Only weeks after President Donald Trump signed an executive order making it easier for researchers and doctors to study cannabis or prescribe medical marijuana, Tennessee State Senator Ferrel Haile (R-Gallatin) on Monday filed a bill that would commission a study to determine the state’s readiness for a potential medical cannabis program.
Senate Bill (SB) 1603 would require the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (TACIR) to complete a study assessing the Volunteer State’s “operational readiness” for supporting “a medical marijuana program.” The report would be due to the General Assembly by November 1.
The one-page bill also authorizes all relevant state agencies to cooperate with TACIR for the creation of the report.
It was formally read in the General Assembly for the first time on Tuesday, less than one month after the president on December 18 signed an executive order reclassifying marijuana as a Schedule III drug under the Controlled Substance Act.
Previously classified as a Schedule I drug since 1970, Trump’s change signals acknowledgment of accepted medical uses for the drug, while still cautioning that those who abuse marijuana may experience “moderate or low physical dependence or high psychological dependence.”
Other Schedule III drugs include ketamine, anabolic steroids, testosterone, and prescription medications containing codeine.
Haile’s bill follows remarks last year by State Representative Jeremy Faison (R-Cosby) and State Senator London Lamar (D-Memphis), who both suggested Tennessee should begin modifying its laws regarding the drug after Trump’s executive order, according to The Tennessee Lookout.
Lamar argued Tennessee’s laws “are stuck in the dark ages,” and “overtly punitive” to drug users, while Faison, who leads the House Republican Caucus, told the outlet marijuana could be used as an alternative to opioids.
“I truly hope that this fosters medical research that either debunks what many sick Americans have testified to or provides the evidence and foundation showing that cannabis is safer than opioids and other man-altered substances,” he reportedly said of Trump’s order, after questioning whether the government had the authority over the “naturally occurring plant.”
While lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle have now suggested they are open to changing Tennessee’s marijuana laws, Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally reportedly disagreed.
“While the federal change does allow easier study and testing of the drug, I have no interest in changing how we schedule marijuana in Tennessee,” he told the outlet. “In my mind it remains a dangerous drug with little demonstrated medicinal efficacy.”
Lawmakers last year passed legislation to add new regulations to Tennessee’s hemp industry, which grew following the 2018 Farm Bill enacted during Trump’s first term. The bill made it legal for farmers to grow a version of the plant that critics argue can be refined until it has the same effect on users as marijuana.
Congress passed legislation placing new restrictions on this type of cannabis last year.
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Tom Pappert is a 2025 recipient of the Dao Prize and the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star. He also reports for the Star News Network. Follow Tom on X. Email tips to [email protected].
Not interested in sharing the highways and byways with more dopeheads than are already there illegally. “Medical” marijuana is just a sham to move to “recreational” marijuana. Go to another state if you demand your drug.
Genesis 1:29
And God GOD!! said, Behold, I have given you(for your judicious responsible use) every EVERY!! herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, AND(also) every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
What we NEED here in the “Land of the (not so)Free” is lucifer’s prohibition ended and our GOD GIVEN herbal FREEDOM RESTORED to grow and use our own medicine. “Medical” whatever is a trap for lucifer’s pharma, “doctors” and “taxmen”.