How Tennessee Marijuana Legalization Compares To Other States

By Marissa Velazquez


In the first two decades of the 21st century, the position with regard to Tennessee marijuana legalization still had a long way to go to match up with many other states in the union. Possession of up to one-half ounce was a misdemeanor, carrying fines up to $1,000 and up to six years in jail. Selling the drug was considered a felony with prison sentences starting at one to six years for up to ten pounds to as high as 60 years for the sale of 300 pounds or more. Cultivating the plant was also a felony and earned a fine up to half a million dollars and jail sentences up to 60 years.

Penalties in nearby Kentucky are considerably less severe. Possession of less than eight ounces is a misdemeanor with a fine of $250 and no jail time. Sale or trafficking carries a jail sentence of between one and twenty years and fines of between $500 and $10,000. The maximum prison sentence for cultivation is no more than ten years and no more than a $10,000 fine.

As might be expected, the State of California is markedly more lenient. Here, possessing an ounce is virtually the same as a motoring offense with a fine of only $100. It takes a prize idiot to get caught for this. Carrying more than an ounce, use by anyone under the age of 18 or possession on school grounds is more serious and carries correspondingly higher penalties.

Hemp is a plant that is closely related to cannabis but does not have the same trippy effects. It has immense commercial potential for use as a starting material for making plastic, paper, insulation, clothing and lots of other useful products. Tennessee politicians apparently do not draw the distinction between the two plants and therefore its farmers are forbidden from growing it.

Recognizing the difference between a plant that is a narcotic and a plant that is not, Senator Frank Niceley, representing, of all places, Strawberry Fields, is in the process of drafting legislation that will make it legal for farmers to grow this valuable crop. This will also please the health food consumers, who derive ample amounts of protein and the highly prized omega-3 fatty acids from hemp seeds.

Unlike some states in America, Tennessee does not recognize or legalize the medical use of cannabis. Widely regarded by the medical community for its therapeutic benefits in Crohn's disease, multiple sclerosis and the control of cancer pain, depression, AIDS, glaucoma, epilepsy and many other conditions, state politicians are not so clued up. Hundreds of families are being forced to leave their homes in Tennessee and move to Colorado, where medical use of cannabis is legal, just to protect their children from deadly seizures.

In Colorado, braced for a wave of marijuana immigrants, has long approved the medical use of cannabis. Here, patients with written permission from their doctors are able to possess up to 2 oz of cannabis weed for medicinal purposes. They may also cultivate up to six plants.

The world has come a long way since the 1938 film, "Reefer Madness." It will be interesting to see what direction Tennessee marijuana legalization takes in the future.




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