NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — A state senator has a renewed energy in her fight to legalize medical cannabis in Tennessee.

“Three and a half years ago, had you told me that I would be proposing legislation to support medical cannabis and the legalization of medical cannabis — I would have laughed in your face,” said Sen. Janice Bowling, R-District 16. “I was against it.”

Bowling has spent several years fighting for medical marijuana. In 2019, she brought forth physicians to testify before the State Senate’s Health and Welfare committee.

“Opioid use requirements decline when a patient is allowed to combine those with cannabis. And the cannabis, refreshingly for me as a prescriber, has no known lethal dose,” said Dr. Amy Neff, a family physician with St. Thomas Brentwood.

The success of other states now gives Bowling hope. She says she plans to re-introduce her bill at the State Senate session in January.

“We’re up to 43 states that have legalized it and many of the states around us have legalized it,” said Bowling. “We are being foolish in the worst sense of the word. Just incredibly foolish and incredibly lacking in responsiveness to what is now readily available for people to know that this is a safe medicine solution.”

After Bowling’s bill is introduced, it will be heard by a Senate Committee.