New medical marijuana legislation would allow oils and tinctures, not joints and vapes

Tennessee lawmakers this week plan to introduce legislation that would legalize medical marijuana throughout the state and create a legal infrastructure to grow and sell marijuana products at licensed businesses.

As written, the legislation would allow for marijuana oils, tinctures, lotions and pills, but not joints, vapes or most if not all edibles products. If enacted into law, the bill would allow the sale of these products to begin by the end of this year.

Residents would only be allowed to buy marijuana products if they had been issued a medical cannabis card by a new government body, the "clinical cannabis commission." To be eligible, residents must have one of a few dozen qualifying conditions — including cancer, HIV or PSTD — and a recommendation from a medical practitioner.

This legislation, named the Clinical Cannabis Authorization and Research Act, will be introduced this week through amendments by state Sen. Steve Dickerson, R-Nashville, and Rep. Bryan Terry, R-Murfreesboro, both of whom are doctors.

Terry and Dickerson have backed medical marijuana legislation in prior years but those efforts have failed due to lack of support.

Terry said in a telephone interview he believed the "clinical" mechanics of the new bill would help it succeed where others had failed. He also said views on medical marijuana had evolved inside the General Assembly, at least in part because sickly Tennesseans had been left to “put their lives and livelihood at risk" by buying marijuana on the black market.

“I don’t believe our legislators want patients to be in jail. They want there to be a safe manner with which they can get these medicines," Terry said. "And, outside the General Assembly is the public, and the public overwhelmingly supports using these chemicals in a medical fashion."

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As written, the legislation would limit both the number of marijuana businesses across the state and the strength of marijuana products sold. Even with a government-issued cannabis card, no one would be allowed to purchase marijuana products containing more than 2,800 milligrams of THC within a 30-day period.

Terry said this amount was approximately equivalent to half an ounce of marijuana with 20% THC content, which carries a criminal charge of simple possession.

“And so, in essence, what we are doing is decriminalizing the possession of half an ounce of marijuana on the street but its in medical form — not smokable, not recreational and not in flower form.”

The bill would allow for the licensing of up to 75 standalone marijuana dispensaries and 6 marijuana growing businesses. The state could also license nine "vertically integrated" businesses that can each grow, process and sell marijuana products at up to five dispensaries of their own.

The bill would open an application window for licenses from Oct. 1 to July 31, 2021. The government would be instructed to respond to license applications within 90 days, so some licenses could be issued by December.

Dickerson planned to introduce similar amendment last year, but moments before doing so he announced that he was delaying all medical marijuana bills until this year. At the time, Dickerson said the bill did not have enough support to pass.

“You can run a bill and have it defeated, or you can keep it alive," he said. "And practically speaking, we decided to keep it alive ..."

Once introduced, this legislation has a steep path to becoming law. Prior efforts to legalize medical marijuana have been killed by conservative opposition in the General Assembly. Gov. Bill Lee has also said previously that he is not in favor of medical marijuana or marijuana decriminalization.

Brett Kelman is the health care reporter for The Tennessean. He can be reached at 615-259-8287 or at brett.kelman@tennessean.com. Follow him on Twitter at @brettkelman.