Tennessee Medical Cannabis Prospects

In 1996, California turned the primary state to legalize medical hashish. Since then, 36 states (and 4 U.S. territories) have adopted go well with, preserving tempo with quickly evolving insurance policies and attitudes towards hashish. Along with the widespread legalization of medical hashish, 18 states, two territories, and the District of Columbia have legalized hashish for grownup use.

As one in all 14 states that haven’t legalized medical hashish beneath state legislation, Tennessee is within the minority, even within the South. The truth is, 5 of Tennessee’s neighboring states have legalized hashish for both medical (Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, and Missouri) or grownup use (Virginia). And Mississippi seems to be on the verge of legalizing medical hashish, too (as we’ve written about here, here, and here).

Tennessee’s present coverage concerning hashish doesn’t seem to replicate the attitudes of its voters. In line with a 2018 ballot carried out by Center Tennessee State College, most Tennesseans (roughly 81%) help some type of legalization, with 44% supporting medical use and 37% supporting adult-use legalization. This widespread reputation has even caught the eye of some Tennessee state representatives who’re personally against legalizing medical hashish.

For instance, Rep. Bruce Griffey (R-D75) launched legislation final July that will have required county election commissions to put three non-binding questions on the poll asking voters whether or not Tennessee ought to (1) decriminalize possession of small quantities of marijuana; (2) legalize medical marijuana; or (3) legalize adult-use marijuana. Rep. Griffey launched an announcement clarifying that whereas he was personally “in opposition to the legalization of marijuana,” his “private opinion mustn’t dictate” that marijuana stays unlawful beneath state legislation if legalization is what Tennessee voters need.

So the place does Tennessee stand on medical hashish now? And the place may it head? These questions are the main target of this text, which is the primary in our collection on hashish in Tennessee.

Wait, Tennessee Already Has a Medical Hashish Program?

Some readers could also be shocked to be taught that Tennessee technically has a medical hashish program in place. Laws that took impact in Might 2021 permits people with sure qualifying circumstances and a doctor’s suggestion to own cannabidiol (CBD) oil containing as much as 0.9% THC. Notably, Tennessee’s 0.9% THC threshold is thrice higher than the 0.3% THC restrict for authorized “hemp” beneath federal legislation (which we wrote about here). The 0.3-0.9% THC oil licensed by Tennessee legislation thus qualifies as federally unlawful “marijuana” beneath the Managed Substances Act.

In sensible phrases, Tennessee’s program is so restricted that it does little to alter the established order. This system’s underlying situation is that it doesn’t present for in-state manufacturing of CBD oil containing THC higher than the 0.3% federal restrict. In consequence, certified Tennessee sufferers should procure their “medical hashish” oil outdoors the state. Coupling this in-state manufacturing ban with the restrictive 0.9% THC restrict exhibits Tennessee’s present statutory regime to be a “medical hashish program” in identify solely.

Tennessee Medical Hashish Fee – An Vital First Step

However change could also be on the horizon. The identical statute that minimally expanded Tennessee’s medical hashish program additionally established Tennessee’s Medical Hashish Fee, whose purpose is to “function a useful resource for the examine of federal and state legal guidelines concerning medical hashish and the preparation of laws to ascertain an efficient, patient-focused medical hashish program[.]” However the statute doesn’t but “authorize a medical hashish program to function” in Tennessee, and “licenses for such a program shall not be issued … till marijuana is faraway from Schedule I of the federal Managed Substances Act.”

The statute directs the Fee to “look at federal legal guidelines, the effectiveness of different states’ legal guidelines and laws, and legal guidelines and laws in [Tennessee] referring to the medical use of hashish,” and requires that the Fee contemplate points referring to many broad classes, including:

• Which sufferers ought to qualify for medical hashish

• How sufferers ought to apply to obtain medical hashish

• What physicians, nurse practitioners, and doctor assistants’ respective roles are in recommending and prescribing medical hashish

• What pharmacists’ roles are in recommending, prescribing, and meting out hashish

• Licensing and regulating “cultivation, processing, labeling, transporting, transport, and distributing” medical hashish

• Product security testing

• What the position of varied state departments, businesses, and boards in regulating medical hashish is

• What legislation enforcement’s position is in medical hashish

• Taxes and charges for medical hashish

• Creating a “beneficial normal of care” for medical hashish

• Affected person reciprocity with different states which have legalized medical hashish beneath state legislation

The statute requires that the Fee put together suggestions for “how finest to ascertain an efficient, patient-focused medical hashish program,” together with proposed laws that should “create an unbiased and financially self-sufficient Fee … to manage this system.” The Fee should submit a report containing these suggestions and proposals to the Tennessee Legislature by January 1 of every 12 months. The Fee has already supplied the 2021 report back to the Legislature, but it surely has not but been made public.

The Fee’s conferences are open to the general public and live-streamed. The subsequent assembly is ready for January 28, 2022, 9 a.m. CT.

Large Image Questions for the Fee

Given the Fee’s statutory position is to craft a real medical hashish program primarily based on their evaluation of what works and what doesn’t amongst present medical hashish states, it’s critically essential for the hashish business to start educating the Fee on these factors.  Whereas there are quite a few questions the Fee should analyze to craft an efficient program, a few of the largest are:

• Will Tennessee undertake a “limited-license” or “open-license” regime? Underneath a limited-license regime, states authorize a restricted variety of licenses to domesticate, course of, or dispense hashish, that are issued following a aggressive utility course of. Underneath an open-license regime, states present licenses to all corporations that meet the regulatory requirements. Examples of limited-license states embody Alabama (which we’ve written about here). Examples of open-license states embody Oklahoma.

• Will there be a social fairness part? Social fairness provisions in hashish statutes take many types. From the minority-owned enterprise perspective, an important varieties are people who require the state’s licensing authority to situation a sure variety of licenses to such companies (Alabama has adopted this model). Extra broadly, many states’ hashish statutes present for expungement of previous hashish offenses and/or direct hashish tax income to communities impacted by the Warfare on Medicine.

• What would be the qualifying circumstances for sufferers to acquire a medical card? Tennessee’s present statute permits sufferers with the next circumstances to acquire 0.9% THC oil: (1) Alzheimer’s illness; (2) amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS); (3) most cancers, when such illness is identified as end-stage or the remedy produces associated losing sickness, nausea and vomiting, or ache; (4) inflammatory bowel illness, together with Crohn’s illness and ulcerative colitis; (5) epilepsy or seizures; (6) a number of sclerosis; (7) Parkinson’s illness; (8) human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS); and (9) sickle cell illness. The Fee appears more likely to discover expansions to this listing.

• Will Tennessee impose a residency requirement for hashish licensees? Many states solely situation hashish licenses to corporations with majority possession attributable to in-state residents. Whether or not these residency necessities go muster beneath the U.S. Structure is way from clear (as we’ve written about here).

• Will Tennessee enable affected person reciprocity? Some states, resembling Arkansas, enable sufferers from different states to acquire a customer’s card that permits them to buy medical hashish within the state. Different states don’t present for such “customer playing cards.”

• Will Tennessee authorize a real medical hashish program earlier than marijuana is de-scheduled on the federal degree? That is anybody’s guess. As famous above, Tennessee’s present statute makes federal de-scheduling a prerequisite for the growth of medical hashish in Tennessee. However the legalization tide is transferring rapidly, even within the South, and one can think about the tax income in neighboring states incentivizing the Tennessee Legislature to expedite the method if Washington gridlock continues to delay hashish reform on the federal degree.

Takeaways

Whereas the timeline for medical hashish legalization in Tennessee seems lengthy, historical past exhibits that it doesn’t take a lot for legalization efforts to select up velocity. Tennessee establishing the Medical Hashish Fee is a vital first step, and one which the business hopes will enable for Tennessee to keep away from a few of the errors its sister states have made as these states stood up their respective applications.

We’ll proceed to watch the Fee’s conferences and write concerning the evolving authorized panorama for medical hashish in Tennessee.