Tennessee lawmakers grapple with changes over Delta-8
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Similar to marijuana, Delta-8 and Delta-10 have similar makeups and all make you feel “high.”
But for just over five years, they operated unregulated in Tennessee. That changed last year, when lawmakers passed new regulations.
“There’s definitely some issues with Delta-8. It’s kind of like when we were dealing with synthetic meth a number of years ago,” Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) said. “Every time you try to take a crack at something, they just change a molecule in the chain, and it becomes something else.”
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Not everybody is for Delta-8. In fact, some Republican lawmakers actively pushed to ban it from Tennessee last year before switching to a regulatory bill.
“It regulates a product that under the hemp bill was already out there on the shelves, was already out there, unregulated, being sold to children,” House Majority Leader William Lamberth (R-Portland) said. “You heard me last year talk about that. An 8-year-old could walk into a 7/11 and buy these products, many of which are intoxicating.”
Others simply see it as a gateway to full legalization of cannabis, which Republicans block every year in Tennessee.
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“Some people try to use the medical aspect to get to recreational, which I’m not a fan of. I don’t think we should do that based on what I’ve seen in other states, Colorado being particular,” Sexton said. “But if we want to have it as a medical usage, it needs to come off Schedule I, and then we put it into the forms of what medicine would be.”
Currently, cannabis is classified on the same scale as heroin, LSD and ecstasy and is legally considered more dangerous than cocaine, meth and fentanyl.
There’s been a push from Republicans and Democrats alike to change the scheduling status of cannabis in Tennessee.
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“When the federal level does what it has to do, I think our state will be a little more flexible,” Rep. Torrey Harris (D-Memphis) said. “Some of those changes, not everyone will be adherent to it, but if it does change, then at least we’ll follow what the law says.”
Of course, Democrats would like to see full legalization of cannabis, but the decision is out of their hands since they face a Republican supermajority.
Still, Democrats at least feel pretty satisfied with where the Delta-8 law is currently.
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“What is the point of taking it away if it’s already working. It hasn’t bothered anyone,” Harris said. “It’s actually making money and commerce for our state, and people are still able to get some type of relief in some way.”
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