Tennessee hemp growers unable to grow the most popular cannabis flower in the state

FRANKLIN, Tenn. (WKRN) — The most popular cannabis products in Tennessee can’t be made in the Volunteer State.

THCA products are the biggest sellers for cannabis retailers in Tennessee. However, while business is booming for dispensaries, hemp growers like Patrick Cowden in Franklin are being forced to downsize.

“I went from not having anything available because it was sold to having everything available because no one wanted to buy it anymore,” Cowden said.

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Cowden owns and operates Cowden Hemp Company, an indoor CBD and CBN farm.

While CBD and CBN flower were popular a few years ago, THCA and Delta 8 THC, which can give users are a “high” more similar to marijuana, have taken over the market.

“Everybody just wanted THCA,” Cowden said. “A definitely major downturn in business over the last six, eight months.”

CBD can be found in a hemp plant and can be smoked or ingested.

While the FDA has not approved marketing cannabis flower as a treatment for any disease or condition, CBD users report it helps ease an assortment of medical problems ranging from anxiety, to inflammation to seizures.

“Some people just like smoking. It tastes like marijuana. It smells like marijuana. If all their friends are smoking a joint they can smoke this,” Cowden said.

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While they are both cannabis, hemp plants and the CBD they produce are required to have a low level of THC while marijuana plants have a higher level of THC.

THC is the chemical compound found in a cannabis plant that gets people high.

THCA products are derived from a marijuana plant and are currently legal to sell in Tennessee. However, while Cowden can consume THCA purchased from any cannabis shop in town, he can’t grow it himself.

“[There’s] a misalignment of testing between growers and retail, which is weird because how can you sell a product that can’t be made here?” Cowden asked.

To explain further, in Tennessee growers and retailers don’t operate under the same restrictions.

Growers need their plants to have less than 0.3% total THC.

Total THC is a wide umbrella that can include multiple types of THC like THCA, Delta 8 THC and Delta 9 THC.

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On the other hand, retailers just need to make sure their products contain less than 0.3 Delta 9 THC, which is a narrower restriction.

“When you have THCA you light it on fire and all the THCA converts to Delta 9 [and] you get high from it. So that’s why we can’t grow it because we have to be under 0.3% total THC and if you buy you know THCA product, it’s going to be probably 20 to 25% total THC,” Cowden explained.

Therefore, THCA products bought and sold in Tennessee come from states where adult-use recreational marijuana is legal.

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“If you go to a dispensary in a legal state, you’re gonna buy essentially THCA flower, it’s the same thing. It’s just not called that because they don’t have to call it that to get around the law,” Cowden said.

Cowden said until he is allowed to grow THCA flower in his garage, he needs to downsize his operation and go back to his former job working as a lighting director.

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