Tennessee has some of the strictest marijuana regulations in the United States.
The Volunteer State is one of 10 states that prohibit medical and recreational marijuana use, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Tennessee does allow products with limited concentrations of THC to be sold.
Around half of all U.S. states allow for recreational marijuana, including two of Tennessee’s neighboring states: Virginia and Missouri.
Here’s what to know about state-by-state marijuana laws and the unofficial 4/20 holiday.
The number 420 and, therefore, the date, April 20, have long been ingrained in stoner culture.
The term “420” originated in the 1970s with a group of California students at San Rafael High School, as the story goes. Five high schoolers, who called themselves “the Waldos,” would regularly meet after school at 4:20 p.m. to smoke weed, according to Time Magazine.
The slang eventually spread. One of the Waldo members, Dave Reddix, later got work as a roadie for the Grateful Dead, and the band helped to popularize the term, he told Time Magazine in 2017.
Today, 420 is commonly associated with marijuana, even in Merriam-Webster and the Oxford English Dictionary.
You can buy legal recreational marijuana in nearly half of the U.S. states. But neither medical marijuana nor recreational weed is legally available in Tennessee.
Additionally, marijuana is legally sold on Cherokee land in North Carolina, just beyond the Tennessee state line. As a sovereign nation, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians operates the facility in between two states where medicinal and recreational marijuana use remains illegal.
No. Marijuana is an illegal drug in Tennessee.
Given that recreational marijuana is illegal in the Volunteer State, possession of the drug may result in criminal charges
The new law classifies simple possession of marijuana, a Schedule VI drug, as a Class A misdemeanor, according to Tennessee House Bill 1376. In Tennessee, that could result in up to 11 months and 29 days of jail time, a fine of up to $2,500, or both.
Multiple convictions or possessing more than half an ounce, but less than 10 pounds, of marijuana could increase the punishment and result in a Class E felony conviction.
Allison Kiehl covers trending and breaking news from Knoxville for the Tennessee Connect Team. Email: allison.kiehl@knoxnews.com
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