The New Year means the arrival of 16 new laws in Tennessee. WBIR has received many questions about changes to a law regarding law enforcement and marijuana crimes.
The new law says the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission will not have jurisdiction over marijuana crimes. It does not change the laws regarding marijuana. It merely cuts the TABC from the state's team of agencies that crack down on pot crimes.
The Governor's Task Force on Marijuana Eradication is run by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and is made up 30 to 50 agents from several agencies. You've likely seen footage of the task force flying over illegal pot growing operations in helicopters and swooping in to destroy the plants.
The TABC has been a major member of the task force since its creation. Around nine special agents from TABC serve on the task force. That is, until the start of 2018.
The push by lawmakers to remove TABC from the task force began in 2012. That's when the investigative team at WSMV, the NBC affiliate in Nashville, discovered a report that claimed some law enforcement officers noticed what they believe was marijuana and rolling papers in the home of Danielle Elks, the then-director of TABC.
The officers saw the suspected marijuana when they went to the home of Elks after her husband was killed in a car crash. They entered the home to check on her welfare, but she was in Memphis at the time. There was never a criminal investigation.
State Sen. Bill Ketron, R-Murfreesboro, began a legislative push to remove TABC from the task force.
"With marijuana and rolling papers right there in the kitchen. I just have a hard time swallowing the fact, there she is the director of the governor's task force on marijuana eradication," Ketron said to WSMV in February 2012.
Elks retired as the TABC director in October 2012, but Ketron persisted with his efforts to have TABC removed from the group that cracks down on marijuana crimes. In May 2017, the law was passed. It takes effect Jan. 1, 2018.
A spokesperson with the TBI told 10News on Friday it is "too soon to tell how big of an impact this will have on the task force."
"Nine agents from the Alcoholic Beverage Commission were assigned to the task force, so it's a loss of enforcement expertise and manpower that the TBI and other member agencies will have to absorb," TBI spokesperson Leslie Earhart said.
The agencies on the task force will now include the TBI, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA), the Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) and the Tennessee National Guard.
TABC will continue to enforce the state's liquor laws.