Several weeks after it was sent to his desk, Governor Bill Lee has signed a Republican-sponsored bill that modestly loosens Tennessee’s CBD usage restrictions and sets up a commission to examine “federal and state laws regarding cannabis.”
The new law expands patients’ access to low-THC medical cannabis (no more than .9 percent THC) to include epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease, ALS, end-stage and wasting cancers, inflammatory bowel disease, Parkinson’s disease, HIV and AIDS, and sickle cell disease.
The only problem is that patients will have to obtain such medications as they can from other states, since Tennessee still bans in-state production of cannabis/THC products.
The bill further stipulates that no further loosening of the state’s marijuana laws will occur unless the federal government stops classifying marijuana as a Schedule 1 controlled substance.
That’s where the new nine-member commission comes in — to advise lawmakers on “legislation to establish an effective, patient-focused medical cannabis program in this state upon the rescheduling or descheduling of marijuana from Schedule I of the federal Controlled Substances.”
Tennesseans who manage to obtain the more potent CBD products will be required to have proof of their condition and signed recommendation from a physician.
