Tennessee legislature again fails to act on cannabis policy reform in 2024

Tennessee is one of only 12 states without a viable medical cannabis program and one of 19 states that continues to imprison individuals for possessing small amounts of cannabis — possession of a half-ounce or less is punishable by nearly a year of incarceration.

With the Kentucky legislature enacting medical cannabis in 2023, Tennessee is now an island of backwards cannabis policies. Six of its eight border states have comprehensive medical cannabis laws, and the seventh — Georgia — has a more limited medical law, allowing up to 5% THC. 

While the 2024 legislative session has not ended, it appears that no successful movement pertaining to cannabis policy reform will occur. Despite solid majorities of Tennesseans who crave reform, leadership in both houses remains the main choking point in passing legislation. There is a strong possibility that leadership in both branches of the legislature will change after the 2024 session.  

Several bills were introduced in 2024 that would have legalized medical cannabis, decriminalized cannabis, or legalized cannabis for adults. None of these bills advanced beyond committee hearings. Let your legislators know you support medical cannabis or decriminalization.

Tennessee’s Low-THC Cannabis Program

Tennessee’s first CBD-focused law, SB 2531, was passed in 2014. It required that a hospital or state university-affiliated clinic supervise the study of cannabis oil for certain patients with seizures. It did not materialize. In subsequent years, the limited program was improved and expanded, but it remains extremely limited.

In 2021, lawmakers expanded the state’s ineffective CBD law, passing SB 118 and allowing additional medical conditions to qualify and increasing the allowable threshold of THC in CBD oils to 0.9%. The law now includes Alzheimer's disease; Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; cancer, if it is end stage or the treatment produces related wasting illness, recalcitrant nausea and vomiting, or pain; inflammatory bowel disease; epilepsy or seizures; multiple sclerosis; Parkinson's disease; HIV or AIDS; sickle cell disease; or any other disease or condition recommended by the Medical Cannabis Commission pursuant to rules it promulgates,

The state’s low THC/CBD law grants legal protections from prosecution to patients enrolled in the program but includes no legal access to cannabis products. Products must be purchased from legal dispensaries in states with reciprocity provisions in their medical cannabis programs and brought back to Tennessee.

SB 118 also created the Tennessee Medical Cannabis Commission to study and recommend medical cannabis policy.In January, 2022, the Tennessee Medical Cannabis Commission issued a report to the legislature recommending improvements to the high-CBD/low-THC program. The report recommended allowing cannabis oils, tinctures, patches, edibles, vapors, and waxes, but not dried flower. The Commission also recommended employee protections and parental rights for those participating in the program. Nursing home and school-aged patients would have allowances for medical use on-site. None of the recommendations were taken up by the General Assembly in 2022, 2023, or 2024.  

The Tennessee Medical Marijuana Commission has been studying other states’ programs with the goal of submitting recommendations to the legislature before the 2024 legislative session on how a program should be implemented and regulated. The Commission failed to provide the legislature with this information.  

Eighty-one percent (81%) of Tennessee voters support allowing patients and doctors to decide whether to use medical cannabis. Ask your state lawmakers to listen to voters and pass medical cannabis legislation. 

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