Republican lawmakers are coming for your cannabis products, again.
Two new bills filed for the upcoming session of the Tennessee General Assembly outright ban the sale of THCA products. One of those would remove all cannabis products from gas stations (or any store that allows those under 21) and more. However, another bill, also filed by Republicans, would outright legalize all “smoking hemp.”
The Tennessee Growers Coalition, an industry advocacy group, raised the alarm on the bills. They say the bill put “a direct target on the industry.”
“There are several bills that have been introduced this week that will directly affect the industry, and not in a good way,” reads a newsletter the group sent Friday.
A bill sponsored by state Sen. Ferrell Haile (R-Gallatin) and state Rep. Ed Butler (R-Rickman), says hemp is legal only as long as it contains the state-limited .3 percent total THC. However, it further specifies that legal hemp here would still need to meet that amount after it is heated (y’know, smoked). Further, the bill outlaws all THCP and THCA products.
Another bill, filed my House Majority Leader Rep. William Lamberth (R-Portland) and Sen. Richard Briggs (R-Knoxville) includes the THCA ban but also completely reorganizes how hemp products are sold in Tennessee. Lamberth has worked on cannabis issues for years now and is largely responsible for the market as it is now.
That market is overseen by the Tennessee Department of Agriculture. However, the new bill would move that oversight to the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission.
The new bill would remove all hemp-derived cannabis products from any store that allows customers under age 21. In those stores, hemp products must be kept behind counters or some other place “that requires assistance from a retail clerk in order to access and purchase” the products. Liquor stores, however, could keep hemp beverages (12 ounces or greater) in coolers for customers to access themselves.
Hemp products could be sold in vending machines, self-checkout systems, or online. Giving samples would be illegal.
Products can only contain a maximum of 250 milligrams of hemp in 10 equal servings. Those products would come with a list of possible allergens, ingredients, and total hemp volume. They’d also come with a “conspicuous warning statement having a minimum font size of 11-point font concerning the risk of impairment from consumption of the product, keeping the product out of the reach of children, and other warning information.”
Advertising for hemp products cannot feature “superheroes, comic book characters, video game characters, television show characters, movie characters, or unicorns or other mythical creatures.” Sorry, Bigfoot.
Hemp products could not be mixed with alcoholic beverages or used as an ingredient in beer. Retailers cannot make claims “pertaining to diagnoses, cures, or mitigation or treatment of any human disease or other condition.”
Another bill, filed by Rep. Chris Hurt (R-Halls) and Sen. Page Walley (R-Savannah) simply (but officially) adds “smoking hemp,” meaning dried cannabis flower, to state law.
Cannabis would be legal for recreational and medical uses in Tennessee next year if the Tennessee General Assembly passes either of two similar bills filed by Democrats this week.
The first is from state Rep. Larry Miller (D-Memphis) and state Sen. Jeff Yarbro (D-Nashville). The second is from state Rep. Aftyn Behn (D-Nashville) and state Sen. Heidi Campbell (D-Nashville).
Both bills allow all Tennessee adults over 21 to possess, use, and transport small amounts of cannabis for personal use. Both would allow cannabis retailers to sell all THC products. They would also allow Tennesseans to grow up to 12 cannabis plants for personal use.
Both bills would tax cannabis sales at 15 percent on the state level and allow local governments to add a 5 percent tax to local sales of cannabis. State budget experts have not yet estimated how much revenue those tax figures might bring.
A bill filed last year would have established a medical marijuana program in the state. Tennesseans would have been only eligible to buy cannabis products if they had a diagnosis from a specific list of medical conditions. That law would have made the total state marijuana tax 10 percent and a local tax up to 3 percent. State budget experts predicted that plan would have yielded tax revenues of more than $48 million annually.
The new cannabis plans differ in how revenues are spent. The broader Tennessee Cannabis Act specifies only that about 15 percent of the money go to state agencies to run the cannabis program. The rest would go into he state’s general fund and spent at the discretion of lawmakers.
The Pot for Potholes fund earmarks 75 percent of all cannabis tax revenues for the state highway fund. Most of the rest of the money would go to Tennessee’s 95 counties. A remaining 5 percent of the funds would go to state agencies to manage the program.
The bills seem the same in almost every other way. Both would:
• Regulate cannabis packaging. Products for sale would have to be sold in child-resistant packaging, carry a new, universal cannabis symbol, and show the total amount of THC in the product.
• Cap personal possession at 60 grams of marijuana, but not more than 15 grams of concentrate
• Allow private cultivation of 12 plants in a private area that is locked and not visible from a public place.
• Allow a parent or guardian to give cannabis products to their children for a medical condition, excluding smokeable products.
• Allow for the commercial grow and sale of the product.
• Allow for the possession of marijuana-related paraphernalia such as water pipes, etc. (with exceptions)
• Allow employers to prohibit the use of cannabis products in the workplace.
• Allow employers to discipline workers for cannabis use.
• Allow employers to consider cannabis use in its hiring process (with certain restrictions).
• Allow personal cannabis users and growers to buy firearms.
• Cannabis possession or use would not be grounds to deny a lease to a potential residential tenant.
• Cannabis use would not be allowed in a motor vehicle, a watercraft on public waters, or in a public place.
Delta-8 flower on display at The Perfect Plant in Nashville. Legal Delta-8 flower is nearly indistinguishable from marijuana.(Photo: John Partipilo)
The sale of popular hemp products will remain legal in Tennessee until at least June, when a legal challenge to state rules that would outlaw many best-selling products goes to trial in Nashville.
The decision represents a six-month reprieve for Tennessee’s burgeoning hemp industry, which has grown to an estimated $280 million to $560 million in annual sales since the products were legalized nearly six years ago, according to industry survey data.
In dispute are rules, formulated by the Tennessee Department of Agriculture, to require new testing of hemp products for so-called delta-9 THC.
Two industry groups, the Tennessee Growers Coalition and the Tennessee Healthy Alternatives Association, argued the rules, set to go into effect Dec. 26, represented agency overreach and would lead to the ban of products that have not been outlawed by the Tennessee General Assembly.
State attorneys argued the agriculture agency is well within its rights to set certain limits on chemicals found in hemp.
Days before the rules were set to take effect, Davidson County Chancellor I’Ashea Myles issued a temporary injunction until Feb. 18. That injunction will now remain in effect until trial, scheduled for June 5.
Hemp is a cannabis plant that has been legally available in Tennessee since the Legislature first approved its production, possession and sale in 2019.
It’s distinguished from marijuana by its concentration of a compound known as delta-9 THC. Cannabis with a concentration of less than 0.3 percent delta-9 THC is defined as legal hemp in Tennessee — and federally. Cannabis with concentrations greater than .3 percent is classified as marijuana and is illegal to grow, sell or possess in Tennessee.
Hemp flowers also contain THCA, a nonintoxicating acid that has not been outlawed in Tennessee. When heated or smoked, however, the THCA in the plant converts into delta-9 THC — an illegal substance in Tennessee when it is present in greater than trace amounts. The new rules would require testing for the delta-9 THC produced when THCA is heated.
Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com.
Real business people have real dollars at stake. Real consumers are facing real consequences (like jail time) running afoul of real laws. Real law enforcement officials do real work to simultaneously follow state and federal rules that often conflict. All of it, for now, runs easily into real gray territory as all of the players navigate a foggy system for a product once only the punch line of bad Willie Nelson jokes.
Foggy? Take this statement, for example: Ice is legal in Tennessee; water is illegal.
This confusing analogy was the simplest way the director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) could describe a serious cannabis law-and-evidence situation back in August. That situation may have the realest consequences.
Some in Tennessee have been wrongly thrown into a tangled thorn bush of law and science, state’s rights versus federal law. Customers here bought a cannabis product made legal by the legislature in 2023. But the product became illegal (chemically speaking) while in the customer’s possession or after it was taken by police. But neither questions of science nor jurisdiction were likely on that cannabis customer’s mind as they sat in a dingy jail cell for following what they thought was Tennessee law.
This real-world scenario has proven one of the hardest turns in Tennessee’s zigzag efforts to create and nurture a safe and legal cannabis marketplace here since 2018. With its hard-line refusal to make cannabis legal for recreational use (as 24 states have done with more likely to come) or to create a legal marketplace for medical use (as 38 states have done), Tennessee finds itself in that legal/scientific thorn bush, splitting hairs with customers’ freedom in the balance.
But Tennessee is certainly not alone as it tangles with hemp-derived THC products or their marketplace. The U.S. Congress created these — and their many issues — when it made hemp legal on the federal level. Some have said the intent was the plant itself, not the many “intoxicating” substances scientists have been able to pull from the .3 percent of THC hidden inside legal hemp plants.
To some lawmakers, these products and their marketplace were “unintentional” and they’re working to close the “loophole.” Other states, like Georgia, have moved to allow the products but ban big product categories, like smokeable flower and THCA. Of course, other states, like Colorado, have made all marijuana products legal but closely regulated and richly taxed. All of these things are happening while the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) is working through the process to remove cannabis from its list of the worst drugs.
That move would likely change things dramatically in Tennessee, from consideration of a medical cannabis program to outright recreational use across the state. Until then, Tennessee lawmakers, consumers, businesses, and law enforcement officials operate in gray areas that could go quickly black and white, depending on who’s asking.
That’s just what happened to George Worden in Middle Tennessee in 2019.
Unapologetic about “unreliability”
Worden, of Gallatin, bought nine grams of a hemp product (a plant material, likely flower) at a local cannabis store. Stopped by police, they tested his purchase. One test was negative, the other inconclusive. The local district attorney general sent Worden’s stuff off to the TBI.
Worden refused to admit wrongdoing or take a plea deal. He took the charge to court. There, the TBI’s report said his hemp contained more than 1 percent of delta-9 THC, and a TBI chemist testified in court that it was “marijuana.” In 2020, Worden was convicted, fined $1,500, and sentenced to 60 days in jail. He paid up and served his time. Still, the blemish on his criminal record remained.
In February of this year, Worden’s attorney got a shocking phone call from the Sumner County District Attorney General’s office. The TBI admitted its testing method may have raised the levels of THC in Worden’s legally purchased hemp. The DA there wanted to reverse Worden’s conviction.
“Considering this new information about the potential for unreliability in the TBI’s THC testing process at the time of the investigation, combined with the doubts raised in the trial proof regarding inconclusive field test results, the evidence in this case does not support the defendant’s conviction beyond a reasonable doubt,” wrote Sumner County Criminal Court Judge Dee David Gay in the order vacating Worden’s conviction.
Later in 2024, the TBI told the Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference about changes in their cannabis testing methods. The changes could overturn some convictions, like Worden’s, and suggested the DAs review some recent cannabis cases. With that, Worden’s conviction may have been the first case overturned with the new information. But it likely won’t be the last.
Yet you won’t hear TBI Director David Rausch admitting problems with his agency’s testing. Nor will you hear him give an apology to anyone — like Worden — who may have spent time behind bars because of TBI tests.
“I have no apologies because I don’t have anything that I need to apologize for,” Rausch told reporters in August as word about THC testing issues began to surface. “We owe no apologies based on what we do because there is no flaw in the effort that we have put forward.”
In fact, Rausch said, “I take offense” to some of the “inflammatory statements made” about his agency and its testing. He said, “Our testing is solid.” However, in that same news conference Mike Lyttle, the assistant director for the TBI’s Forensic Services Division, admitted, “We don’t have instruments in place right now to tell the difference between THCA and THC.” While the TBI is now spending around $600,000 for equipment to do the tests, they send about 1,000 THCA samples off to the Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) for testing in those cases.
Rausch said his team only provides results and data. Anything beyond that — possession charges in Worden’s case — are completely up to DAs. Further, when the Tennessee General Assembly changed hemp laws last year, his office interpreted them in-house. With that, they changed from reporting the amounts of delta-9 and began reporting it all as total THC. Then in the news conference, Rausch sort of threw up his hands at the minutiae.
“Remember, federally, this plant is still illegal, right?” Rausch said. “It doesn’t matter if you call it hemp. You call it whatever you want to call it. Federally, it’s still an illegal product.”
It was clear Rausch wants that simple, hard line on cannabis back in Tennessee. He said the bureau’s position is that all cannabis should be illegal once more here, and said confidently that there’s a “legislative fix” for it. However, he said he does not lobby the legislature but would work with them to “clarify” the situation, noting that “making it illegal again would also be clarifying.”
“Not totally wiped out”
But making it illegal again would also wipe out a hemp-derived cannabis market in Tennessee roughly valued at more than $208 million over the last 12 months. In that time, the 6-percent tax on hemp-derived retail products has yielded $12.5 million in Tennessee tax revenues, according to Kelley Mathis Hess, CEO of the Tennessee Grower’s Coalition (TGC).
New rules from the TDA wouldn’t go that far. But they would ban THCA products, mostly smokeable, raw, hemp flower products. If those rules are implemented, “that segment of the industry is over,” Hess said, noting that the segment can count as much as 70 to 80 percent of an individual retailer’s sales.
“If the state does implement these rules, the people that lose are small businesses, consumers, and the state itself with the generated tax revenues,” she said. “Because it’s federally legal, I can still go online and order it from Florida, Texas, Oregon, New York — wherever it’s legal — and ship it here. A lot of people will probably just go back to the black market, get back on opioids, or something else.”
State lawmakers passed regulations on cannabis last year and put the TDA in charge of managing the program. This meant that agriculture officials — not lawmakers — have made decisions about the future of the cannabis market here, including the one that could possibly ban smokeable THCA products.
For now, TGC has filed its major grievances with the state on the new rules, hoping for some flexibility, some relief. If the state won’t budge and bans smokeable THCA, the group has two months to file a lawsuit.
However, Hess said she hopes it doesn’t come to that. The industry has been flexible, following three different sets of rules in a matter of eight months. But right now, the industry is “in limbo.”
“It’s new and we expect it to get bigger,” Hess said. “We just want the opportunity to mature, and continue, and not be totally wiped out.”
Dmitry Tishchenko | Dreamstime.com
The Georgia experience
Georgia’s cannabis industry was dealt a massive blow from state lawmakers this year and, yes, it could be a sign of what’s to come in Tennessee.
The two states look similar when it comes to cannabis laws and approaches to the industry. Full recreational cannabis use is illegal in Georgia, like it is here. A limited number of patients can use medical cannabis oils there as here. However, state lawmakers in Georgia have allowed for certain cities — like Atlanta, Savannah, and Athens — to decriminalize cannabis possession for personal use. Meanwhile, Tennessee lawmakers overrode a Memphis City Council move to do the same here back in 2016.
Both states began to wrangle with a burgeoning cannabis industry that arose after the signing of the 2018 Farm Bill, which legalized hemp that contained small amounts of psychoactive substances. Industries in both states grew to see the familiar, green cannabis leaf appear in myriad shop windows. Industry groups arose in both, too, to lobby lawmakers and protect the business interests of cannabis growers and retailers.
Tennessee and Georgia also both decided to put cannabis regulation under the control of their departments of agriculture. The move has left some seemingly minute details in the hands of bureaucrats instead of lawmakers. In Tennessee, this is done even though those details can, maybe, make or break the bottom lines of businesses in a state that loves to say how business-friendly it is.
At the beginning of the year, Georgia lawmakers sought to regulate the state’s cannabis industry. The House, Senate, and governor approved the Georgia Hemp Farming Act, a set of regulations for age restrictions, labeling guidelines, testing protocols, licensing, and more everyday matters for so many industries.
But the Georgia law outright banned smokeable products and THCA. The legal reasons for that go back to the idea of THC amounts rising when these products are heated. The real reason, though, is likely because it gets you high and Jesus doesn’t like that very much (nor does the liquor lobby, conspiracy theories say). But that’s not how lawmakers said it.
“Here in Georgia, the safety of our residents is top priority, especially that of our children and young people,” said Governor Brian Kemp in a statement. “Consumable hemp products are dangerous to minors and unregulated hemp products are a danger to all Georgians.”
So the state enacted some commonsense regulations and then completely removed two whole product categories — not just products — from store shelves. Imagine the state government telling a bookstore they couldn’t carry nonfiction or magazines anymore. Why? Well, we just don’t like them and we’re protecting our community. That ban began on October 1st.
State officials said they’d give retailers a 90-day grace period to sell their remaining stock of now-illegal products. In the beginning, officials said they’d focus on educating the public. But a September statement from Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper gave a different vibe.
“The laws regarding under 21 sales and the sale of raw flower products are very straightforward and will be strictly enforced by our Law Enforcement and Hemp Program Divisions as well as other state and local law enforcement starting October 1st,” Harper said in a statement.
The Georgia Medical Cannabis Society said the new law was passed with “legislative sleight of hand” away from public comment and transparency. It’s also just bad for business.
“At its core, [the new law] presents a labyrinth of compliance hurdles that threaten to ensnare the unassuming farmer, processor, retailer, and consumer alike,” reads a LinkedIn post from Yolanda Bennett, operations manager for the society. “From fields of uncertainty for our farmers, ensnared by increased compliance costs and regulatory burdens, to processors caught in the crossfire of heightened testing and licensing expenses, the bill casts a long shadow of operational and financial strain.
“Retailers and dispensaries, once bustling hubs of community and healing, now face a constricted market, hemmed in by zoning restrictions and naming conventions that stifle their identity and outreach. At the end of this domino effect stand the consumers, bearing the brunt of increased product costs and reduced accessibility, their hands tied by the invisible chains of regulatory excess.”
The news had some Georgians scrambling. A number of Reddit posts in recent weeks have some saying they stocked up on their favorite flower or pre-rolls. Others said they planned to buy THCA products from online retailers in other states and have them drop-shipped through a Georgia retailer — a move that is totally legal, they said.
Some were going to just quit cannabis but would miss it. Some suggested other hemp-derived cannabinoids like delta-8 or delta-9. Others suggested getting a medical cannabis card, which could grant them access to buy low THC oil. These products contain less than 5 percent THC. Some were just going to call up their trusty illegal weed mane.
Again, this scenario could be a look into Tennessee’s crystal ball. Legalizing any intoxicating cannabis substance has been a bitter pill for state GOP lawmakers, no matter if cannabis supports agriculture and commerce, Tennessee’s official state motto.
But should it, like Georgia, ban these perception-altering products, it will hardly be alone. New laws in Virginia had some retailers saying they could wipe out 90 percent of the products on their shelves. In August, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson signed an executive order outlawing all intoxicating hemp products. But the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services had to walk that one back, saying it would once again allow the sale of “psychoactive cannabis products” and instead it would focus on “misbranded” cannabis products.
Fed moves
Tennessee’s hard line on cannabis could end if the feds reclassify it, which would decriminalize it. That move is underway. While many here celebrate the light at the end of what’s has been a very long tunnel, GOP lawmakers are trying to dim those hopes.
The DEA announced this year would begin the process to remove cannabis from its list of the worst drugs. The public comment period in this move ended this summer. In those comments is a letter of opposition from several members of Congress, including U.S. Rep. David Kustoff (TN-8) and Tennessee Sen. Bill Hagerty. Among other things, the letter says the DEA was “not properly consulted” on the move, which suggests they were pushed into the change (allegedly by the Biden administration, though it’s never mentioned directly).
The letter says not enough is yet known about marijuana to loosen its laws. The lawmakers point to several studies claiming to prove that the drug raises rates of schizophrenia in young men, psychosis, anxiety, cognitive failures, adverse respiratory events, cancer, cardiovascular outcomes, and gastrointestinal disorders.
Sexual dysfunction was twice as high in men who used marijuana, they said of another study. They said marijuana use is responsible for more car crashes, violent behavior, alcohol use among veterans suffering PTSD, and a spike in emergency room visits, especially by young Black men.
“It is clear that this proposed rule was not properly researched, circumvented the DEA, and is merely responding to the popularity of marijuana and not the actual science,” reads the letter.
Yet another GOP-led move would ban all hemp-derived products — all of them — from the current Farm Bill, not waiting on any move from the DEA. This move would close the “loophole” that was “unintentionally” created in the 2018 Farm Bill that allowed hemp to be legalized, said U.S. Rep. John Rose (TN-6).
“Hemp is a product that requires and demands the correct guidelines, and if we do not provide these guidelines, we are threatening the safety of Americans,” Rose said during a House Committee on Agriculture meeting in May. “This amendment draws the much-needed line between the naturally occurring plant and adjacent particles, and the enhancing synthetic additives combined with the plant and placed on store shelves.”
Not all Republicans want to ban the products, however. During that same meeting, U.S. Rep. Jim Baird (IN-4) said he’d vote no on the measure because “farmers around the country have invested their time and treasure over the last six years to develop a domestic supply chain of hemp and hemp products.”
The Senate version of the Farm Bill has not yet been released, though Democrats and Republicans alike have floated ideas to regulate the “intoxicating” hemp market, estimated to be worth around $30 billion in the U.S. last year.
So, what’s a Tennessee cannabis consumer to do?
“Be smart consumers,” said TBI director David Rausch. But also, “If you want marijuana, go buy it.” As far as legal hemp products purchased legally, Rausch advised consumers to:
1. Keep your receipt from the store. That will go a long way to convince a cop during a pullover stop that the cannabis flower you bought is supposed to be legal.
2. As you drive or transport it home, keep your product in its original packaging, unopened. If you’re carrying legal stuff in a baggie in which police are used to seeing illegal stuff, you could run into a legal challenge.
3. As you’re driving, keep everything in your front seat, in plain view of an officer. This way it doesn’t look like you’re hiding anything.
4. Remember there is a chance of buying a product marked legal by a store, that may turn out to be illegal. You might not know until the police, the TBI, or the TDA test it.
A Tennessee company with ties to Memphis launched a new cannabis product this summer to help consumers “make better bad decisions.”
Tipsy Tabs appeared in stores throughout Memphis around August. Locals may have noticed colorful signs in liquor or cannabis shops inviting them to “bite into the party” for an experience that ”feels like a cocktail in a tablet.”
The sweet, colorful, little tablets (about the size of dime) pack 25 milligrams of hemp-derived THC apiece. For this, the company suggests consumers start by taking half a tablet to start and add another half every half hour until they reach their desired euphoric effect.
Tipsy Tabs were created as a sublingual edible, meaning they are meant to dissolve under the tongue. This method helps with the fast onset of effects, within 10 minutes the company says. But the packaging is quick to note you take a Tab however you prefer. “Bite me,” it reads. “Chew me. Suck me.”
With Tipsy Tabs, the company hopes to tap into a growing (but slow) movement away from alcohol consumption and the rise of “California sober,” indulging in cannabis but not in booze.
The product comes from Volunteer Botanicals, based in Christiana, Tennessee, just outside Murfreesboro. But company co-founder Jason Pickle and Matt Hale, vice president of retail sales for the company, are both originally from Germantown. Volunteer Botanicals started about six years ago, Hale said, specializing in converting hemp oils into a pharmaceutical-grade powder.
Hale told us more about Tipsy Tabs in a recent interview. — Toby Sells
Memphis Flyer: Tell me about Tipsy Tabs.
Matt Hale: The way we look at this thing is [most] of the cannabis products on the market are, “How high can we get you? How blasted can we get you?” In the grand scheme of things, that’s a small portion of the country or that industry.
You’ve got all these functional, working parents — yoga moms, and people like that — that don’t want to get blasted. They’re scared of a lot of these products. So, what we saw the opportunity to do was, “let’s do this on a metered format.”
If you think about a gummy, a gummy filled with sugar, it melts. It’s inconsistent. I hear it all the time: “I don’t really want to eat a gummy because one time I eat it and I don’t feel anything and then the next time I eat it and I’m blasted.” With what we do, with every one of these, you feel the same thing every time and that’s what this industry is missing.
So, just like a cocktail, [consumers can] figure out their sweet spot. It’s not guessing every time. It’s like, “I’m going to my kid’s T-ball game. So, I’m going to pop half of one of these and I’m just going to relax.” Or, if you want to go out and party, eat two or three of them and — just like a cocktail — the more you drink, the more you feel.
How long has Tipsy Tabs been on the market?
We launched the product a little over a month ago. It’s blowing up! It’s just a great product.
Where can you get Tipsy Tabs?
We are in about 15 stores in Memphis and growing everyday. We’re in discussions with a big distributor out of Nashville. We’re in the Carolinas. We’re in Texas. We’re in Georgia. And it’s just gong to keep growing.
Anything you want to add?
A lot of people are intimidated by [cannabis products]. Tipsy Tabs gives them a chance to to dip their feet in the water and actually try something without taking it too far.
Last year, President Joe Biden promised to reevaluate cannabis’ placement on Schedule I. On Thursday, two frustrated Congressmen wanted to know what is taking so long.
Schedule I is the federal government’s classification for some of the worst drugs like meth and heroin. These drugs are highly addictive and have no medical use, according to the government.
Biden promised cannabis reform in a statement in October. It outlined three steps his adminstration would take to end what he called the government’s “failed approach” on cannabis so far.
With a stroke of a pen, he pardoned all federal offenses of simple possession and urged governors to do the same. (Tennessee Governor Bill Lee did not even consider making these pardons here.) Biden’s third step was to ask the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Attorney General to “expeditiously” review how cannabis is scheduled under federal law.
“Federal law currently classifies marijuana in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, the classification meant for the most dangerous substances,” Biden wrote in the statement. “This is the same schedule as for heroin and LSD, and even higher than the classification of fentanyl and methamphetamine — the drugs that are driving our overdose epidemic.”
No word has yet emerged from the adminstration on the re-classification of cannabis. On Thursday, U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen and U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz grilled Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) Administrator Anne Milgram for details during a meeting of the House Judiciary Crime and Federal Government Surveillance Subcommittee. They got very few.
Milgram said her agency cannot move on the matter without word from HHS. She said DEA has not heard anything and had not even heard of a timeline for when HHS might send word.
“Well, that’s unsettling, isn’t it?” Gaetz asked Milgram. “When you don’t even know a timeline, it doesn’t really make it seem like something’s front of mind.”
Gaetz asked Milgram to encourage HHS for a timeline on the re-classification of cannabis and she agreed she would.
Should HHS recommend removing cannabis from Schedule I, that would trigger a DEA review. That review could be lengthy. The agency considers eight factors in the process, including potential for abuse, public health risks, dependency risks, and more. From there, the DEA would also allow for a public comment period on re-classifiying cannabis. Then, a decision would be made.
The unknown length of this process could push a decision past next year’s presidential election and that could send removing cannabis from the Schedule I back to the drawing board.
Keeping cannabis on Schedule I means Tennessee won’t likely see any sort of cannabis reform. Lawmakers here have said no reforms will (or should) happen unless the drug is re-classified on the federal level. The law that created the Tennessee Medical Cannabis Commission, for example, is predicated on this fact. That means, Tennesseans should not expect medical cannabis — or any other kind — until the drug is moved on the federal level.
Cohen, a longtime advocate for cannabis reform, was clearly frustrated by the delay Thursday.
“I’ve been here 17 years … and I’ve seen DEA heads, I’ve seen [Federal Bureau of Investigation] directors, I’ve seen attorney[s] general, exactly where you’re sitting and say governmental gibberish about marijuana. They’ve done nothing for 17 years, and for years before that. It goes back to the [1930s].
“The government has messed this up forever and you need to get ahead of the railroad. You’re going to get something from HHS. Biden understands [cannabis] should be reclassified. He said from [Schedule I to Schedule III] and it should be classified from [Schedule I] to 420. We ought to just clean it up and get over with it.”
A new bill would decriminalize cannabis across the state.
The bill would lower simple posession to a $25 fine or three hours of community service. It would raise the felony amount for manufacture, delivery, or sale from a half ounce to one ounce.
It removes references of “marijuana, marijuana concentrates, and marijuana oil from the definition of drug paraphernalia.” It renames items used to ingest, inhale, prepare, or store cannabis as a “marijuana accessory.”
The wide-ranging bill would lower costs on local governments by nearly $15 million per year, according to a financial review of the bill conducted by the Tennessee General Assembly’s Fiscal Review Committee.
The committee said the figure is based on removing the roughly 17,101 annual simple-possession cannabis convictions across the state. The committee multiplied that number by 15, the average days of stay for those charged, by $58.21, the average daily cost of jailing such a person.
The math is more complicated to calculate how much money would be saved from lowering charges on manufacture, sale, and delivery. But the Tennessee Department of Corrections (TDOC) told the review office the state averages 137.8 admissions a year based on these charges. The office calculated the new legislation would lower that figure to an average of 20.76 prison admissions of these kinds annually.
The bill would increase state spending by $100,000 to create a new drug awareness program and by $30,000 each year to support the program.
The new simple possession definition would allow Tennesseans to carry up to one ounce of cannabis, up to five grams of resin extracted from cannabis, and infused products containing up to 1,000 milligrams of THC. Simple possession would become a civil violation and would not subject an offender to arrest. Offenders could pay a $25 fine or serve three hours of community service. Minor offenders would have to serve up to five hours of community service.
The bill also limits probable cause.
“This bill specifies that the odor of marijuana generally does not constitute reasonable suspicion or probable cause but a law enforcement officer may test for impairment based on the odor of marijuana if the officer reasonably suspects the operator of a motor vehicle or boat to be under the influence of marijuana,” reads the bill.
The bill will not allow officials to revoke someone’s bail, parole, probation, or suspended sentence based solely on a positive drug test for cannabis. The review committee said TDOC told them doing this would not have any significant fiscal impact.
The bill would also prohibit officials from removing someone from public assistance programs just for having a positive cannabis test. According to the Tennessee Department of Human Services (TDHS), doing this would not significantly impact the total number of those eligible for programs like Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF). TennCare said the legislation would have no fiscal impact on any TennCare programs.
Under the legislation, a positive test would also not be grounds for any adverse employment action against a government employee.
Anxiety ripples through the Tennessee cannabis industry when state lawmakers get involved but a new bill this year could put the business on more solid footing here, leaders said.
Industry opposition lined up against a bill during last year’s session of the Tennessee General Assembly. That bill threatened to ban all hemp-derived THC products like Delta 8 gummies if they contained more than 0.3 percent of THC on a dry weight basis, which was (and is) already the federal legal limit for such products.
Lawmakers explained that the bill was really an effort to regulate these products in Tennessee. At the time, they described a marketplace with no limits on THC in products and no packaging requirements to alert consumers.
A bill filed this year will do just this. Cannabis professionals said they worked with lawmakers on the regulations and believe it “will sustain a safe, legal marketplace for these products well into the future,” according to a blog post by Cultivate Tennessee, a hemp advocacy group.
The new framework does not redefine hemp. It does not ban any products. It does not change how hemp professionals get licenses to grow or sell hemp here.
The bill sets the buying age to 21. It outlaws driving vehicles under the influence of cannabis. It also adds a 5 percent privilege tax on product sales on top of local and state taxes.
The bill limits the amount of THC in a product to 25 milligrams. It also mandates all products available for sale in Tennessee to be tested after being manufactured for cannabinoids and any toxic materials.
“[Consumers] are going to notice that products are most likely going to be behind the counter and having to show an ID to purchase,” said Devin Aracena, co-owner of Canvast, a Nashville-based cannabis company and co-chair of Cultivate Tennessee. “They’re going to notice a lot of packaging updates on products. They’ll see child-resistant packaging updates on products and clearly stated potency.
“They’ll notice a different dosage. So, there would no longer be edibles that are over 25 milligrams per serving.”
Meticulous testing of products has always been a foundation for Gold Spectrum CBD, an East Tennessee company that grows cannabis, makes products, and sells it online and at its franchise retail stores called the Smoky Grass Station. Company founder Zack Green said the new bill would up restrictions and require everything to be registered with the Tennessee Department of Agriculture, something not done now. The move could help remove some fly-by-night operators in the space, he said.
“There’s a lot of people that have gotten into this industry because they think of it as the ‘Green Rush,’ the next Gold Rush,” Green said. “They’re trying to quickly make a dollar and get out. … They try to cut costs and do everything as cheaply as possible and are not as quality conscious as we would like for them to be.”
Cheaper oils in the marketplace might have pesticides in them, he said, and might not be backed with certificates showing they’ve been properly analyzed. Some of the facilities might not be accredited or inspected by a lab certified by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).
Doing all of this is expensive, Green said, and some companies operating in Tennessee are “flying under the radar.” Without taking the necessary steps could put consumers at risk.
Aracena said the bill is a “great first step,” especially to create trust between the industry and lawmakers.
Tennessee state law will not allow any more cannabis legalization here until the federal government moves, which may happen soon-ish (more on that below). But until then, don’t expect Tennessee cannabis news to be very exciting.
Consider the sober, sometimes droning, sometimes arduous December 1st meeting of the Tennessee Medical Cannabis Commission. That group was established by the Tennessee General Assembly in May 2021 to study “federal and state laws regarding medical cannabis and the preparation of legislation to establish an effective, patient-focused medical cannabis program in this state” but only if the drug was removed from the federal Schedule I.
In its first report, published in January, the commission offered the legislature at least some recommendations on potential laws for such a program here. Back then, some hints were available at even just the prospect of new legalization laws that might pull the commission from the sidelines.
But those proposals came and went. And while Tennessee shelved any action on cannabis, every state that borders it has enacted some sort of legalization effort. So, instead of laying solid groundwork for a Tennessee program, the cannabis commission has quietly studied, and studied, and studied, and watched the growing pains other states have experienced while starting and building their own programs.
The commission is slated to meet this week to finalize its second report to the legislature. So sleepy is the material for the report this year, commission members spent much of its early December meeting trying to jazz it up to get the attention of lawmakers.
Commissioner Cari Parker said lawmakers should be handed a one-pager because that’s “the attention span we have to plan for to at least incite a little bit of interest.” Ray Marcrom, a pharmacist, said he does not want lawmakers to get the report and say, “‘Well, that’s nice.’ Because that’s kind of what we got last year.”
Two facts stuck out from the commission’s meeting, though. One was the reminder that Tennessee has, indeed, stuck the tiniest toe past federal cannabis laws, as it allows products with 0.9 percent THC, instead of the federal 0.3 percent. Another is that there is a desire from lawmakers and businesses to keep hemp-derived THC products (like Delta 8) separate from any medical cannabis program here and be regulated from the Tennessee Department of Agriculture.
On the federal side of cannabis news, though, things got pretty hot this year. Joe Biden, the president of the United States, said words every college sophomore (of a certain stripe) has wanted to hear a global leader to say:
“No one should be in jail just for using or possessing marijuana,” Biden said in an October statement. “Sending people to prison for possessing marijuana has upended too many lives and incarcerated people for conduct that many states no longer prohibit.”
Biden then outlined three steps in a plan to “end this failed approach” to cannabis law in the U.S. First, he pardoned all prior federal offenses of simple possession of marijuana. Second, he urged all governors to do the same with regard to state offenses. (Guess what Tennessee Governor said no to this. Hint: It rhymes with Bill Lee.)
Biden also asked the secretary of health and human services and the attorney general to review cannabis’ place in federal law. Now, as Biden said, it is up there with “the most dangerous substances” like “heroin and LSD, and even higher than the classification of fentanyl and methamphetamine — the drugs that are driving our overdose epidemic.”
Hemp fiber production is under review in Tennessee to see if it can be used in car manufacturing here and how the fiber fits in the state’s overall economy.
The Hemp Alliance of Tennessee (HAT) has partnered with the Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) to fund the research to be conducted by the University of Tennessee. The study began in June and will continue until the end of the year.
“We are an agricultural state, and we are proud to be a hemp-producing state,” said TDA Commissioner Charlie Hatcher. “This plant has numerous applications, and we believe fiber has potential to grow Tennessee’s industrial economy.
“We are an agricultural state, and we are proud to be a hemp-producing state.”
Tennessee Department of Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Hatcher
The study will focus on creating a budget to grow hemp for Tennessee farmers. It will also look at transportation and supply chain logistics. The study will conclude whether or not Tennessee is suited for hemp fiber production.
“Our organization and its members are invested in realizing the potential of this plant, and our hope is that this study will prompt significant industry investment in Tennessee hemp and its diverse applications,” said Frederick Cawthon, president of HAT.
Tennessee was among the first states to create a hemp program under the 2014 Farm Bill allowing pilot programs for industrial hemp cultivation. State officials said hemp has been “recognized as a valuable crop to support Tennessee’s agricultural and industrial economy.”
In 2015, the state had 49 producers licensed to grow on 660 acres. In 2019, after the 2018 Farm Bill lifted the controlled substance designation of industrial hemp, the number of producers peaked at 3,957 licensed to grow on 51,000 acres. As of May 2022, there are now 1,041 producers of industrial hemp licensed to grow 5 on,682 acres. The shift in recent years illustrated the potential for scale and interest from the state’s farmers and cultivation experts.
“After the 2018 Farm Bill was passed, there was a gold rush of growers wanting to enter the emerging market for consumable hemp products,” said Cawthon. “Tennessee is capable of becoming a leader in this industry if we engage our innovators and the industries that can benefit from the plant – and our legislature continues to help make the right investments in the plant’s myriad applications.”
According to the USDA, the value of hemp production in the United States totaled $824 million in 2021. Industry analysts estimated the global industrial hemp market size at $4.13 billion in 2021 and expect it to grow at a rate of 16.8 percent from 2022 to 2030.
Industrial hemp is grown for its seeds, fiber, shivs, flower, and oil. The applications for industrial hemp are varied including textiles, personal care, food and beverages, animal care, paper, automotive, construction materials, furniture, and more.
