🗳️ “Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”

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DEA registered its first 900-plus medical dispensaries, all in seven states without adult-use sales. It gave the rest of the supply chain until November 29th. Massachusetts and Idaho vote Tuesday on two very different cannabis questions, and a New York appeals court turned back a preemption challenge to the state’s equity fund. Lobbyists for beer and spirits giants worked the attorneys general on the hemp date, and an Oregon Democrat floated a tariff on Chinese cannabinoids. New Jersey has a bill on off-duty use and Fall River countersued over host fees. The Massachusetts Senate found money for the Commission, and Tennessee regulators got spoofed on Halloween.

🏛️ Seven states, zero adult-use
🗳️ Last call before the polls
🍺 Savvy, and then some
🎃 Too good to be true

The Justice Department announced Friday that DEA has registered more than 900 medical cannabis dispensaries in Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia, the first under April’s Schedule III order. None of those seven has adult-use retail sales today. Manufacturer and distributor applications are still under review, DEA will keep working through dispensaries in phases, and a state license doesn’t confer federal registration on its own. Alongside the announcement, DEA issued guidance warning that registrants and timely applicants who trade with anyone outside that circle risk denial or revocation, and it expects compliant supply chains by November 29th. Dispensers and distributors can keep selling inventory they held before the guidance. DEA’s public applicant list shows 6,983 entries, led by Oklahoma at 2,442, Florida at 812 and California at 771. “The American people deserve access to the best medical treatments in the world,” said Attorney General Todd Blanche. DEA clearly isn’t entirely sure what to do with adult-use, especially while the challenge to April’s order sits at the D.C. Circuit. There are many more steps ahead, and this will be a long road. (Marijuana Moment; U.S. Department of Justice)

Massachusetts voters decide Question 8 on Tuesday. A yes vote ends adult-use retail sales on January 1, 2028, and leaves the medical program in place. Reason counted eight polls from February through October that put support for repeal between 20 and 41 percent. A recent Boston Globe poll had 71 percent opposed. In Idaho, House Joint Resolution 4 would amend the state constitution so that only the Legislature can legalize cannabis and other psychoactive substances, closing the citizen-initiative route. It needs a simple majority. There’s nothing new coming in the next 24 hours, and it’s time for the campaigns to do their thing and get voters to the polls. If cannabis isn’t on your ballot, the people responsible for cannabis policy are, from Congress to governors to state legislatures. Vote. The case for voting no on Question 8 is at StoptheRepealMA.com. (Reason; Idaho Secretary of State)

🎃 An email on Halloween claimed the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission had lifted retail limits on THCA flower, delta-9 products and kratom, signed by Executive Director Russell Thomas. Local outlets, WKRN among them, ran it before TABC called it fraudulent. “None of those statements is true,” the commission said, and every product cap, license and inspection requirement stays in place. Nobody has established how the sender pulled it off. A lot of scrambling followed, so let it be a lesson. If it’s too good to be true… (The Chattanoogan; Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission)

The Appellate Division, Third Department on October 29th affirmed the dismissal of Cannabis Impact Prevention Coalition’s suit against the Cannabis Control Board, the Office of Cannabis Management, the Dormitory Authority and the Social Equity Cannabis Investment Fund. The coalition argued that the federal Controlled Substances Act preempts New York’s financing of social equity dispensaries. The court held that the state’s support doesn’t require anyone to violate the CSA and doesn’t stop federal authorities from enforcing it, so there is no actual conflict. An Albany County judge had dismissed the case in February 2025. The ruling addresses these financing arrangements and these claims, and it gives state operators no shield from federal enforcement. It’s narrow, but it shows the nuance of state policy within the broader CSA context. (Law360; Appellate Division, Third Department)

Rep. Val Hoyle, an Oregon Democrat, introduced H.R. 10929, the Protecting American Hemp Farmers Act, on October 29th with no cosponsors. According to bill summaries, it would add a 50 percent tariff on covered cannabinoid imports from China starting 90 days after enactment and require testing of consumable cannabinoid imports. Sourcing is a fair concern, and a Democrat pushing a tariff is interesting politics. The bill is gimmicky, but it exposes a legitimate concern about where these ingredients come from and what that means for public health and safety. Can American hemp produce enough of them? (The Marijuana Herald; Quiver Quantitative)

Lobbyists for Anheuser-Busch, Molson Coors and Diageo urged state attorneys general to sign an August letter asking Congress not to delay the federal hemp THC ban, according to emails Politico’s Grace Yarrow reviewed. A hemp industry representative obtained them through public records requests. In a July email to North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley, Todd Kranda of Kelsch, Ruff, Kranda, Nagle and Ludwig wrote that “fringe U.S. Senators” wanted to extend the loophole another year. He said he was working for Anheuser-Busch, which gets nearly a quarter of its barley from North Dakota farmers. Wrigley joined 34 other state and territorial attorneys general on the letter. Congress later moved most of the ban from November 12th to December 11th. No shit. Calling these alcohol lobbyists is too general, though, since a fair amount of alcohol throughout the three-tier system supports hemp beverages. Total Wine & More and Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America both back the Barr-Craig Lawful Hemp Protection Act. What the emails show is a multi-layered strategy from the companies that feel threatened by these drinks. They’re savvy. (Politico; Marijuana Moment; Ripon Advance)

🤝 Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Speaker Julie Menin appointed Chris Alexander to lead New York City’s Commission on Racial Equity starting August 1, 2027. Alexander is the former executive director of the state’s Office of Cannabis Management and now runs the NAACP New York State Conference. Linda Tigani stays on through July 31, 2027. Chris is well credentialed, and his life’s work has centered on this mission. Congrats to him. (NYC Mayor’s Office)

S. 4685, introduced in October, would let employers discipline and randomly test police officers, first responders, commercial driver’s license holders and heavy-equipment operators for cannabis use on or off duty, according to an analysis by Morgan Lewis. It would take effect immediately if enacted. New Jersey’s adult-use law otherwise keeps employers from acting on lawful off-duty use alone. The standard should still be detecting impairment. Show me proof, or any evidence of an impact on someone’s ability to do the job. Granted, if you’re on call or required in an emergency, the standard should cover any impairing substance. (Morgan Lewis)

Fall River answered Northeast Alternatives’ $4,604,235.19 restitution suit in Bristol Superior Court with a breach-of-contract counterclaim, saying the operator stopped certain payments around 2022. The company paid 4 percent and then 3 percent of gross sales, plus $50,000 a year, from April 2019 through September 2022. State law caps community impact fees at 3 percent of gross sales and requires them to be reasonably related to the city’s actual costs. The payments began under former Mayor Jasiel Correia II, who was sentenced to six years in federal prison in 2021 after his conviction for extorting cannabis vendors. Fall River’s history with host agreements is well documented and was particularly egregious. The city is on very thin claims here, but this sets up a settlement. Can it show any expenses that meet the reasonably related threshold? Doubtful. (Fall River Reporter; Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly; WBUR)

The Senate Committee on Ways and Means on October 29th advanced S. 3290, a $2.61 billion supplemental budget that includes about $6 million to implement the cannabis law the General Court passed and Governor Healey signed this year. The full Senate takes it up November 5th, and the bill would also let veterans use VA documentation when seeking a medical cannabis card. The House passed its own version on October 21st, so the two chambers still have to agree on one bill, and none of this is law yet. The Commission gets its money, then. What changed to see the funding secured? Perhaps the circus left town and the adults are in charge again? (The Marijuana Herald; WBUR)

The Cannabis Regulatory Commission voted 5-0 to waive its November 1st deadline for setting the Social Equity Excise Fee, which is $2.50 an ounce for 2026. It also approved $105,000 in penalties, including $85,000 for Voltaire, $15,000 for HudHaus and $5,000 for Frosted Nug. Putting off the decision leaves the current rate where it is until the commission acts. (Heady NJ)

🗺️ Around the map: Texas hemp distributors ask a Travis County judge this morning to block the state health department’s enforcement standard for THCA, delta-8 and THCP. AJNA Biosciences of Littleton, Colorado, applied to DEA to bulk-manufacture cannabis and THC for an FDA-regulated drug program, and the notice publishes today. The Maryland Cannabis Administration sent proposed rules to legislative review that would let dispensaries show product in secured display containers, with publication expected November 30th. Nepal’s Supreme Court ordered the government to write rules for medical, scientific and industrial cannabis within three months of receiving its order, and it left adult use alone. (Cannabis Business Times; Federal Register; The Marijuana Herald; The Kathmandu Post)

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Policy, Decoded is compiled and edited by Shawn Collins of THC Group. AI tools help with research and source checks; the judgments are his.
How we use AI: https://policy.homegrown-group.com/ai