“It’ll help the businesses, we’ll have great revenue, and everybody smoking the stuff will be a lot happier.”
By Sam Stockard, Tennessee Lookout
Tennessee’s hemp industry has reached an agreement with state agencies, dismissing a lawsuit and enabling some businesses to keep selling hemp-derived products such as THCA for a short time after new restrictions take effect.
The Tennessee Healthy Alternatives Association announced it entered an order with the state Agriculture and Revenue Departments allowing businesses with licenses issued before December 31, 2025 to continue using a 2023 regulatory framework until their licenses expire June 30, 2026. Such a move allows stores to keep selling many products that will be banned after a new law takes effect January 1.
Because of the agreement, a pending declaratory judgment against the Agriculture and Revenue departments has been dismissed, the association said in a statement.
Part of the new law adopted by the legislature this year transfers regulatory authority over hemp products and beverages from the state Agriculture Department to the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission.
The new law also bans the hemp derivative, THCA, which converts into delta-9 THC-an illegal substance in Tennessee in greater than trace amounts-when smoked or heated. Palmer said that the new law will push consumers to synthetic cannabinoids. The new law will push consumers to synthetic cannabinoids, he said.
“If you ask your typical consumer, they’re gonna say gross,” Palmer said.
Palmer told lawmakers early this year hemp businesses will be forced to shut down despite spending millions of dollars to comply with state regulations.
State Sen. Richard Briggs, a Knoxville Republican, said during a committee meeting that the legislature should withdraw the bill and consider another one allowing recreational marijuana.
“Let’s be perfectly honest. Briggs, a Knoxville Republican, said during a committee meeting that the legislature should withdraw the bill and consider another one allowing recreational marijuana.
“Let’s be perfectly honest.”
