Tennessee lawmakers introduced a pair of companion bills into the state legislature on Wednesday to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of cannabis.
Representative Gloria Johnson [D] and Senator Sara Kyle [D] introduced HB235 and SB256, respectively.
The bills would amend the Tennessee Code Annotated (TCA) to decriminalize the possession of less than one ounce (28.35 grams) of cannabis.
Recreational marijuana is currently illegal in Tennessee, and medicinal cannabis is limited to high-CBD formulations with no more than 0.9% THC and available only to patients with intractable epilepsy.
If HB235 and SB256 pass through the legislature and are signed into law by Governor Bill Lee, they would go into effect on July 1, 2019.
A separate set of companion bills were also introduced on Wednesday to amend the TCA to allow cannabis patients from other states to bring up to one-half ounce of cannabis with them on a visit to Tennessee. HB234 and SB260 would allow valid medical marijuana cardholders to transfer half-an-ounce of marijuana to another legal patient as well.
Should the two bills be signed into law, they would go into effect immediately.
Tennessee took its first steps into the realm of medicinal cannabis in 1981 with the passage of HB314 which created a therapeutic research program for cancer chemotherapy or radiology or glaucoma. The program ended in 1992 with the passage of SB1818 though its dual scheduling scheme remains which considers cannabis to be a Schedule II drug instead of Schedule VI when it is used for medicinal purposes.
