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.
