NASHVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) — Rep. Jason Hodges (D-Clarksville) is co-sponsoring a bill that would provide a framework for medical cannabis in Tennessee.
The bill (HB0637) would establish a way to provide medical cannabis on a regulated basis for qualified patients with certain medical conditions.
If passed, the bill would set strict conditions that need to be met before a patient could receive medical cannabis. It would also establish a way to license and regulate the process for growing, producing, distributing, transporting, selling, and acquiring cannabis for medical use and research.
The bill’s primary sponsor is Rep. Ron Travis of Dayton, TN and has been assigned to the Mental Health and Substance Abuse Subcommittee of the Tennessee House.
Hodges is also co-sponsoring a bill designed to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana.
Under the bill, intentional possession of less than an ounce of marijuana would no longer be an offence.
The primary sponsor of the bill is Rep. Gloria Johnson of Knoxville.
“As part of an overall criminal justice reform package, we need to consider how to keep small offenders from jamming our jails and prisons so we can work on the major sources of the problem,” Representative Hodges said.
The bill has been assigned to the criminal justice subcommittee of the House.