Graham Abbott

Activists in Portland, Oregon are planning to pursue a ballot initiative in 2026 to decriminalize natural psychedelics including psilocybin mushrooms and ayahuasca after lawmakers this year voted to undo the state’s voter-approved drug decriminalization policy.

New York officials this week released a three-year implementation report covering the state’s cannabis reform process. The report highlights the industry’s trends, successes and shortcomings, and more.

Cannabis operators hoping to land a retail license in the Redford suburb of Detroit, Michigan camped out for weeks in line for the jurisdiction’s first-come-first-served cannabis licensing process, which kicked off on Thursday.

Infused food, beverages, and live performances will be coming soon to California cannabis cafes after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the proposal into law on Tuesday.

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, said during a recent podcast appearance that she believes in the legalization of adult-use cannabis — “We need to legalize it and stop criminalizing this behavior,” she said.

The DEA is proposing revised 2024 and new 2025 production quotas for research-grade psychedelics including psilocybin, psilocin, and ibogaine. The agency says the new production rates are needed to drive new research.

Ukrainian health officials have released the list of conditions that will qualify patients for the country’s new medical cannabis program.

A recent report sponsored by the CDC says the federal government should be more involved with cannabis policy as more and more states enact reforms to end prohibition.

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.