NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee senators are reviewing a 99-page proposal for a tightly regulated medical marijuana program after lawmakers spent nearly six hours reviewing a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that reopened a decade-long debate in the General Assembly.
The framework developed by the Tennessee Medical Cannabis Commission would place medical marijuana under the Tennessee Department of Health and create licenses for cultivators, processors, dispensaries and testing laboratories. Patients would need a prescription from a physician authorized to prescribe controlled substances.
Patients would not be allowed to purchase marijuana flower or smoke cannabis. Permitted products would include capsules, tablets, tinctures, oils, creams and other non-smokable forms. Qualifying conditions would initially include Alzheimer’s, ALS, cancer, Crohn’s disease, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, HIV/AIDS and sickle cell disease.
Tennessee currently does not have a medical marijuana program. The state effectively eliminated much of the marijuana and hemp-derived market when it banned THCA products on July 1. Lawmakers held the first hearing Sept. 30 and continued discussions into early October as they study whether to advance a limited program.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation opposed the idea, with agent Erica Stephens telling lawmakers marijuana is a dangerous drug tied to criminal activity. Several senators, including Democrat London Lamar and Republican Todd Gardenhire, pushed back, saying a regulated program could keep patients off the illicit market.
Earlier versions of the Tennessee Medical Cannabis Act featured a longer list of qualifying illnesses and allowed patients to possess 2.5 ounces of cannabis. The new draft is narrower and is expected to face more revisions before any return in the 2027 session.
