A dense market, contested local control, and a regulator under more or less constant political pressure.
Aug 14, 2026
Hawaii's hemp crackdown came with a paper trail, Ohio's customers still drive to Michigan, and the Rogers family bought Levia back. Virginia's shelves wait on a judge in Roanoke.
Aug 10, 2026
Sixty-one votes moved the federal hemp ban to December 11, and the House inherits the date. Square tells merchants to clear hemp by October 15 anyway, Rhode Island reopens retail licensing with the sunk costs unpaid, and a THC test can now open a child-welfare file.
Aug 3, 2026
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 17, 2026
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
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.
Jun 29, 2026
Inside the hearing, plus a White House hemp fix and Ohio's ban hitting a Commerce Clause wall.
Jun 23, 2026
Plus Virginia's market finally clears the legislature, out-of-state money drives Maine's repeal push, Missouri rebuilds its equity licenses, and the legal cannabis workforce shrinks for the first time.
Jun 3, 2026
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.
Jun 2, 2026
Murrill withdraws days after Trump ends a Louisiana Senate career, a third challenge hits the D.C. Circuit, Illinois operators move SB 3222, Sherrill signs the hemp-drink law, and Japan bans CBN.
Jun 1, 2026
Six weeks after Schedule III, state regulators say they can't advise their own licensees, with the DEA hearing two weeks out. Plus three Republican plays to stop November's hemp ban and Robinhood's open door.
May 28, 2026
Indiana, Nebraska, and Louisiana AGs went to the D.C. Circuit on Tuesday, and by Wednesday the court had consolidated their case with SAM and NDASA's. Cruz, newly the senior Texas senator after Cornyn's blowout loss, says hemp reversal is uphill. New Jersey courts split on cannabis hiring. Minnesota's omnibus hits Walz's desk. Maryland arms ATCC with seizure power.
May 26, 2026
Massachusetts puts a 75 to 125 percent band on THC labels. A federal judge tosses the Medicare hemp suit. Spanberger gets a poll she did not want. Scutari moves a 200-milligram hemp bottle.
May 21, 2026
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
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 18, 2026
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.
May 15, 2026
The Cannabis Regulatory Commission is using public commission discussion to do enforcement statute alone could not. Collins pulls Patel onto Maine grow houses. The House sends Veterans back to a conference room that has stripped it every year since 2015. Healey will post the deadbeats. Good Day Farm faces a second antitrust suit. The hemp clock keeps ticking.
May 12, 2026
ATF rewrites the gun form while DOJ defends the underlying ban at SCOTUS. Texas admits the medical cannabis scoring methodology was contested internally. Connecticut positions for federal psychedelic matching funds. Massachusetts repeal moves from Beacon Hill to clipboards. Plus DEA's supply-chain forms, EPA on the pesticide clock, and a hat tip to Paul Urbish.
Apr 29, 2026
Wisconsin sent $36M in cannabis taxes to Illinois in 2024 | Federal prosecutors charge 51 in Oklahoma marijuana diversion case | Hemp beverage operators face a self-policing reckoning before federal rules close the door
Apr 27, 2026
Treasury signals 280E relief and an apportionment fight for mixed cannabis operators | Trump asks Congress to carve CBD out of the November hemp ban | MMJ's CMS suit previews the agency collision Schedule III created
Apr 24, 2026
Washington reopened every major cannabis and hemp question today and answered none of them | DOJ moves state-licensed medical marijuana to Schedule III while routing adult-use to a June 29th hearing | The 3 mg CMS Medicare standard is the clearest signal yet about where a revised federal hemp floor might land
Apr 23, 2026
West Wing orders agencies to prepare imminent action and a new DEA hearing | Virginia sends Spanberger a clean choice on adult-use sales | South Carolina's hemp compromise collapses into conference
Apr 22, 2026
Virginia's sponsors may kill the bill rather than accept Spanberger's rewrite | Delaware catches an Arizona licensing scheme | Pritzker and Beshear spend 4/20 building their cannabis records
Apr 17, 2026
Massachusetts freezes cultivation before dissolution | Virginia reshapes retail | Rand Paul readies a states'-rights hemp bill
Apr 14, 2026
Colorado's Marijuana Enforcement Division opens emergency rulemaking against licensed operators slipping hemp-derived THC into the regulated channel | Maine's House votes down medical cannabis testing for what feels like the tenth time | New Jersey redraws its hemp line but leaves liquor-store beverages in place through the federal deadline
Apr 13, 2026
A Travis County judge temporarily blocks Texas from enforcing its THCA hemp ban | NJEDA opens a $15 million loan pipeline that makes the state a cannabis creditor | Oregon writes medical cannabis into hospice and residential care with HB 4142
