Tightened THC limits and aggressive new regulations are forcing Tennessee’s hemp entrepreneurs to shutter operations or swap cannabinoid crops for vegetables to avoid the "Wild West" crackdown.
As of Wednesday, a new, restrictive hemp regime has gone into effect in Tennessee, and the impacts are already becoming apparent. Hemp businesses are shutting down or leaving the state, and hemp farmers are rethinking their crop selections.
The Volunteer State, which has not legalized either recreational or medical marijuana, was fertile ground for intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoid products after federal hemp legalization in 2018.
That state of affairs sparked blowback from lawmakers, who began attempting to ban hemp-derived intoxicating substances back in 2022, amidst complaints about a "Wild West" hemp scene in the state. Last year, legislators finally managed to pass a measure to rein in the sector, House Bill 1376, which went into effect this week.
That bill transfers the regulation of hemp cannabinoid products from the Department of Agriculture to the Alcoholic Beverage Commission and allows sales at businesses with liquor licenses for either on- or off-site consumption, as well as by hemp cannabinoid manufacturers with a retail outlet on the same premises.
But those products will contain less than 0.3 percent total THC because the new law includes THCA, which transforms into THC when burned, and synthetic cannabinoids in calculating permissible THC levels.
As the bill's summary puts it, "This bill instead specifies that THCa is not a HDCP [hemp-derived cannabinoid product] and defines THCa as the precursor of delta-9 THC. This bill also specifies that a synthetic cannabinoid is not a HDCP and defines 'synthetic cannabinoid' to mean a substance with a similar chemical structure and pharmacological activity to a cannabinoid, but that is not extracted or derived from hemp plants, or hemp plant parts, and is instead created or produced by chemical or biochemical synthesis."
Readyville farmer Lee Crabtree used to grow hemp flower for CBD, but he says the new law makes his business impossible. This year, he's growing tomatoes, blackberries, and sunflowers. And sweet corn, of which he is proud.
"Even right off the plant, it’s just so sweet," Crabtree said. "I’m hoping that it sells good."
Crabtree and his wife Stacy have an industrial kitchen in their home where they used to make hemp goodies. Now, Stacy uses it to make chicken salad and pimiento cheese sandwiches that she sells at a farmers' market in Murfreesboro, but profit-wise, chicken salad can't compete with CBD.
"I’m not making the money that I would have been making back when CBD was huge there for a minute," Crabtree said. "It was really good there for a moment. It had its time in the sun."
If he can't make enough money off this year's more traditional crops, he will have to look for a job, he said.
Hemp farmer Bill Corbin is trying a different path. He has switched to growing hemp for fiber instead of cannabinoids and has a contract this year with the French company Hemp-It to buy his crop. Corbin started growing hemp under a state program back in 2016. He said the writing had been on the wall for hemp cannabinoids for a while.
Corbin was one of the first farmers to start growing hemp under Tennessee’s 2016 initiative, a full two years before the federal farm bill made it possible nationwide.
"There’s not a person in this industry that didn’t know this day was coming," Corbin said.
While Corbin supported efforts to crack down on intoxicating hemp products, he said he worried about people using CBD medicinally.
"Take me for example, obviously I’m an older person. I have issues with arthritis," Corbin said. "I rely heavily on full-spectrum CBD."
But he won't be able to obtain it now.
"A lot of people think it’s the young generation. No," said Frederick Cawthon, president of the Hemp Alliance of Tennessee. "The data shows: it’s your grandmother. It’s your auntie. It’s the church lady, actually."
Hemp farmers and sellers were already facing steep taxes, and now they have to deal with the THCA ban, Cawthon said.
"For a state that is definitely known for helping the small businessperson, this one did hit. It was a gut punch," Cawthon said. "Small businesses like ours cannot really survive."
