The most popular hemp product in Tennessee may soon be pulled from shelves when new rules go into effect at the end of the year.
Sales of hemp flower, a dried smokeable form of cannabis, make up around 70% to 80% of Tennessee’s legal hemp market, Kelley Hess, executive director of the Tennessee Growers Coalition, said.
“A lot of people will just be straight out of business,” Hess said by phone.
Much of those sales come from THCa flower, which contains the chemical precursor to delta-9 THC, the psychoactive compound found in high concentrations in illegal marijuana.
The rules, created by Tennessee’s department of agriculture, are largely similar to emergency rules that were already in place and to proposed rules first released in December 2023.