Jerri Green, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee in Tennessee, says she supports legalizing medical and adult-use cannabis.
Tennessee is one of the few U.S. states where cannabis use remains strictly prohibited, although polling suggests over 80% voter support for medical and over 60% support for adult-use legalization.
Green said in a recent Q&A with The Tennessean that “Tennessee is moving backward by maintaining a cannabis ban that fuels mass incarceration and disproportionately criminalizes Black and brown people for nonviolent offenses. We must end this systemic injustice and put those tax dollars to work for our communities.”
Green also said the state lawmakers who have refused to enact state-level reforms do so to appease “Big Pharma and the alcohol lobby,” highlighting the benefits of medical cannabis as a non-addictive alternative to opioids.
“Finally, this is a way to support farmers as federal policies are effectively killing generational farms,” she wrote.
The Republican nominee, U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, said that while she is concerned about the potential misuse of medical cannabis, she would “review medical and clinical research on medical marijuana as it comes out.”
On adult-use cannabis, Blackburn said, “Recreational marijuana has no place in Tennessee. Due to its addictive nature and other troubling effects, it would be completely irresponsible to legalize it.”
The two leading independent candidates, David Hatley and Lauren Pinkston, both said they support medical cannabis legalization and highlighted its benefits for veterans, in particular.
However, they held back on supporting adult-use legalization: Hatley said that decision should be put as a question to voters, while Pinkston said that her priority would be getting the medical program right, and on decriminalizing cannabis rather than outright legalizing it.
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