KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Head into any Knoxville hemp store and most owners will tell you what the public is looking for: THCA.
Appalachian Natural Hemp Shop co-owner Nic Blais said he sees about 40 to 60 customers daily.
“80% of our sales are the THCA concentrates or flower,” Blais said. “There’s people coming in for very specific things they’re looking for, but for the most part we are more of a recreational style shop, so we get more of those customers.”
Final rules from the Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) will keep THCA legal but ban local business owners from selling most THCA products.
What is THCA?
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THCA, a chemical naturally found in raw cannabis plants, is a precursor to THC—the substance that causes a high for users.
To understand the relationship between THCA and THC, picture baking a cake.
Think of THCA as the raw cake batter. It contains all the necessary ingredients but isn’t yet a cake. Similarly, THCA lacks the high-causing properties.
Just as cake batter requires heat to become a cake, THCA needs heat to convert into THC, a process known as decarboxylation. Once it’s transformed into THC, it can now get users high.
This is why products full of THCA, while technically legal due to the absence of active THC, become intoxicating when heated—just like how batter transforms into a cake when baked.
THCA wasn’t regulated in the same way as THC because it doesn’t cause a high in its raw form, creating what some have called a “loophole” that allows for the sale of THCA products.
Using the cake analogy: It’s as if cake batter is legal, but the cake is illegal in Tennessee.
What do the rules change?
In July 2023, Tennessee lawmakers passed SB0378, granting the TDA authority to regulate hemp more strictly.
The agency subsequently proposed rules using “Total THC” to determine product legality, regulating the amount of THCA in products because of its possibility of converting into THC.
The agency received over 19,000 comments regarding the proposed rules and acknowledged the majority of them disagreed with the “Total THC” testing due to its impact on THCA sales.
The final rules were posted in September and beginning Dec. 26, 2024, hemp retailers cannot sell THCA products potentially convertible to 0.3% or more THC through methods similar to post-decarboxylation. Sellers with specific licensing face a higher limit of 5% THC.
What does this mean for local businesses?
Under these new rules, the TDA can inspect products from any hemp shop “as often as necessary.” However, THCA remains legal in Tennessee and available online, raising questions regarding regulation with consumers receiving products directly at home.
Ryan Rush, owner of Rush Hemp Farms, started his business in 2016 after his brother was diagnosed with sarcoidosis. Now, his business ships and sells hemp products to all 50 states.
“I’ve been shipping with USPS mail for eight years now. I registered with them six years ago. They know exactly what we’re selling,” Rush said.
Both Blais and Rush believe consumers will continue seeking hemp products despite these new rules.
“People are still going to get [THCA] because, you can’t put that back in the bag—that cat’s out now,” Rush said. “And people know that it’s on the internet, they know it’s sold easily. They know it arrives safely. They just don’t see it with their hands and they can’t pick it up and they can’t look at it through a jar immediately. But, once you make a good trusted connection with a retailer or seller who’s out of the state and they always take of you—what are you worried about?”
What does the TDA have to say?
It’s important to note that “Total THC” testing is a federal requirement for hemp growers in Tennessee. The TDA noted that legislators applied this standard to retail hemp products:
“…the state’s federally required total THC testing standard for growers/producers also applies to suppliers and retailers who handle the same product. The Department presumes the state legislature knew the state growers/producers statute employed a total THC testing standard, and the Department notes the state legislature modeled the HOC products law after the growers/producers law without carving out a clear exception re-testing allowances or limitations for THCa.”
When responding to a comment directly asking about the impact on local businesses the TDA said it doesn’t dispute what industry experts say will happen to THCA products affected by the rules.
However, the department said it “remains hopeful that the market will adjust to minimize any adverse impacts to the industry as a whole that are created by this law and the corresponding rules.”
The TDA declined to be interviewed by WBIR.
What does the future look like for hemp businesses in Tennessee?
Blais sees benefits in Tennessee’s growing hemp industry.
“It’s creating jobs in town. People are relying more on this than other drugs they could find on the streets,” Blais said. “That’s a huge plus to me—seeing people curve their opiate addiction with cannabis.” (There isn’t specific data on hemp use in Tennessee lowering opioid use or deaths, but available information suggests that cannabis can serve as an alternative for pain management.)
However, with the new regulations, Blais is forced to rethink his business model. “We’re going to lean in hard on edibles, but like I said earlier, flower is 80% of our business. So, that’s definitely gonna take a huge hit to us.”
Rush highlighted the broader impact on Tennessee hemp business owners.
“It’s gonna hurt people who have invested their time. People who have invested their money, pulled leases, pulled loans, trained employees and bought inventory,” Rush said.
Rush also believes an unintended consequence involves an increase in black market purchases. “You’re gonna drive people and create a secondary class of criminals from citizens who may have to go back to the black market because they don’t trust what’s online,” Rush said. “Those are going to be your big things along with job loss.”
Both men criticized lawmakers’ understanding of hemp.
“[Lawmakers] are backtracking and trying to undo a lot of things that they didn’t realize they did,” Rush said.
“It’s a lack of education completely. People have just been told something forever,” Blais said. “So, that’s just what they think and that’s what they want to always think and they refuse to hear what this can be.”
