(The Center Square) – Drive through almost any Tennessee town and you will likely pass a retailer selling cannabis or hemp-related products, even though recreational marijuana is not legal in the state.
So why are these products legal to sell? The reason goes back to a bill approved by Congress in 2018.
Recreational marijuana is still against federal law. But the 2018 farm bill passed by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump legalized sales of cannabis products with a THC level of less than 0.3%. THC is the psychoactive compound that gives the “high” of marijuana.
Since the farm bill’s passage, states where recreational marijuana is not legal have been forced to set regulations. Only 24 states have legalized it, with Pennsylvania possibly becoming the 25th one this year, according to NORML, a group that advocates for legal and responsible use of marijuana.
In Tennessee, Sen. Richard Briggs, R-Knoxville, likened the cannabis industry to the “wild west” during the 2025 session of the Tennessee General Assembly. He sponsored Senate Bill 1413, which would move the regulation of hemp products from the Department of Agriculture to the Alcoholic Beverage Commission.
The bill also adds taxes to cannabis products. A two-cent per milligram tax would be added to vapes and edibles and a 10-cent tax on drinks with hemp. Flower sales would be taxed at 50 cents per ounce.
The legislation bans products with THC-A and THC-P, which were part of the farm bill.
Tennessee is not the only state trying to regulate products that have become very popular.
Part of the reason states have been scrambling since the farm bill passed is because the Food and Drug Administration did not move fast enough to regulate the products, Morgan Fox, NORML’s political director, said in an interview with The Center Square.
“So we are faced with a situation, where because the FDA did not move quickly enough to regulate CBD and there was not place to sell it, people started getting creative and started developing products from their naturally hemp-derived compounds that they could turn into sellable products that had a huge market,” Fox said.
From an access point of view, it’s good, Fox said. But from a consumer safety point of view, it’s not.
“Because there are a lot of really bad actors out there and all of these products are unregulated,” Fox said. “There is no age-gating and a lot of them are sold online. There are a lot of bad manufacturing practices at work. I mean there are good actors out there, don’t get me wrong. But there are also people that will say that their products are lab tested and have QR codes take you to websites that have falsified lab reports.”
On the safety side, there’s not a lot of information on the impact of the substances outside of the banned Delta-9 THC, according to Fox.
Fox is not sure Senate Bill 1413 is going to help lawmakers corral the “wild west.”
“You are probably going to see a lot of Whac-A-Mole,” Fox said. “I think it’s going to be almost impossible to enforce on the synthesized cannabinoid end of the spectrum. Basically all this bill does is regulate CBD products.”
The bill, which would take effect on Jan. 1, is awaiting Gov. Bill Lee’s signature.
