Graham Abbott

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) this week announced the first company to receive a medical cannabis business license is KCA Labs, a Nicholasville-based testing facility that already conducts tests on hemp products.

Hemp-derived THC products are illegal in California starting this week after officials approved the emergency regulations proposed by the governor earlier this month.

The Social Equity Council in Connecticut engaged in “questionable business practices,” according to a recent audit by the state Comptroller’s Office, but officials were not found to have broken state laws.

The Global Hemp Innovation Center at Oregon State University recently received $5.5 million from the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service to fund research into hemp-based foods, beverages, and other industrial uses for the plant.

Missouri regulators say they will not be enforcing large parts of the governor’s recent executive order to ban the sale of intoxicating hemp products.

Senators in the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee this week passed the DOOBIE Act, which would guarantee that applicants for federal positions or security clearances are not denied due to past cannabis use.

Voters in the presidential battleground states of Arizona and Nevada strongly favored the legalization of medical and adult-use cannabis in two recent polls. Respondents also supported giving banking access to the industry.

Having access to legal medical cannabis in all 50 U.S. states could save Americans up to $29 billion per year in reduced healthcare expenditures, according to a recent study.

Cannabis tax revenues have declined in California year-over-year for the last four years, with total taxable cannabis sales in Q2 2024 down by a third since the same time period in 2021.

Michigan cannabis retailers set a new monthly sales record of $295.4 million in August, which marked the third consecutive month of increasing sales for the state.

Former President Richard Nixon — who is credited with launching the drug war — said in a recently uncovered 1973 White House recording that cannabis was “not particularly dangerous” but that legalizing it would be “the wrong signal at this time.”

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) signed a bill Thursday to temporarily end the sale of intoxicating hemp products. Next, state cannabis regulators have up to 180 days to draft rules covering the sale of hemp-derived THC products by licensed cannabis retailers.

The Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is launching a new Local Emphasis Program to investigate and identify potential workplace hazards in the Colorado cannabis industry.

Massachusetts State Treasurer Deb Goldberg announced this week the firing of Cannabis Control Commission Chair Shannon O’Brien, who was initially suspended from the position last September.

Former president Donald Trump said last weekend that he supports the federal rescheduling of cannabis to Schedule III and giving cannabis companies access to banking services.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom last week proposed emergency regulations to completely ban the sale of any hemp-derived THC products in the state. The proposed rules would also set the minimum age to purchase hemp products at 21.

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians on Saturday opened the Great Smoky Cannabis Company to all adult-use cannabis customers. The shop, located in the Qualla Boundary, is North Carolina’s first and only retail cannabis location.

Kentucky officials have received 4,998 applications for medical cannabis business licenses, the governor announced this week. The majority of the applications (4,076) are for dispensary permits.

Cannabis advocates in Idaho are preparing for a 2026 cannabis legalization campaign after another petition to put a medical cannabis legalization question before voters failed to gather enough signatures

Cannabis pre-rolls were the fastest-growing product category in the cannabis industry last year for the second year in a row with an 11.89% jump in sales revenue year-over-year, according to a white paper report.

Cannabis product prices in Michigan have fallen nearly 14.5% this year with the average price for an ounce of flower reaching the industry’s all-time low of $79.70 in July.

Nebraska’s secretary of state said the state’s campaigns to legalize and regulate medical cannabis have qualified for the November ballot.

Ohio cannabis regulators last week issued fines totaling $212,500 to five cannabis companies for advertising violations including improper signage and offering free food and beverages from an ice cream truck.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that prosecutors cannot file gun possession charges against a Texas woman who admitted to consuming cannabis, citing a 2022 Supreme Court ruling that says modern firearm restrictions must be “consistent with this nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.”