Simplified: Sioux Falls has 79 applications from 21 different companies submitted for five available cannabis dispensary licenses. Of those companies, more than half filed business paperwork with the state within the last month.

Why it matters

  • Cannabis became a new industry to the state when voters legalized medical marijuana in the 2020 election. A voter-approved measure to legalize recreational marijuana remains tied up in court.
  • City Councilors decided in September to limit the number of marijuana dispensaries in the city to five. Councilors also approved a $25,000 application fee and a $25,000 annual license renewal fee.
  • Applications for the dispensary lottery opened at the end of October, and of the 21 unique limited-liability companies (LLCs), 13 were LLCs initially filed with the state in the last month.
  • It's worth noting that LLCs were allowed to submit multiple applications as long as each application was for a different location (i.e. a different legal description of property), according to Licensing Specialist Jamie Palmer.

Who are the people applying?

It's not abundantly clear in all cases.

LLCs are required to have a registered agent publicly listed with the secretary of state, but those agents are not always the people running the companies.

So, while I can't tell you exactly who'd be running the dispensaries of the lottery-winning companies, I can tell you the LLCs behind them.

Here's a list of all 21 businesses. Those which filed with the state as LLCs in the last month are bolded:

  1. The Flower Shop LLC, filed with the state Oct. 24
  2. Dakota Cannabliss
  3. East River Farms LLC, which didn't quite hit the "filed in the last month" target, but did file fairly recently as a business on Sept. 8
  4. ARK LLC, filed Nov. 6
  5. DNG LLC
  6. Royzzz of Sioux Falls LLC, filed Oct. 27
  7. Horska, LLC, filed Oct. 28
  8. Green Buffalo Dispensary LLC, filed Nov. 5
  9. SDC Group LLC, filed Nov. 12
  10. Dakota Herb LLC, also fairly recent – filed Aug. 12
  11. GLP SD LLC, filed Nov. 9
  12. Deja Vu LLC, filed Nov. 3
  13. Nirvana SD LLC, filed Nov. 3
  14. Pugs Ventures, filed Nov. 4
  15. Third Peak Organics LLC, filed Nov. 15
  16. MISD Operating 2 LLC, filed Nov. 10
  17. PJJ Holdings LLC – this one was not showing up on the secretary of state's website despite multiple searches, so it was either a typo in the form from the city or technology got the better of me.
  18. AAA LLC
  19. Three V's LLC, registered Oct. 29
  20. Genesis Farms LLC – this company had 26 unique applications
  21. FSST Pharms LLC – this is the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe

What happens next?

Five of the 79 applications will be drawn in a random lottery 10 a.m. Wednesday in the commission room on the first floor of City Hall.

The drawing is open to the public.