Tennessee to Consider Cannabis Reform Bills 

A bill filed in Tennessee would implement a tax on anything made from cannabis, including Delta-8 THC and CBD products, and set the legal age to purchase Delta-8 products in the state at 21, WTVF reports. The measure, filed by Republican state Rep. Chris Hurt, sets the tax rate at 6.6% on top of the state’s 7% sales tax and includes licensing provisions.

“We think the industry is ready to start producing some revenue in order to have some oversight and bring legitimacy and credibility to [it].” — Hurt to WTVF

The bill is backed by the Tennessee Growers Coalition, whose president, Joe Kirkpatrick, said the state’s cannabis industry “want to be good citizens,” noting that hemp-derived products, including Delta-8, are “all over the place.”

“We want to make sure like we did with smokable hemp to make those 21 plus,” he told WTVF. “These do have psychoactive effects. People need to take caution when they take them, and children don’t need to have them.”

Other state lawmakers are considering broad cannabis legalization bills, while under a proposal from state Rep. Bruce Griffey (R), Tennesseans could vote on a non-binding referendum this year. That plan would require each county commissioner to include the following “yes” or “no” questions on midterm election ballots:

• Should the State of Tennessee legalize medical marijuana?
• Should the State of Tennessee decriminalize possession of less than one ounce (1 oz.) of marijuana?
• Should the State of Tennessee legalize and regulate commercial sales of recreational-use marijuana?

Tennessee remains one of just five states that have not approved cannabis for any use, along with South Carolina, Kansas, Wyoming, and Idaho. Last year, the state House Health Committee approved a measure to allow adult cancer patients access to medical cannabis oil, but that bill has not been voted on by either full chamber of the General Assembly.

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