may be subject to a different framework. Confirm jurisdiction as part of planning.

Can You Run a Digital Out of Home Screen in South Dakota?

So far as the content rule is concerned, yes, carrying creative that clears the twelve items. Confirm any separate placement provision in Article 44:90, check general South Dakota outdoor advertising law and the local sign ordinance, and confirm whether the site falls under state or tribal jurisdiction.

Compliant Use of Geotargeting

• Rule 44:90:10:17 supplies no buffer to model. Confirm the wider article before concluding none exists.
• Check jurisdiction for sites near tribal land, since tribal cannabis regulation may govern instead of state rules.
• Rule 44:90:10:17 states no audience percentage, so no numeric threshold applies.
• Plan for delivery into Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana and North Dakota, each of which applies its own advertising rules.
• Review shared multi-state creative against items six and seven, since the trademark and similarity provisions reach beyond parody.

One advertising rule set. South Dakota is medical only. Voters approved both Amendment A, legalising adult use, and Initiated Measure 26, legalising medical cannabis, in November 2020. The South Dakota Supreme Court struck down Amendment A in 2021 on single-subject grounds, leaving the medical programme standing. Adult-use measures were rejected by voters in 2022 and again in 2024.

The medical programme operates through medical cannabis establishments, including dispensaries, cultivation facilities, product manufacturers and testing facilities, licensed by the Department of Health under Article 44:90. Patients hold cards for qualifying debilitating medical conditions, with caregiver provision for patients under 18.

Rule 44:90:10:17 applies to advertisements for any medical cannabis establishment without distinguishing licence type.

Tribal jurisdiction. Tribal nations have exercised sovereignty over cannabis independently of the state timeline, and operations on tribal land are governed by tribal law. Establish at the outset which framework applies to each location.

Who regulates hemp here

The South Dakota Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources administers the industrial hemp programme, separately from the Department of Health.

Non-intoxicating hemp and CBD

Permitted through general retail. South Dakota authorised industrial hemp in 2020. A hemp product within the federal definition and sold outside the licensed medical channel is not a medical cannabis establishment advertising, so Rule 44:90:10:17 does not reach it. General consumer protection law and federal restrictions on health claims apply instead.

Intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoids

South Dakota has moved to restrict intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoid products outside the licensed channel. The federal definition of hemp narrows in November 2026. Confirm the current position before planning any hemp campaign.

What it means for advertising

A licensed establishment may advertise subject to the twelve-item content list. A hemp seller outside the channel is not bound by that list and is bound by general law. Classify each product before building a media plan.

Every statement on this page traces to one of the following:

• S.D. Admin. R. 44:90:10:17, Prohibited content, Advertisements
• S.D. Admin. R. Article 44:90, medical cannabis programme rules
• SDCL Chapter 34-20G, the South Dakota medical cannabis statutes, enacted by Initiated Measure 26, 2020
• South Dakota Department of Health, Medical Cannabis Program
• South Dakota Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Industrial Hemp Program

This page is written from the advertising content rule. Confirm whether Article 44:90 contains separate disclosure, signage or placement provisions before finalising a South Dakota plan.