Top GOP Tennessee Lawmaker Says Federal Marijuana Rescheduling Could Open Door To Legalizing Medical Use In His State

A top GOP Tennessee lawmaker says medical marijuana legalization may move forward in the state now that his “biggest objections are being resolved” with the pending federal rescheduling of cannabis as ordered by President Donald Trump.

While marijuana reform has long stalled in conservative legislature, House Majority Leader William Lamberth (R) said the push to move cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA) could remove roadblocks at the state level.

“My biggest objections are being resolved by the federal government right now in rescheduling cannabis and rescheduling specifically marijuana and allowing the doctors to take over and make a determination on how and if these substances could be helpful,” Lamberth said.

Rep. Jeremy Faison (R), who has worked to enact reform in the state, told WKRN-TV that he’d estimate “within the next two or three years, you’re going to see a framework set up here in Tennessee” to provide patients with a means to access cannabis for therapeutic use.

“I look forward to the day in Tennessee that we’ve set up a framework where people aren’t just getting high, but there are some very sick people who don’t want to be on opiates or something that comes across from a prescription from the pharmacist,” the lawmaker said. “They want something natural—that’s safe—and we know where it came from and we know it’s not been perverted or filtrated with fentanyl or anything else.”

“It’s going to happen soon,” Faison said, adding that the “federal government has realized that they’ve been in the way for a long time.”

Senate Minority Leader Raumesh Akbari (D), for her part, said lawmakers “look at the opioid crisis” and “look at people who are addicted painkillers,” and they recognize marijuana “is an alternative” that the state “should have invested in a long time ago.”

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in Tennessee similarly discussed how the federal move to reclassify marijuana could open the door to medical marijuana reform after Trump issued an executive order in December to see through the process.

House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R) said at the time that rescheduling represents a “first step”  to medical cannabis reform in Tennessee, though he noted there are still certain outstanding logistical questions to answer.

“There will have to be conversations about who manufactures it, who tests it, who distributes, which medical illness could it be used for, does this require [federal Food and Drug Administration, or FDA] approval and a host of other questions,” Sexton said.

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Sen. London Lamar (D), for her part, told WSMV that “if Washington can acknowledge reality, Tennessee can, too.”

“Our marijuana laws are stuck in the dark ages—overly punitive, out of step with our neighbors and holding our state back,” she said. “It’s time for the General Assembly to take a serious step forward on cannabis reform.”

“Cannabis reform is about freedom, public health and fiscal responsibility. We should be supporting medical researchers who want to study cannabis and patients who would choose cannabis treatments over deadly opioids,” Lamar said. “Our current laws force us to waste tax dollars on incarceration instead of investing in roads, schools and healthcare, and we’re also missing out on economic growth and new revenue.”