This week, Governor Bill Haslam signed into law a bill that re-criminalizes small amounts of marijuana in Nashville and Memphis.
Nashville’s Metro Council in September approved a measure to allow lesser civil penalties for people caught with small amounts of marijuana. The council voted 35-3 to give final approval of legislation that will give Nashville police the option of reducing the penalty for people who are found in knowing possession of a half-ounce of marijuana or less to a $50 fine or 10 hours of community service. Memphis passed a similar resolution in October.
That measure was reversed Wednesday when the governor signed House Bill 0173.
The bill reads that “state government law preempts local government enactments with respect to the regulation of and appropriate sanctions for conduct involving drugs and other similar substances.”
It passed the House on March 23 with a vote of 65-28. Then the Senate with a vote of 26-5 on March 27.
Representative William Lamberth, a Republican from Cottontown and House Criminal Justice Chairman. was the bill’s sponsor. He filed it in January, saying that the decriminalization measures went against state law on drugs.
Nashville and Memphis leaders largely were against the bill, which they said was the state meddling in city affairs.
Republican House Speaker Beth Harwell, of Nashville, voted against the measure.
Meanwhile, recently another bill, this one for medical marijuana, was pulled off the table for the current legislative session.
Already, Rep. Jeremy Faison (R-Cosby) and Sen. Steve Dickerson (R-Nashville) declared seeing its passage as “an uphill” battle, but one they consider fighting. Named the “Medical Cannabis Act of 2017,” the bill spelled out the specifications for growing and dispensing medical marijuana for health care professionals.
Faison took the bill off notice for the current session, and now a task force will study it over the summer. Speaker Harwell and Lt. Gov. Randy McNally will work on it this summer.
Right now, 28 states allow for medicinal marijuana use.
The bill provides at least 12 different medical conditions eligible for a medical marijuana prescription, but lawmakers said more could appear.
Patients must have health issues named in the law to receive medical marijuana. They must also get a medical card not to be more than $35 at the recommendation of a health care professional. Medical cannabis cannot be used in public or while driving.
The bill would also create a Medical Cannabis Commission, placed under the Department of Health. The MCC will authorize medical professionals to prescribe medical marijuana.
There will only be a maximum of 150 dispensaries in the state and Tennessee will only have 50 growers. Growers would be in a warehouse that has ability for security measures.
