Sponsor asks panel to study 99‑page medical cannabis amendment; committee delays action

Senator Hill presented a comprehensive 99‑page amendment intended to establish a tightly regulated medical cannabis program in Tennessee that would activate only if federal law rescheduled cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III or otherwise changed. The amendment is structured around a traditional medical model: licensed physicians would prescribe medical cannabis for qualifying conditions and licensed pharmacies would dispense it; oversight would be placed with the Department of Health and a Medical Cannabis Commission, and prescriptions would be monitored through the state controlled-substances database.

Hill emphasized guardrails—no smoking, continued prohibitions on driving under the influence, and preservation of employer drug‑free workplace policies—and proposed transparent licensing for cultivation, processing and testing, with a lottery for initial business licenses. He also said the amendment was drafted with the state medical cannabis commission and that multiple committees would need to weigh in.

Several committee members noted the amendment’s length and complexity and the need for more time to review the policy, statutory cross-references and implementation details. A senator asked whether the amendment set an implementation date tied to an election; Hill clarified that the current amendment did not include that date and said a prior amendment that had set November 1 had been removed. Given the bill’s scope and multi-committee implications, Hill and the chair agreed to put the amendment on a summer study and to place the bill first on the calendar at the next session so members could review the text.

Outcome: Amendment not adopted today; sponsor agreed to return the amendment for further review and summer study.