NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Tennessee hemp growers, retailers, and advocates are breathing a sigh of relief after a Davidson County judge temporarily paused new rules set to go into effect the day after Christmas that hemp stakeholders argued would have turned the industry to ashes.
One of the rules, announced by the Department of Agriculture in September, would prohibit hemp products containing more than 0.3% THCa when burned. Hemp stakeholders argued it would have banned all hemp flower, a product that has been legally sold in Tennessee since 2019 and accounts for around 80% of retailers’ sales.
“There’s going to be nothing to regulate. You don’t need to hire any inspectors. We’ll all go out of business,” Michael Solomon, a Tennessee hemp business owner said during a November hearing with lawmakers.
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Cynthia Cabrera, chief strategy officer for Hometown Hero and a member of the Tennessee Growers Coalition told News 2 the industry supports regulations that are “reasonable and rational,” however, Tennessee’s rules are not.
“We’re all interested in consumer safety,” Cabrera said. “There are a handful of things you have to do to ensure consumer safety. The Tennessee bill that passed, I want to say it was 60 pages or maybe longer, so there were a bunch of other things in there that I knew we’re going to cause problems in the future.”
The Tennessee Growers Coalition and other stakeholders raised money to sue the state over the rules, which hemp advocates have done in other states, including Texas, Louisiana, Virginia, Maryland, and Arkansas when lawmakers passed similar rules.
“The only avenue the industry has had available to them is lawsuits,” Cabrera said. “You can’t sue for everything because there are not unlimited pots of money, but you know when there are going to be issues.”
On Dec. 23, just days before the rules were set to go into effect, a Davidson County judge threw them a temporary lifeline by issuing a preliminary injunction on the rules until Feb. 18. The judge will issue a final ruling on Feb. 18 which will give stakeholders time to gather more information that provides “additional understanding of the proposed testing.”
While hemp growers and retailers wait for a final ruling, it’s business as usual.
“Over 3,000 stores are in the state, and of those 3,000 stores, 60 to 90% of their product sales are THCa flower,” Cabrera said. “That’s a lot, so if I were a business I wouldn’t just be walking away from that right now.”
A spokesperson for the Tennessee Department of Agriculture said the agency does not comment on pending litigation, but added that they “respect the court’s decision and look forward to reaching a final resolution of these matters.”
