California Cannabis News

The California Department of Justice’s annual Campaign Against Marijuana Planting said that nearly 1 million illegally grown plants were eradicated and more than 200,000 pounds of processed cannabis were seized during the 2022 season.

San Diego, California has approved a social-equity program that includes fee waivers, start-up loans, and other business assistance.

California Gavin Newsom (D) called for creating the Unified Cannabis Enforcement Taskforce, a multi-agency unit designed to combat illegal cannabis operations.

The California Department of Cannabis Control has earmarked $20 million in funding for research prioritizing multiple cannabis topics including potency, health impacts, medicinal use, legacy cannabis genetics, and the health of California’s cannabis industry.

Longtime cannabis advocate, author, entrepreneur, and investor Steve DeAngelo published an op-ed this week that decries the cannabis industry’s drive for “scale” and calls for the widespread return of small, artisan operators.

Nidhi Lucky Handa is the Co-Founder and CEO of LEUNE, a lifestyle cannabis brand available in California, Arizona, and Maine.

Lawmakers from Germany recently toured California cannabis businesses and spoke with advocates, regulators, and industry experts about lessons learned when creating a legal industry.

Carlos “Los” Arias is the CEO of Green Horizons, an upcoming Coachella, California-based cannabis cultivator with a brand-new cultivation campus.

While 19 states have opted to legalize adult-use cannabis, those states still cannot guarantee regular access to safe and regulated cannabis products thanks to controversial industry opt-out clauses for municipalities, towns, and counties.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has signed a bill to protect patients’ access to medical treatment even if they test positive for cannabis and the rights of doctors to treat such patients without ramifications from federal law.

Officials in California have passed a law to protect workers who test positive on drug screenings for cannabis consumed outside of work with some exceptions. The bill has been sent to Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) for his signature.

In the last 13 months, California’s Department of Cannabis Control has executed 232 search warrants, seized more than half a million pounds of unregulated cannabis, and eradicated more than 1.4 million illegal cannabis plants.

The Zide Chruch of Entheogenic Plants, a church in Oakland, California that uses cannabis and psychedelics as communion, has filed a lawsuit against the city and its police department over a 2020 raid of their site.

Josh Wurzer is Chief Operating Officer and Co-founder of SC Labs, a cannabis testing laboratory chain operating in California, Colorado, Michigan, and Oregon.

The veteran advocacy group Weed for Warriors Project is running campaign ads calling out California politicians for not supporting the legal cannabis industry.

California’s Department of Cannabis Control may establish standardized cannabis lab testing methods to combat the prevalence of “lab shopping” within the state industry. 

Hightimes Holding Corp. has purchased a cannabis social consumption lounge in California for $6 million in a mostly stock deal although the current stock value for the media company is essentially zero.

CannaSafe Labs has decided to phase out its cannabis lab testing services partially due to ‘lab shopping,’ which is when cannabis brands bring their products to different labs for testing and choose the most desirable results.