Tennessee Senate Sends Local Pot Law Nullification To Governor

NASHVILLE, TN — Nashville's efforts to lower the penalty for possessing small amounts of marijuana is in extremis following the State Senate's vote on a bill that strips local governments' power to pass drug legislation.

The Senate voted 26-5 Monday on a bill that prohibits cities and counties from enacting controlled-substances ordinances that are inconsistent with state law. The bill is aimed at newly-passed ordinances by Nashville and Memphis which provide for civil penalties — similar to parking tickets — for possessing a half-ounce of marijuana or less. The House of Representatives approved the bill 68-25 last week.

In the Senate, Nashville's Steve Dickerson was the only Republican to vote against the bill; Speaker Beth Harwell, also a Nashville Republican, was among the half dozen Republicans who opposed it in the House.

Gov. Bill Haslam's office told The Tennessean the governor is likely to "defer to the will of the legislature" on the bill, but that he had yet to review the legislation.

The lighter penalty has only been issued 39 times by Metro Nashville officers since the Metro Council passed it. By comparison, MNPD has issued 936 citations for the higher, state penalty.

Supporters of the bill argued that the lighter local penalties creates confusion for police officers and that the effort was simply a move to create uniformity from Memphis to Mountain City on marijuana.

Councilman Dave Rosenberg, who led the effort in Nashville, said the legislature is "yielding to the archaic, Nixon-era hysteria of a small group of legislators who live outside of Music City," where the Vanderbilt Poll released Sunday showed an overwhelming majority of Nashvillians support some level of decriminalization of marijuana.

Rosenberg also said the bill is so broadly worded that it could hamstring local efforts to curb meth and opioid abuse.

"Additionally, the legislation, which prohibits any locality from establishing a policy or guideline related to drug enforcement, may void any local drug task force including those charged with reducing the prevalence of meth. Other policies and guidelines issued to local law enforcement, family wellness agencies, and other departments that seek to detect the presence of meth labs or instances of drug abuse may also be nullified by this legislation," he said in a statement.

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