As federal officials work to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, Tennessee Republicans voted on April 13 to overrule an automatic state review that would have been triggered by the federal action and could have legalized cannabis for medical use.
Tennessee is one of 10 states where marijuana remains illegal for both medical and recreational purposes.
In December, President Donald Trump signed an executive order expediting the reclassification of marijuana as a less dangerous drug and recognizing its medical benefits.
Reclassification by the Drug Enforcement Administration would move marijuana out of the Schedule I category with heroin and LSD and into Schedule III, alongside drugs like ketamine.
The change would allow new medical research. It would not make marijuana legal for medical or recreational use nationwide.
By state law, when a drug is federally rescheduled, it triggers a review by Tennessee’s commissioners of health and mental health. The officials meet and determine whether to change the drug’s state-level restrictions in alignment with the federal government.
House and Senate Republicans approved House Bill 1972, making it so that even if the federal government loosens restrictions on marijuana, state agencies would be barred from making changes unless the legislature passes new bills.
“We don’t want the Wild West out here. We want the General Assembly deciding how we decide and deal with things,” said sponsor Sen. Ferrell Haile, R-Gallatin.
The bill now goes to Gov. Bill Lee’s desk.
Polling has shown that more than 81% of Tennesseans support legalizing medical marijuana. At least 63% of Tennesseans support legalizing recreational marijuana, according to a Vanderbilt Poll.
Lawmakers have debated changing the state’s criminal policies on marijuana dozens of times over the last decade, with no substantive change.
Sen. Kerry Roberts, R-Springfield, voted against the bill, saying he has no confidence that the legislature “will ever do anything.”
“We haven’t done anything for years,” Roberts said. “So if the feds make a decision to reschedule, delete, or redesignate, I just don’t have any confidence that we’ll ever do anything.”
“This takes this decision out of the hands of the commissioner of health and commissioner of mental health,” Roberts said. “It means that we have to do something, and we haven’t been able to agree on what to do for at least since I’ve been here.”
More than 38 states have adopted medical cannabis programs.
Sen. Heidi Campbell, D-Nashville, who voted with Roberts opposing the bill, argued that because states have created a patchwork of regulations, what’s needed now is federal-level change.
“At this point, since Pandora’s box has been opened, we need federal legislation that legalizes it and then regulates it and controls it in the way that we control alcohol,” Campbell said.
Because it remains illegal, Campbell said, Tennessee’s lack of regulation has led to a robust black market and no universal standards of potency.
“I think it is the Wild West right now, and the only way that we’re going to get a handle on this is by legalizing it on a federal level and regulating it,” she said.
In the House, Rep. Andrew Farmer, R-Sevierville, told members that the bill was based on a recommendation from the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations.
“Before any department or agency could do anything with it they’d have to have legislation from this body,” Farmer said.
House Republicans universally supported the restriction.
Rep. Jeremy Faison, R-Cosby, voted for the bill cementing restrictions on cannabis despite telling reporters last month that he sees cannabis as something that “the Lord created” that “has a good use.”
“I look forward to the day in Tennessee that we’ve set up a framework where people aren’t just getting high, but there are some very sick people who don’t want to be on opiates or something that comes across from a prescription from the pharmacist,” Faison said.
“It’s going to happen soon. The federal government has realized that they’ve been in the way for a long time, and I would say within the next two or three years, you’ll see a framework set up here in Tennessee,” Faison added.
House Majority Leader William Lamberth, R-Portland, also voted for the bill, but recently indicated federal changes are an overture to significant reform in Tennessee.
“My biggest objections are being resolved by the federal government right now in rescheduling cannabis, rescheduling specifically marijuana, and allowing the doctors to take over and make a determination on how and if these substances could be helpful,” Lamberth told reporters last month.
Six Republican senators opposed the bill, including Sens. Janice Bowling, R-Manchester, Richard Briggs, R-Knoxville, Mark Pody, R-Lebanon, Bill Powers, R-Clarksville, Kerry Roberts, R-Springfield, and Page Walley, R-Boliver.
Vivian Jones covers state government and politics for The Tennessean. Reach her atvjones@tennessean.com.