Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-17-402 (2026)

As used in this part and title 53, chapter 11, parts 3 and 4, unless the context otherwise requires:

• (1) "Administer" means the direct application of a controlled substance, whether by injection, inhalation, ingestion, or any other means, to the body of a patient or research subject by:
  • (A) A practitioner or by the practitioner's authorized agent in the practitioner's presence; or
  • (B) The patient or research subject at the direction and in the presence of the practitioner;

• (2) "Agent" means an authorized person who acts on behalf of or at the direction of a manufacturer, distributor, or dispenser. "Agent" does not include a common or contract carrier, public warehouseman, or employee of the carrier or warehouseman;

• (3) "Bureau" means the United States drug enforcement administration, United States department of justice, or its successor agency, except when used as the Tennessee bureau of investigation;

• (4) "Controlled substance" means a drug, substance, or immediate precursor in Schedules I through VII of §§ 39-17-403 - 39-17-416;

• (5) "Counterfeit substance" means a controlled substance which, or the container or labeling of which, without authorization, bears the trademark, trade name, or other identifying mark, imprint, number or device, or any likeness thereof, of a manufacturer, distributor or dispenser other than the person who in fact manufactured, distributed, or dispensed the substance;

• (6) "Deliver" or "delivery" means the actual, constructive, or attempted transfer from one person to another of a controlled substance, whether or not there is an agency relationship;

• (7) "Dispense" means to deliver a controlled substance to an ultimate user or research subject by or pursuant to the lawful order of a practitioner, including the prescribing, administering, packaging, labeling, or compounding necessary to prepare the substance for that delivery;

• (8) "Dispenser" means a practitioner who dispenses;

• (9) "Distribute" means to deliver other than by administering or dispensing a controlled substance;

• (10) "Distributor" means a person who distributes;

• (11) "Drug" means:
  • (A) Substances recognized as drugs in the United States Pharmacopoeia, official Homeopaths Pharmacopoeia of the United States, or official National Formulary, or any supplement to any of them;
  • (B) Substances intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease in man or animal;
  • (C) Substances, other than food, intended to affect the structure or any function of the body of man or animal; and
  • (D) Substances intended for use as a component of any article specified in subdivision (11)(A), (B) or (C). "Drug" does not include devices or their components, parts, or accessories;

• (12) "Drug paraphernalia" means all equipment, products and materials of any kind which are used, intended for use, or designed for use in planting, propagating, cultivating, growing, harvesting, manufacturing, compounding, converting, producing, processing, preparing, testing, analyzing, packaging, repackaging, storing, containing, concealing, injecting, ingesting, inhaling or otherwise introducing into the human body, a controlled substance as defined in subdivision (4). "Drug paraphernalia" includes, but is not limited to:
  • (A) Isomerization devices used, intended for use, or designed for use in increasing the potency of any species of plant that is a controlled substance;
  • (B)
    • (i) Testing equipment used, intended for use, or designed for use in identifying, or in analyzing the strength, effectiveness, or purity of controlled substances;
    • (ii)[Effective until July 1, 2025.] Subdivision (12)(B)(i) does not include narcotic testing equipment used to determine whether a controlled substance contains a synthetic opioid, unless the narcotic testing equipment is possessed for purposes of the defendant's commission of an offense under § 39-17-417. This subdivision (12)(B)(ii) is repealed on July 1, 2025;
  • (C) Objects used, intended for use, or designed for use in ingesting, inhaling, or otherwise introducing marijuana, marijuana concentrates, marijuana oil, cocaine, hashish, or hashish oil into the human body, such as:
    • (i) Metal, acrylic, glass, stone, or plastic pipes with or without screens, permanent screens, hashish heads, or punctured metal bowls;
    • (ii) Water pipes;
    • (iii) Carburetion tubes and devices;
    • (iv) Smoking and carburetion masks;
    • (v) Chamber pipes;
    • (vi) Carburetor pipes;
    • (vii) Electric pipes;
    • (viii) Chillums;
    • (ix) Bongs; and
    • (x) Ice pipes or chillers; and
  • (D) Pill press devices and pieces of a pill press device, unless the pill press device or piece of a pill press device is used by a person or entity that lawfully possesses drug products in the course of legitimate business activities, including a pharmacy or pharmacist licensed by the board of pharmacy; a wholesale drug distributor, or its agents, licensed by the board of pharmacy; and a manufacturer of drug products, or its agents, licensed by the board of pharmacy;

• (13) "Immediate methamphetamine precursor" means ephedrine, pseudoephedrine or phenylpropanolamine, or their salts, isomers or salts of isomers, or any drug or other product that contains a detectable quantity of ephedrine, pseudoephedrine or phenylpropanolamine, or their salts, isomers or salts of isomers;

• (14) "Immediate precursor" means a substance that the commissioner of mental health and substance abuse services, upon the agreement of the commissioner of health, has found to be and by rule designates as being the principal compound commonly used or produced primarily for use, and that is an immediate chemical intermediary used or likely to be used in the manufacture of a controlled substance, the control of which is necessary to prevent, curtail, or limit manufacture;

• (15) "Manufacture" means the production, preparation, propagation, compounding, conversion or processing of a controlled substance, either directly or indirectly by extraction from substances of natural origin, or independently by means of chemical synthesis, and includes any packaging or repackaging of the substance or labeling or relabeling of its container, except that "manufacture" does not include the preparation or compounding of a controlled substance by an individual for the individual's own use or the preparation, compounding, packaging, or labeling of a controlled substance by:
  • (A) A practitioner as an incident to administering or dispensing a controlled substance in the course of professional practice; or
  • (B) A practitioner, or an authorized agent under the practitioner's supervision, for the purpose of, or as an incident to, research, teaching or chemical analysis and not for sale;

• (16)
  • (A) "Marijuana" means all parts of the plant cannabis, whether growing or not; the seeds of the plant; the resin extracted from any part of the plant; and every compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of the plant, including concentrates and oils, its seeds or resin;
  • (B) "Marijuana" does not include the mature stalks of the plant, fiber produced from the stalks, oil or cake made from the seeds of the plant, any other compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of the mature stalks, except the resin extracted from the mature stalks, fiber, oil, or cake, or the sterilized seeds of the plant which are incapable of germination;
  • (C) "Marijuana" also does not include hemp, as defined in § 43-27-101;
  • (D) The term "marijuana" does not include a product approved as a prescription medication by the United States food and drug administration. Such product shall be designated, rescheduled, or deleted as a controlled substance pursuant to § 39-17-403;
  • (E) The term "marijuana" does not include cannabis oil containing the substance cannabidiol, with less than six tenths of one percent (0.6%) of tetrahydrocannabinol, including the necessary seeds and plants, when manufactured, processed, transferred, dispensed, or possessed by a four-year public or private institution of higher education certified by the drug enforcement administration located in the state as part of a clinical research study on the treatment of intractable seizures, cancer, or other diseases; and
  • (F) The term "marijuana" does not include oil containing the substance cannabidiol, with less than nine-tenths of one percent (0.9%) of tetrahydrocannabinol, if:
    • (i)
      • (a) The bottle containing the oil is labeled by the manufacturer as containing cannabidiol in an amount less than nine-tenths of one percent (0.9%) of tetrahydrocannabinol; and
      • (b) The person in possession of the oil retains:
        • (1) Proof of the legal order or recommendation from the issuing state; and
        • (2) Proof that the person or the person's immediate family member has been diagnosed with intractable seizures or epilepsy by a medical doctor or doctor of osteopathic medicine who is licensed to practice medicine in this state; or
    • (ii)
      • (a) The bottle containing the oil is labeled by the manufacturer as containing cannabidiol in an amount less than nine-tenths of one percent (0.9%) of tetrahydrocannabinol on a printed label that includes the manufacturer's name and the expiration date, batch number or lot number, and tetrahydrocannabinol concentration strength of the oil; and
      • (b) The person in possession of the oil retains:
        • (1) Proof of the legal order or recommendation from the issuing state;
        • (2) Proof that the person or the person's immediate family member has been diagnosed with at least one (1) of the following diseases or conditions by a medical doctor or doctor of osteopathic medicine who is licensed to practice medicine in this state:
          • (A) Alzheimer's disease;
          • (B) Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS);
          • (C) Cancer, when such disease is diagnosed as end stage or the treatment produces related wasting illness, recalcitrant nausea and vomiting, or pain;
          • (D) Inflammatory bowel disease, including Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis;
          • (E) Multiple sclerosis;
          • (F) Parkinson's disease;
          • (G) Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS);
          • (H) Sickle cell disease; or
          • (I) Quadriplegia; and
        • (3) Proof that the person or the person's immediate family member has a valid letter of attestation, as defined in § 68-7-101;

• (17) "Narcotic drug" means any of the following, whether produced directly or indirectly by extraction from substances of vegetable origin, or independently by means of chemical synthesis, or by a combination of extraction and chemical synthesis:
  • (A) Opium and opiate, and any salt, compound, derivative, or preparation of opium or opiate;
  • (B) Any salt, compound, isomer, derivative, or preparation thereof that is chemically equivalent or identical with any of the substances referred to in subdivision (17)(A), but not including the isoquinoline alkaloids of opium;
  • (C) Opium poppy and poppy straw; and
  • (D) Coca leaves and any salt, compound, derivative, or preparation of coca leaves, and any salt, compound, isomer, derivative, or preparation thereof that is chemically equivalent or identical with any of these substances, but not including decocainized coca leaves or extractions of coca leaves that do not contain cocaine or ecgonine;

• (18) "Opiate" means any substance having an addiction-forming or addiction-sustaining liability similar to morphine or being capable of conversion into a drug having addiction-forming or addiction-sustaining liability. "Opiate" does not include, unless specifically designated as controlled under § 39-17-403, the dextrorotatory isomer of 3-methozy-methyl-morphinan and its salts (dextromethorphan). "Opiate" does not include its racemic and levorotatory forms;

• (19) "Opium poppy" means the plant of the species papaver somniferum 1, except its seeds;

• (20) "Person" means an individual, corporation, governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership or association or any other legal entity;

• (21) "Pharmacist" means a licensed pharmacist as defined by the laws of this state, and where the context so requires, the owner of a store or other place of business where controlled substances are compounded or dispensed by a licensed pharmacist; but nothing in this part or title 53, chapter 11, parts 3 and 4 shall be construed as conferring on a person who is not registered or licensed as a pharmacist any authority, right or privilege that is not granted to that person by the pharmacy laws of this state;

• (22) "Poppy straw" means all parts, except the seeds, of the opium poppy after mowing;

• (23) "Practitioner" means:
  • (A) A physician, dentist, optometrist, veterinarian, scientific investigator or other person licensed, registered or otherwise permitted to distribute, dispense, conduct research with respect to or to administer a controlled substance in the course of professional practice or research in this state; or
  • (B) A pharmacy, hospital or other institution licensed, registered, or otherwise permitted to distribute, dispense, conduct research with respect to or to administer a controlled substance in the course of professional practice or research in this state;

• (24) "Production" includes the manufacturing, planting, cultivating, growing or harvesting of a controlled substance;

• (25) "State," when applied to a part of the United States, includes any state, district, commonwealth, territory, insular possession thereof, and any area subject to the legal authority of the United States;

• (26) "Ultimate user" means a person who lawfully possesses a controlled substance for the person's own use or for the use of a member of the person's household or for the administering to an animal owned by the person or by a member of the person's household; and

• (27) "Wholesaler" means a person who supplies a controlled substance that the person has not produced or prepared, on official written orders, but not on prescriptions.

Amended by 2022 Tenn. Acts, ch. 804, s 1, eff. 7/1/2022.

Amended by 2022 Tenn. Acts, ch. 1054, s 1, eff. 5/25/2022.

Amended by 2022 Tenn. Acts, ch. 764, s 1, eff. 3/31/2022.

Amended by 2021 Tenn. Acts, ch. 577, s 3, eff. 5/27/2021.

Amended by 2021 Tenn. Acts, ch. 230, s 1, eff. 4/22/2021.

Amended by 2019 Tenn. Acts, ch. 87, s 1, eff. 4/4/2019.

Amended by 2018 Tenn. Acts, ch. 1041, s 1, eff. 7/1/2018.

Amended by 2017 Tenn. Acts, ch. 120, s 1, eff. 4/12/2017.

Amended by 2016 Tenn. Acts, ch. 1083, s 1, eff. 5/20/2016.

Amended by 2016 Tenn. Acts, ch. 873, s 2, eff. 7/1/2016.

Amended by 2016 Tenn. Acts, ch. 873, s 1, eff. 7/1/2016.

Amended by 2015 Tenn. Acts, ch. 352, s 1, eff. 5/4/2015.

Acts 1989, ch. 591, § 1; 1993, ch. 295, § 8; 2005, ch. 18, § 9; 2010 , ch. 1100, § 65; 2012 , ch. 575, § 2; 2012 , ch. 848, § 97; 2014 , ch. 916, § 1; 2014, ch. 936, § 1; 2015 , ch. 352, § 1.