As Tennessee’s new ban on popular hemp products took effect Wednesday, two Democratic lawmakers are reigniting a drive to legalize marijuana and use the proceeds to patch craters in highways across the state.
The “Pot for Potholes Act,” sponsored by Sen. Heidi Campbell and Rep. Aftyn Behn, both Nashville Democrats, would make pot use legal, set regulations and take the revenue to maintain roads and bridges.
The legislation hasn’t made any headway in the Republican-controlled legislature, but Campbell and Behn say they will continue to seek hearings and bring back their bill in 2027.
Attitudes also could be shifting as the federal government goes through the process for rescheduling medical marijuana, classifying it differently from drugs such as heroin and cocaine when contained in an FDA-approved product or allowed by state governments. Recreational marijuana remains a Schedule I drug at the federal level, defined as having no acceptable medical use and a high risk of abuse, although 24 states have legalized weed and more allow medical marijuana.
Stores are being required to remove products containing THCa from their shelves following action by lawmakers in 2025, seven years after the legislature bolstered the hemp market, enabling cannabis stores to pop up statewide. THCa products, which have been regulated by the state, contain less than .3% of the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, but when burned, the THC level increases, leading some lawmakers to complain that the state had set up a market for legal marijuana.