Tennessee, One of several states where only CBD oil is legal has seen its fair share of legislative action on cannabis by GOP lawmakers, but medical and recreational marijuana hasn’t come close to legalization or decriminalization.
Still hemp remains a hot topic among Southern politicians.
representative Sabi “Doc” Kumar (R-Springfield) was the last to express his stance on the matter.
“I’m against recreational marijuana because of its impact on society in terms of homelessness, increased crime, increased availability, especially for our youth and teens,” Kumar, who has a four-decade career as a surgeon, told Nashville News.
However, he is not against medicinal cannabis use, although he believes it may become a gateway drug.
“Many states that was a stepping stone to recreational marijuana, and I’m definitely against recreational marijuana,” he said. “I think our General Assembly is quite against it because it puts another drug on the street.”
Interestingly, Kumar disagreed Data reported by ACLU, suggesting that black and brown people are almost four times more likely to be arrested for cannabis than white people.
“If you hadn’t committed the crime, you wouldn’t be in prison. So it can be really cultural that certain people are more inclined to commit this crime,” he said said. “But if you’ve committed a crime, you’ve certainly gone to jail for it. You didn’t go to jail because of the color of your skin.”
Fellow Republican agrees
Meanwhile, Kumar’s Republican compatriot Sen. Joey Hensley (R-Hohenwald), has a very similar opinion in this regard, Doubts about the benefits of marijuana being touted by medicinal cannabis users.
“People claim it helps with a lot of medical problems, and I’m not saying it doesn’t help with some things,” Hensley, also a doctor, told the news outlet. “I don’t think it helps all the things people say it does.”
Still, he thinks de-scheduling cannabis as Schedule I…
