Cannabis Enforcement

Raids, revocations, illicit market crackdowns, and what happens when a state actually enforces the rules it wrote.

Aug 26, 2026

👮 200,960 cannabis arrests in 2025, and the number went up

The FBI counted more possession arrests last year than the year before, in a country half-legal. Plus the closed rescheduling record, the Tompkins trial, and Massachusetts reopens testing.

Aug 20, 2026

📜 DEA rests its case with the other side's witnesses

DEA's closing brief turns the opposition's own experts into government exhibits. Plus Aurora's mid-siege shopping trip, Germany's two-week reversal, and New Hampshire's override.

Aug 19, 2026

🏛️ DEA asks its own judge to hurry Schedule III

Justice restores gun rights to cannabis consumers, Connecticut closes a store for good and follows the money, and 79 percent of Massachusetts Democrats say keep the law.

Aug 6, 2026

🏛️ Trump called Budd. It didn't take.

Nine cosponsors on the amendment, Cotton calling it gas-station candy, and a White House liaison promising no more delays. Plus Oklahoma's ghost-licensing case reaches the attorney who drew up the paperwork, Michigan pulls a fourth license in three weeks, and Beacon Hill mostly hasn't answered.

Aug 4, 2026

⏳ Hemp's reprieve is pegged to the CR

Senate appropriators narrow the November hemp ban to synthetics until December 11, the day their own funding expires. Plus Texas goes federal, a $17M Rochester bust, and Missouri's second union contract.

Aug 3, 2026

🏛️ Hemp gets to December, maybe

Senate appropriators move the cliff to December 11th, and the House bill is silent. Plus Verano sues New Jersey, Virginia counts its inventory, and Trulieve's neighbors go to the county.

Jul 29, 2026

👃 The smell memo Charlotte had

A federal suit says Charlotte police were warned in 2021 that odor alone wasn't probable cause. Plus SNDL forecloses into the world's largest store count, and hemp's wholesale map fractures.

Jul 28, 2026

🚨 The sheriffs want the hemp bill

North Carolina's law enforcement associations are pushing the House to regulate hemp before November. Plus Texas can enforce its THCA rule, and Vireo pays for Planet 13 in stock.

Jul 22, 2026

🥊 Question 8 is real

The State Ballot Law Commission puts repeal on the November ballot. Plus Blanche commits to medical only, in writing, and the hemp cliff reaches the bar.

Jul 20, 2026

🏦 $11.5 million, one treasurer.

Trulieve, Curaleaf, Verano, and Green Thumb wire $11.5M to a Trump-linked ag PAC. Plus Oklahoma seals a shop over tags, Michigan closes a case with Massachusetts, and Europe flunks its own lab test.

Jul 17, 2026

📜 Booker's answer to Schedule III

Descheduling filed one day after the record closed. Plus: New Jersey revokes one license and extends Curaleaf's, Missouri hemp sues in federal court, and hemp drinks finally have a dataset.

Jul 15, 2026

🏁 Rescheduling rests its case. The DEA argued against itself.

Three weeks end in Arlington with the agency's own scientist on the opposition's witness list. Plus Albany's wage board reaches Hochul, and Maryland's equity stores finally open.

Jul 13, 2026

🛡️ The hemp ban gets a China sales pitch

Chad Wolf reframes the November hemp restriction as national security. Plus: Massachusetts repeal makes the ballot by 122 signatures, and DOJ builds a False Claims Act case from PPP paperwork.

Jul 2, 2026

🧪 The government defends its record, twice

The DEA hands opponents the floor as DOJ's stay answer comes due, then breaks for the holiday. Plus Pillen signs Nebraska's rules, Delaware overrides its own governor on zoning, and the alcohol lobby moves on hemp drinks.

Jun 30, 2026

📝 Rescheduling: DEA defends what it fought

Day one put cannabis's safety on the record the D.C. Circuit will weigh. Plus two House Republicans bet against their own rescheduling block, Virginia's market becomes law, and Massachusetts braces for a repeat repeal cycle.

Jun 26, 2026

🏦 SAFE Banking, back before the hearing

Sen. Merkley refiled SAFE Banking with a bipartisan four, days before the DEA's hearing. Plus California's $227M enforcement bet, why Stop the Repeal is every legal state's fight, and Ohio's beverage ban now running brand by brand.

Jun 9, 2026

🗳️ Idaho asks voters to lock their own door

Idaho's legislature put a constitutional amendment on the November ballot asking voters to give up their own power to legalize cannabis, while Massachusetts fights a push to repeal the market its voters passed. Plus Cresco's $50M bank line and who it leaves out, federal marijuana cases at a record low, and Vireo buying up the supply chain.

Jun 8, 2026

🏦 Trulieve didn't wait for June 29

Trulieve carved out its adult-use business to list a medical-only company on the NYSE, the first U.S. operator on a major exchange. Plus the DEA's June 22 roster, Texas hemp back in court, and what a Michigan license is really worth.

Jun 5, 2026

🏛️ The White House reopens the hemp definition

The White House asked Congress to update the hemp definition and left the key line undefined, reopening the fight before November. Plus New York's anti-inversion law, Michigan's tax shortfall, and the 280E fight.

Jun 3, 2026

🚪 Hemp's easy exits close

The Rules Committee blocks the hemp delay amendments, but the coalition isn't done. Plus Landry jails public smoking, an HHC suit hits DEA, and AYR hands three more states to its lenders.

May 22, 2026

🏦 Maryland's side door

A bankruptcy court hands Maryland a permit transfer the state was not planning to allow. Federal labor law settles against cannabis exceptionalism. Colorado cultivators sue over the excise tax math. Minnesota loses a lab.

May 21, 2026

⚖️ The Towns owed a paper trail

A Worcester Superior Court judge says Massachusetts municipalities had to document Community Impact Fees costs under the prior statute too. Curaleaf can sue to find out if they did.

May 20, 2026

🏛️ Healey owns it now.

DeLobato, Wilson, and Harding take the rebuilt Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission, and the executive director now reports to the chair. DOJ moves to claw back TerrAscend's $8 million refund. California writes a Schedule III workaround. Vermont keeps the 30% cap. Spanberger vetoes Virginia retail.

May 19, 2026

🏛️ Congress Built This Middle

Forty-one groups tell Congress Schedule III doesn't finish the job. Plus: Connecticut's mold files show what oversight actually costs, Minnesota merges its supply chains, and Colorado still can't open a door past retail.

May 18, 2026

🩺 95%, including the kids

A Fort Lee doctor wrote cannabis authorizations for 95% of his patients, kids included, and prohibitionists now have their rescheduling exhibit. Plus Barr names who really doesn't want a hemp lane, House of Saka's Chapter 7, and Colorado can't measure its own inversion problem.