Smokeable cannabis flower, especially the THC it creates when lit, took a critical step toward a ban in Tennessee after a long debate in Nashville Thursday that showed a rare divide among Republican lawmakers.
Tennessee House members passed an amendment Thursday that would remove THCA from legal cannabis products in the state. THCA is also banned in a Senate version of the bill now traveling through the committee process. That bill, of course, could change before it passes, leaving a glimmer of hope for cannabis companies across the state that have said THCA products are among their most popular.
The GOP divide on the issue emerged on the House floor Thursday morning. One group just didn’t like the product — the green, leafy bud now displayed on store shelves — nor the intoxicating effects it can produce. The other group of GOP lawmakers said removing the products will harm Tennessee businesses and won’t keep other intoxicating hemp products from shelves.
Members of the non-THCA group said they felt duped by hemp advocates in Tennessee.
“Six years ago I carried the bill that allowed us to grow hemp in this state and have many of these products,” said Representative Chris Todd (R-Madison County). “But I will tell you at that time, the [Tennessee Growers Coalition], well, I will say there were folks that deceived me and deceived our leaders and many others in this body.”
He said the amended legislation brings the total THC level back down to .3 percent as planned originally. The amount is the federal limit, he said. As for those cannabis companies in Tennessee, “they gambled on a product that is federally illegal.”
House Majority Leader Representative William Lamberth (R-Portland) has worked on cannabis issues in Tennessee for years. He agreed with Todd saying, “I wish we could go back in time and not have all these substances out there, but that’s not an option at this point.”
“We were all told when we voted for hemp that it’s the nonintoxicating cousin to marijuana,” Lamberth said. “You don’t have to worry about anybody getting high. Well, that horse has left the barn.
“What this bill does is ban THCA, that when you light it, it turns into marijuana. But that’s one product. There’s hundreds of other products out there [that will get people high].”
The ban does put at risk Tennessee cannabis companies that have said that smokeable flower sales can sometimes total 60 percent of their total revenue. Representative Kevin Vaughan (R-Memphis) spoke loudest among the GOP to keep THCA legal in Tennessee.
“ I have a hard time that this body has told [businesses] that this is a new commercial venture in our state, and then, two years later, we’re going to turn the lights off,” Vaughn said. “Understand that even if we take [THCA out], these stores will still be in the business of selling intoxicants.”
Representative Sabi Kumar (R-Springfield) argued that the legislature gets “carried away by the commercial advantages” of cannabis in Tennessee. He argued lives are torn apart by marijuana addiction and that was part of the reason he voted to ban THCA.
“Marijuana is playing havoc on our society,” Kumar said. “We talk about anxiety. We talk about mental health. We talk about schizophrenia and various psychological maladies.
“Yes, we blame the internet for it, but, my friends, I submit to you that marijuana and its prevalent use is playing a role in this malady that is affecting our society for that reason.”
The fiscal note, an expert review of the economic impact of proposed legislation, estimated the size of Tennessee’s overall cannabis market is about $120.4 million. The figure is based on a U.S. market for hemp-derived cannabis products projected at $5 billion in 2026.
Tennessee tax collections on those products would have been $13.6 million, assuming that THCA were included. Those taxes would have been collected on what state financial experts expected to be cannabis product sales of $226.7 million over the next year. All of those numbers will change if THCA remains illegal.
