How does Tennessee regulate its hemp industry?
In 2019, Tennessee adopted the federal guidelines on hemp into state law.
Between then and 2023, the hemp industry was kind of like the Wild West — largely unregulated, aside from the requirement to have less than 0.3% delta-9 THC, state Sen. Richard Briggs, R-Knoxville, said by phone.
Last year, lawmakers passed a sweeping regulatory bill sponsored by Briggs that includes requirements for packaging, limits sales to people over 21, and established new permits for retail stores and manufacturing operations.
Most members of Tennessee’s hemp industry welcomed the regulations, which they’d been seeking for years to weed out bad actors, experts said. But some worry additional rules around how hemp is tested, now being written by the state’s Department of Agriculture, could threaten the growing cannabis industry here.