NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – Colorado and Washington made waves in 2012 when they became the first states to legalize recreational marijuana. A decade later, 37 states have legalized weed for medical use, with 18 states—and the District of Columbia—legalizing it for recreational use.
In Tennessee, marijuana is not legal for either recreational or medical use. Earlier this year, a bill was introduced to enact some form of cannabis legislation in the Volunteer State. That effort effectively died for this legislative session when the bill’s sponsor, Representative Bob Freeman (D-Nashville) pulled HB 1968 from notice late last month.
A recent study from Clever Real Estate looked at the best weed cities in the U.S. In addition to finding the best, the report also named the worst weed cities in the country. Based on the research, Nashville was named the 10th worst city for marijuana. (A look at the methodology Clever used.)
According to the data, Nashville has zero dispensaries and just 0.7 head shops per 100,000 residents. By comparison, the national average is 1.4 and 0.8, respectively.
Clever found the price of weed is about 14% higher in the bottom 10 cities than the national average. In Nashville, one ounce of “high-quality” weed costs residents an average of $364, 14% more than the national average ($318).
Music City residents are 26% less likely to search for marijuana-related search terms, such as THC, pot, dispensary, 420, than the average U.S. resident, based on Google Trends data.
One area where Nashville did rank near the top was Taco Bells per capita. According to Clever, Music City ranks 5th on the list with 3.57 Taco Bells per 100,000 residents—the restaurant of choice after consuming marijuana.
Nashville isn’t the only place in Tennessee to land on the list of worst weed cities. Memphis was named the 4th worst pot city in the U.S. for 2022. You can check out the rest of the 10 worst weed cities here.
On the flip side, it should be easy to guess which city ranked as the best weed city in the country, Denver, Colorado—but if you want to see the full list of top weed cities in 2022, click here.
According to Pew Research Center, 91% of U.S. adults believe marijuana should be legal in some form.
