While almost all of the U.S. states have already made medicinal marijuana legal, Tennessee is the latest one to give it a go but came up short at the state House.
A proposal to introduce medical marijuana to the state has been voted down in the legislature this week, failing by one single vote in a House committee.
A majority of Republicans are still concerned about conflicting with the U.S. federal law which currently has marijuana as an illegal substance.
Marijuana is still considered a Schedule 1 street drug, along with heroin and meth.
And so long as the Drug Enforcement Agency sees cannabis as illegal, Tennessee’s Gov. Bill Lee will oppose it.
At least this is according to remarks by his legislative liaison Callon Schmid. She did not say if he would veto the measure.
“He has been consistent in his position that until the federal government reschedules this drug, he is opposed to doing anything at the state level,” she told the House Civil Justice committee Tuesday afternoon.
Senator Becky Duncan Massey (R-Knoxville) and Representative Bryan Terry had co-sponsored the proposal. Terry is a chair of the House Health committee as well as an anesthesiologist.
Dubbed HB 880/SB 667, the bill would only decriminalize possession of non-smokeable forms of marijuana when used for 11 conditions. The measure had advanced farther in the Senate, but the house’s vote has killed the bill for 2021.
HB0880 was voted down 9-8 in the committee meeting.
