News

A federal judge has granted the government’s motion to dismiss marijuana legalization opponents’ lawsuit challenging a new Trump administration initiative to cover up to $500 worth of hemp-derived products each year for eligible Medicare patients. The program being implemented by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) focuses largely on CBD but also allows a certain amount of THC in products. Judge Trevor N. McFadden ruled on Friday that prohibitionist groups and activists, led by Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), as well as a cannabis-focused biopharmaceutical corporation MMJ . . .

Memorial Day sales have become a familiar piece of the American calendar. Mattress stores slash prices, car dealerships wrap vehicles in oversized flags, and inboxes fill with patriotic marketing campaigns before the holiday weekend even begins. In Nevada’s cannabis industry, one group of operators is taking a different approach by tying the weekend directly to local veteran support efforts instead of simply using the imagery of military service to move product. Deep Roots Harvest is partnering with veteran-owned Brand House for a two-day Memorial Day weekend fundraiser supporting local . . .

The cannabis industry has spent the better part of a decade doing something almost no other major American industry has been forced to do at this scale: finance itself. While politicians debated reform and traditional banks largely avoided the space, cannabis operators built billion-dollar businesses under some of the harshest financial conditions in modern American commerce. Brands were launched without access to conventional loans. Cultivators scaled facilities while navigating crushing tax burdens under 280E. Dispensaries managed impossible cash-flow cycles while paying inflated borrowing . . .

Alaska lawmakers this week passed legislation that will shield people’s marijuana conviction records from being publicly released in certain circumstances. The cannabis provisions are included in a large package of criminal justice legislation that cleared the Senate in a 20-0 vote on Tuesday and was approved by the House of Representatives 39-1 on Wednesday. HB 239 now heads to the desk of Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R). If enacted into law, the bill will make it so people who were convicted of possessing less than an ounce of marijuana while over 21 years of age at the time of the offense can . . .

A coalition of Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate are pushing President Donald Trump to commute the sentences of people who are still serving time in federal prison for marijuana. The move, they say, is a logical next step now that his administration is moving to reschedule cannabis. “The inclusion of marijuana in the Controlled Substances Act has resulted in tens of millions of people being sent to county, state, and federal prisons over the last several decades,” the letter sent on Friday says, noting that polling shows strong support for cannabis reform . . .

The Campbell Foundation has designated funds for a full-time professorship at Humboldt Poly’s Cannabis Studies program. The post Foundation funds cannabis professor for Humboldt University appeared first on The Leaf Online.

The Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) has frozen the license of cannabis testing lab Legend Technical Services for failing to address “security and testing requirements,” the Star Tribune reports. Legend was originally licensed to test cannabis products under the state’s medical program. However, to help facilitate the launch of adult-use sales, regulators approved the lab in September 2025 to begin testing products for both markets. The lab was also allowed to continue using its testing methodologies for adult-use products despite different requirements under the new regime – . . .

The cannabis industry loans and financing solutions firm FundCanna announced this week that the company has roughly $75 million in capital, with $35 million immediately available, after securing a $60 million credit line from an institutional investment firm. FundCanna’s new partner manages approximately $40 billion in assets, the company said in a press release. “I’ve been lending to businesses for more than 20 years, and cannabis has proven to be a stronger credit market than many expect. But it’s also one of the most difficult markets to get right. The data is fragmented, the laws are . . .

Two GOP congressional lawmakers are joining prohibitionist organizations in their call for a “carve-out” to the Trump administration’s medical marijuana rescheduling action by affirming that safety-sensitive transportation workers could still be penalized for testing positive for THC. At a press conference outside the Capitol on Thursday, anti-cannabis Reps. Andy Harris (R-MD) and Pete Sessions (R-TX)-along with representatives of Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) and the National Drug and Alcohol Screening Association (NDASA)-criticized the move to reclassify medical cannabis dispensed to . . .

At the start of every incoming presidential administration in the United States in recent decades, the cannabis community speculates whether the new president will take meaningful steps to reform federal cannabis policy. Now that U.S. President Donald Trump is well into his second term, it is a logical time to evaluate how he is doing when it comes to cannabis. Objectively considering many of the relevant factors and historical context, President Trump has done more for federal cannabis reform than any of his predecessors. Cannabis was first prohibited in the United States at the federal . . .

Statistics Canada released March retail sales for the country, with cannabis sales increasing from the February levels, up 7.4% to C$471.4 million from the prior month. The sequential increase was down 4.0% on a per-day basis more due to the fewer days in the prior month. February, originally reported at C$440.5 million, was revised lower to C$439.1 [ . . . ]

The decision by Virginia’s governor to veto legislation to legalize recreational marijuana sales is overwhelmingly unpopular with voters, according to a new poll. The survey, conducted earlier this month days ahead of Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s (D) move to kill the cannabis regulation bill, found that 70 percent of voters either strongly (53 percent) or somewhat (17 percent) agreed that she should allow the legislation to become law. Just 13 percent strongly disagreed and 7 percent somewhat disagreed, while 11 percent were undecided. Support for legalization was substantial across party lines, . . .

The U.S. Department of Justice recently sued cannabis company TerrAscend Corp (TSE: TSND) (OTCMKTS: TSNDF) (FRA: TED), demanding it return an US$8.3 million tax refund plus interest. This marks the first known case where the government seeks to claw back a refund tied to the old 280E tax rule. Section 280E prevents cannabis businesses that sell a Schedule I or II controlled substance from deducting normal business expenses on their federal taxes. For years, this rule forced operators to pay much higher effective tax rates than other companies. TerrAscend originally filed its 2020 taxes . . .

Hi all, Ready for a holiday weekend? Let’s get to it. Alex Send tips, press releases, concerns, feedback and criticism to hello@weedweek.com. Sensitive material to share? Contact Alex on Signal. FROM WEEDWEEK Stiiizy sold customer data without permission, suit alleges Stiiizy, California’s biggest weed company, sold customer data in violation of of its privacy policies and California law, a proposed class action lawsuit alleges. Read the story Retailers prioritizing profits over footprints Cannabis entrepreneurs used to be judged by how quickly they could grow their footprint. Not anymore, . . .

Protoje is an artist with a reputation that precedes him. A global leader in both modern reggae and what Jamaican author and activist Dutty Bookman refers to as the “Reggae Revival movement,” Protoje seamlessly blends traditional roots reggae with elements of hip hop, soul, jazz, R&B and rock. With influences that range from Ini Kamoze to Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Protoje’s work has captivated millions of fans and cemented him as a fixture, not just within the music industry but also within the very fabric of Cannabis culture. 2026 marks a year of musical growth for the artist, with Protoje . . .

The NJ Senate Judiciary Committee passed a bill allowing large intoxicating hemp drinks and restricting towns from stopping medical cannabis dispensaries from converting to adult-use recreational sales. The NJ Assembly passed the bill on Monday. A Committee Aide explained there’s an amendment on the Senate version to specify that intoxicating hemp drinks can only have [ . . . ] Source: Intoxicating Hemp Drink, Anti-Town Bill Passes NJ Senate Judiciary Committee from Heady NJ

“Rescheduling removes a major structural penalty, but tariffs will reshape who captures the gains. All else equal, dispensary-heavy companies may emerge as the primary beneficiaries.” By Justin Leiby, Cannabis Research Institute With federal cannabis rescheduling partially underway and the potential end of the 280E tax penalty approaching, how much relief the cannabis industry will experience is an open question. No matter what the future holds, 280E is a significant financial drag on cannabis operators. I run an annual survey of cannabis operators for the Illinois Cannabis Regulation . . .

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is being put on notice-again-over prolonged delays in processing a petition to reschedule psilocybin from a doctor who wants to use it to treat terminally ill patients, with an updated reminder that President Donald Trump has now made clear his administration’s intent to streamline psychedelic medicine access. In a letter sent to an appellate staffer with the Justice Department’s civil division on Wednesday, an attorney representing Sunil Aggarwal of the AIMS Institute laid out the years-long timeline since a petition was first filed with DEA in 2022 . . .

The Jersey City Council voted down approval of a consumption lounge for the Other Side dispensary in the Heights in the north of the city, since it closed and owes taxes. The Other Side Dispensary CEO, Dr. Alyza Brevard-Rodriguez, was among those scheduled to speak during the public comment period. But she was not present. [ . . . ] Source: Jersey City Council Votes Down Consumption Lounge for Closed Other Side Dispensary from Heady NJ

For more than a decade, Wiz Khalifa has occupied a rare position in American culture. Few artists have managed to turn a personal lifestyle into a lasting commercial ecosystem without losing the authenticity that made audiences care in the first place. Fewer still have done it while remaining unmistakably themselves. There is a direct line from Bob Marley to Cheech & Chong to Cypress Hill to Snoop Dogg to Wiz Khalifa. Every generation of cannabis culture seems to produce one defining figure who pushes the plant further into the mainstream while evolving the public image surrounding it. Bob . . .

Virginia’s governor is seeking to explain why she vetoed legislation to legalize recreational marijuana sales in the state this week-saying she supports the overall reform but took issue with some of the details in the proposal that lawmakers sent her, including what she called a “rushed timeline” to launch the legal cannabis market and “far more stores across Virginia” than she thinks are appropriate. “I continue to support the creation of a retail marijuana market,” Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) said in an interview with WRIC-TV on Wednesday, pointing to current state law that allows adults . . .

“Representative Barney Frank was one of the earliest supporters of marijuana legalization in Congress. He consistently argued that prosecuting marijuana users was a waste of law enforcement resources, an infringement on personal liberty, and an issue better handled at the state level.” The post NORML Remembers Congressman Barney Frank appeared first on NORML.

A Republican running to become Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor says that legalizing marijuana would be “catastrophic” for the state, claiming it would increase the size of the illegal market, undermine job creation and harm public health. Jason Richey, who won the primary this week for the GOP lieutenant governor nomination, criticized Democrats for seeking to raise needed revenue for the state through cannabis legalization. “These budgets that are 7 billion over how much we bring in, and then the answer is, ‘we’re going to legalize drugs,’ which is going to be catastrophic,” he said on . . .

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will now allow travelers to fly with medical cannabis. The agency updated its website on April 27 to reflect the updated guidance which comes amid the federal government’s reclassification of medical cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act. “TSA’s screening procedures are focused on security and are designed to detect potential threats to aviation and passengers. Accordingly, TSA security officers do not search for illegal drugs, but if any illegal substance or evidence of criminal activity is discovered . . .

A Vermont House committee removed provisions from a bill to update the state’s cannabis regulations that would have raised THC caps and cut the excise tax on cannabis products, Compass Vermont reports. The House Government Operations Committee removed language from the bill that would have removed the 30% THC cap on flower entirely, raised the THC cap on concentrates from 60% to 70%, and cut the excise tax from 14% to 10%. The committee retained provisions to double the per-package THC limit on edibles from 100 milligrams to 200 milligrams; raise the personal possession and retail . . .