Maine election officials have approved a ballot initiative that, if passed, would eliminate the state’s roughly $250 million adult-use cannabis industry and impose strict new testing standards on medical cannabis to begin collecting signatures.

It’s the second ongoing citizen campaign to cancel a legal cannabis industry in New England.

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A similar effort in Massachusetts recently claimed to have collected enough signatures to advance past an initial stage amid accusations of elections fraud.

Maine medical marijuana would remain but with new rules

The Maine Secretary of State on Dec. 8 approved the Act to Amend the Cannabis Legalization Act and the Maine Medical Use of Cannabis Act to begin collecting signatures.

If it qualifies for the ballot and is approved by a majority

The post Campaign to end Maine adult-use marijuana legalization cleared to begin appeared first on GrowCola.com.

As President Donald Trump affirms that his administration is “very strongly” considering a proposal to reschedule marijuana, bipartisan senators raised the issue during a hearing with a former state cannabis regulator who testified about the unique challenges federal prohibition imposes on state regulators.

While attention within the cannabis community is largely focused on a potentially historic rescheduling decision by Trump, the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection on Tuesday discussed the adjacent issue for the marijuana industry: The lack of banking access for cannabis companies under federal prohibition.

Tyler Klimas—who served as executive director of the Nevada Cannabis Compliance Board (CCB) and was a founding member of the Cannabis Regulators Association (CANNRA) before becoming the founder of Leaf Street Strategies—testified before the panel as the Democratic minority’s witness.

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), the Democratic ranking member of the panel, said that “we want to make sure that all Americans have a fair access to banking,” and that includes state-regulated marijuana businesses such as those in her state.

“There are so many Nevada business owners who have opened legal cannabis businesses and created jobs across our state,” the senator said, adding that she also hopes Congress will pass

The post Bipartisan Senators Discuss Marijuana Industry Banking Issues As Trump ‘Strongly’ Considers Rescheduling appeared first on GrowCola.com.

Connecticut adult-use cannabis prices continued a downward trend in November.

However, retail prices in the limited-license state remain twice as high as in neighboring Massachusetts – and falling prices aren’t translating to increased sales, according to state data.

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The average price for a gram of cannabis in Connecticut fell to $7.94, down from $8.43 in October.

Cannabis prices in Connecticut’s adult-use market peaked at $12.51 per gram in March 2024. Adult-use sales began in January 2023.

But the decline in retail prices isn’t boosting legal Connecticut cannabis sales, according to state data.

Connecticut cannabis sales decline

In November, when most cannabis retailers see a brief spike in sales before Thanksgiving, medical and adult-use cannabis sales in Connecticut totaled $23.9 million, according to the state

The post Connecticut cannabis prices drop – but so do sales appeared first on GrowCola.com.

A GOP senator attended a ribbon cutting ceremony for a Kentucky hemp business on Monday, where he again previewed a forthcoming bill to regulate the crop as an alternative to its pending recriminalization under legislation that President Donald Trump signed last month.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) spoke about hemp policy issues and his plan to avert the new federal ban, which is set to take effect next November, at an event marking the opening of a Cornbread Hemp location in Louisville.

When hemp’s potential federal legalization was being considered as part of the 2018 Farm Bill that Trump signed in his first term, Paul said he thought that’d be “great,” particularly for Kentucky farmers who’ve seen losses as demand for tobacco has decreased. Creating a cannabis industry would also support ancillary businesses that aren’t plant-touching, he said.

Hemp legalization has been a “great success,” Paul added, “and I don’t want government to stifle this”

He also addressed arguments supporting the hemp ban that he described as “untrue,” including the idea that all cannabinoid products are being sold at gas stations and marketed in a way that targets youth. Kentucky—which enacted a regulatory framework for hemp that aims to mitigate those

The post GOP Senator Attends Hemp Business Ribbon Cutting Ceremony, Vowing To Fight To Stop Looming Federal THC Product Ban appeared first on GrowCola.com.

Under the new rules, business will have to reveal any agreements “that affect ownership, control or financial interests in cannabis operations.”

By Rebecca Rivas, Missouri Independent

Missouri cannabis regulators have routinely revoked microbusiness licenses for relying on contracts they’ve publicly characterized as “predatory.”

The state is hoping to put a stop to the turnover through proposed rules that will be open for public comment starting Monday through January 14.

Regulators first introduced the rules last December and have since held two opportunities for public input, before submitting them to the Missouri Secretary of State in November.

The microbusiness program—sometimes called the social-equity cannabis program—was designed to boost opportunities in the industry for people in disadvantaged communities that have been most impacted by the war on drugs. It began in 2023, after passing as part of the constitutional amendment to legalize recreational marijuana in 2022.

For the last two years, The Independent has documented a pattern of well-connected groups and individuals flooding the microbusiness lottery by recruiting people to submit applications and then offering them contracts that limit their profit and control of the business.

Of the 105 microbusiness licenses issued so far, 35 have been revoked, including 22 that involved contracts drafted by St. Louis-based Armstrong Teasdale law

The post Missouri Marijuana Officials File Proposed Rules Targeting ‘Predatory’ Contracts For Equity Businesses appeared first on GrowCola.com.

A GOP congressman says President Donald Trump would “wrong” to move forward with a plan to reschedule marijuana, which he described as a “gateway drug” that leads to the use of “harder substances”—despite numerous studies contradicting that theory.

The cannabis community is waiting with bated breath for Trump to make a decision on a proposal to move cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). He said in August that there’d be a decision within weeks, and on Monday he said the administration was looking “very strongly” at the issue.

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) was asked about the potentially imminent reform during an interview with NewsNation’s “The Hill” that aired on Monday. And the congressman said it would be a bad idea, even though rescheduling would not federally legalize cannabis.

Part of his thinking is rooted in the debunked “gateway drug” theory. Lawler also argued that there’s a policy disconnect between the administration’s aggressive anti-drug campaign ostensibly focused on fentanyl and the reported plans to reschedule marijuana, which Trump said on Monday would remove research barriers to study the plant.

“If you look at the reason that we went after the cartels and labeled them

The post Trump Would Be ‘Wrong’ To Reschedule ‘Gateway Drug’ Marijuana, GOP Congressman Says As Reform Rumors Spread appeared first on GrowCola.com.

A coalition of anti-marijuana organizations is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to side with the federal government by upholding the constitutionality of a federal ban on gun ownership by people who use cannabis—which they claim is associated with violence and psychosis.

In an amicus brief submitted to justices on Monday for a marijuana and firearms case, U.S. v. Hemani, Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) and 21 other prohibitionist groups said that while cannabis is “marketed as a ‘chill’ drug by its peddlers,” today’s product has “become increasingly known for its relationship with violence.”

“Given the shared national work amici are doing to stop the flow of drugs and their harms to society, they have a strong interest in laws restricting drug users’ access to firearms,” the brief said. “The evidence is clear: today’s highly potent marijuana causes psychosis, schizophrenia, other forms of severe mental illness, and violent behavior.”

It added that if the federal statute known as 922(g)(3) is deemed unconstitutional—as multiple federal courts have determined in the lead-up to SCOTUS taking the Hemani case—would “magnify these harms exponentially and devastate America’s families.”

The overarching argument of the brief is the idea that marijuana is strongly linked to mental illness,

The post Marijuana Isn’t ‘Chill’ And Is Actually More Dangerous Than Alcohol, Anti-Legalization Groups Tell Supreme Court In Brief For Gun Rights Case appeared first on GrowCola.com.

Elite athletes find cannabidiol, or CBD, useful for soreness and recovery, a new study shows.

Researchers found that top competitors use CBD to manage pain, improve sleep and ease the stress of training at the highest level. But the results suggest that even as many athletes believe the cannabis compound helps them recover, they also worry that using it could jeopardize their careers under international anti-doping rules.

The study, conducted between late 2021 and mid-2023 and published this month in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition, surveyed 80 elite Canadian athletes across 27 national sport organizations. To be included, athletes needed to have experience as part of the country’s Olympic or Paralympic team program.

About 38 percent reported using CBD at some point, and nearly a third of those said they were still using it at the time of the survey.

The participants’ motivations reflect a broader societal trend of relying on CBD for therapeutic benefit. The study found that 96 percent of CBD users said they believed the substance was safe, 93 percent said it improved their sleep, 90 percent said it helped them relax and 77 percent credited it with reducing pain from training.

“Thirty eight percent of athletes self-reported

The post CBD Provides Pain Relief, Improves Sleep And Aids Relaxation, Study Involving Olympic Athletes Shows appeared first on GrowCola.com.

A congressional committee has advanced a bill aimed at protecting children online that could create complications for advertisers trying to promote legal marijuana and other regulated substances.

Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) filed the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) earlier this month, and the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade approved an amended version of the legislation on Thursday on a party-line vote of 13-10, with Republicans in support and Democrats in opposition.

Bipartisan senators introduced a version of the measure earlier this year, but it has not advanced in that chamber this Congress even though a prior iteration was passed by the body in 2024.

Under the new legislation, online platforms would be prohibited from facilitating the “advertising of narcotic drugs, cannabis products, tobacco products, gambling, or alcohol to an individual that the covered platform knows is a minor.”

The provision around drug use lists the “distribution, sale, or use of narcotic drugs, tobacco products, cannabis products, gambling, or alcohol” as risks that platforms would need to actively guard minors against.

One section that was in prior iterations of the bill that seems to have been omitted from this latest version had stipulated that video streaming

The post Bill Advancing In Congress To Protect Kids Online Could Create Complications For Marijuana Businesses In Legal States appeared first on GrowCola.com.

SCOTUS rejects marijuana case; DOJ: Cannabis users are “greater danger” than alcohol users; Dems push legalization; Senate marijuana banking testimony

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/ TOP THINGS TO KNOW

President Donald Trump said he is “looking…very strongly” at rescheduling marijuana because it would lead to “tremendous amounts of research that can’t be done unless you reclassify.”

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up a case from marijuana businesses that were attempting to challenge the constitutionality of federal prohibition.

The Department of Justice filed a brief in a Supreme Court case on marijuana consumers’ gun rights claiming that people who use cannabis and other illegal drugs “pose a greater danger than users of alcohol.”

“Armed drug users pose ‘extraordinary’ ‘hazards,’ as ‘even a momentary

The post Trump talks cannabis rescheduling at signing ceremony (Newsletter: December 16, 2025) appeared first on GrowCola.com.

President Donald Trump confirmed Monday the White House is “very strongly” considering loosening federal restrictions on cannabis, a move that would boost the $32 billion legal industry’s margins and portend future, more ambitious reforms.

However, Trump declined to offer a precise timeline, meaning last week’s prediction that an executive order moving marijuana to Schedule 3 of the Controlled Substances Act could come as soon as Monday has already been proven wrong.

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In response to a reporter’s questions during an unrelated event in the White House on Monday, Trump confirmed his interest in the issue.

“We are considering it,” he said.

“Because, uh, a lot of people want to see it — the reclassification — because it leads to tremendous amounts of research that

The post Trump confirms marijuana rescheduling interest but timeline uncertain appeared first on GrowCola.com.

Kentucky’s first medical marijuana dispensary opened on Saturday, nearly one year after the program launched.

However, supply at The Post Dispensary in Beaver Dam was limited and expected to run out on the same day as the state’s slow rollout of medical cannabis continues, according to the Lexington Herald Leader.

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Four cultivators have also been approved to grow medical marijuana in Kentucky, and nearly 24,000 residents have been issued MMJ cards, according to Gov. Andy Beshear.

Beshear signed medical marijuana legalization into law in 2023. The program launched on Jan. 1, 2025 – but with no medical cannabis available.

Another 48 licensed MMJ dispensaries in the process of opening. One additional dispensary, has been approved to operate, the newspaper reported.

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The post Kentucky launches medical marijuana sales as first dispensary opens appeared first on GrowCola.com.

Only six percent of marijuana consumers approve of the Trump administration’s actions on cannabis policy to date, according to a new survey that comes as rumors churn that the president intends to direct federal cannabis rescheduling.

The latest iteration of a quarterly presidential approval tracking poll from NuggMD and Marijuana Moment also found that 51 percent of respondents would be more likely to embrace the current administration if it rescheduled or legalized marijuana.

While some are bullish on recent news that President Donald Trump may move forward with plans to reclassify cannabis as a Schedule III, rather than Schedule I, drug under the Controlled Substances Act, marijuana users’ support for the president’s marijuana “actions” took a dip over the last quarter.

Just 1.6 percent of respondents said they “strongly approve” of the actions, 4.5 percent said they approve, a plurality of 38.4 percent were neutral, 26.1 percent disapproved and 29.5 percent strongly disapproved.

“Do you approve or disapprove of the presidential administration’s actions on cannabis?” n: % Strongly approve 7 1.6% Approve 20 4.5% No opinion/Neutral 172 38.4% Disapprove 117 26.1% Strongly disapprove

The post Only Six Percent Of Marijuana Consumers Approve Of Trump’s Reform Actions, But Most Would Shift Opinion If He Reschedules, Poll Finds appeared first on GrowCola.com.

President Donald Trump on Monday confirmed that the administration is “very strongly” considering a proposal to federally reschedule marijuana because it would boost research into the effects of cannabis.

“We are” weighing rescheduling, Trump told reporters after being asked about the issue at an unrelated signing ceremony. He added that “a lot of people want to see it—the reclassification—because it leads to tremendous amounts of research that can’t be done unless you reclassify.”

“So we are looking at that very strongly,” he said.

The question to the president came amid heightened speculation about a possibly imminent rescheduling decision. CNBC reported it could come as early as Monday, but so far that has not materialized.

.@POTUS on marijuana rescheduling: “A lot of people want to see it — the reclassification — because it leads to tremendous amounts of research that can’t be done unless you reclassify, so we are looking at that very strongly.” pic.twitter.com/Ugych6rLCQ

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) December 15, 2025

It remains to be seen whether Trump will fulfill his campaign promise to move cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), which would not legalize the plant but would

The post Trump Says He’s ‘Very Strongly’ Considering Rescheduling Marijuana As Rumors Swell About Imminent Reform appeared first on GrowCola.com.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a challenge to federal marijuana laws brought by four licensed cannabis companies, including a major marijuana multistate operator.

The highest court’s rejection of Canna Provisions et al v. Bondi refocuses attention on the White House and President Donald Trump’s interest in marijuana rescheduling as the $32 billion legal industry’s next great hope for major reform.

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Josh Schiller, a partner at law firm Boies Schiller and one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A spokesman for Verano Holding Corp., one of the four licensed cannabis companies that initially sued the Justice Department in October 2023, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Marijuana industry’s

The post US Supreme Court rejects federal marijuana prohibition challenge appeared first on GrowCola.com.

As speculation abounds over a potential marijuana rescheduling decision by the Trump administration, the Justice Department is telling the U.S. Supreme Court that it should reverse a lower court ruling that deemed a federal ban on gun ownership by cannabis consumers to be unconstitutional—in part because people who use illegal drugs “pose a greater danger” than those who drink alcohol.

In a brief submitted to justices on Friday, U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer maintained the administration’s position that a federal statute restricting marijuana consumers’ gun rights, 922(g)(3), is consistent with the Constitution and does not infringe upon Second Amendment rights.

“Indeed, unlawful drug users pose a greater danger than users of alcohol, which was lawful at the founding and remained so for most of American history,” the brief says. “Congress and the Executive have determined that marijuana and other Schedule I drugs ‘ha[ve] a high potential for abuse’ and ‘a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision’ that justifies their criminal prohibition, unlike alcohol.”

Given Supreme Court precedent that weakened states’ rights to impose firearms restrictions that are antithetical to the founders’ intent when the Constitution was ratified, DOJ said historical

The post Marijuana Users ‘Pose A Greater Danger’ Than Alcohol Drinkers, Trump DOJ Tells SCOTUS In Gun Rights Case Filing appeared first on GrowCola.com.

Amid heightened rumors that the Trump administration will be moving forward on marijuana rescheduling, multiple top congressional Democrats are making the case that the reform would not go far enough—including one senator who said the move is only an attempt by the president to “gaslight” voters into thinking he legalized cannabis to boost his “pathetic” approval ratings.

It remains to be seen whether President Donald Trump will fulfill his campaign promise to move cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), which would not legalize the plant but would let marijuana businesses take federal tax deductions while removing certain research barriers. There was speculation that it’d happen late last week, and CNBC reported a decision would be made as early as Monday, while Axios said it’d occur early next year.

In the interim, Democratic lawmakers are making clear they feel that simply rescheduling cannabis would do little to address the harms of the drug war while problematically maintaining prohibition. Without Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval, marijuana sold in dispensaries across the state would remain illicit in the eye’s of the federal government.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), who has cosponsored cannabis legalization bills, posted an

The post Trump Is Trying To Boost ‘Pathetic’ Approval Ratings With Marijuana Rescheduling Move, Senator Says As Democrats Push Full Legalization appeared first on GrowCola.com.

“Although our study is still preliminary, it lays an important foundation for future research into the potential applications of CBD and THC in ovarian cancer treatment.”

By Angharad Brewer Gillham, Frontiers

Ovarian cancer is dangerous and difficult to treat, partly because it’s hard to diagnose early, and partly because it’s often resistant to existing drugs. Now scientists looking for new treatments have identified two promising compounds in cannabis.

Both THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) and CBD (cannabidiol) can stop ovarian cancer cells reproducing, and a combination of both compounds kills existing cancer cells. More research is needed to see if these compounds work as well outside the lab, but if these findings are confirmed they could become a source of new treatments for patients, less toxic and more effective than current options.

In the future, scientists could use drugs made from cannabis to fight ovarian cancer. A team of scientists testing the effects of two chemical compounds sourced from cannabis on ovarian cancer cells have found that both show promising anti-cancer effects. While more research will be required to turn these results into drugs which can be delivered to patients, these findings are an important opportunity to develop effective new therapies for a

The post Marijuana Components ‘Effectively Inhibited Ovarian Cancer Cell Growth,’ Study Shows appeared first on GrowCola.com.

The U.S. Supreme Court is declining to take up a case challenging the constitutionality of federal marijuana prohibition—an issue that even one of the bench’s more conservative members, Justice Clarance Thomas, had previously argued must be resolved amid the state legalization movement.

The case, Canna Provisions v. Bondi, was on the agenda for a closed-door meeting of the justices on Friday. On Monday, the court posted an order list showing that the matter failed to receive the needed votes from four justices to grant certiorari.

Massachusetts-based marijuana businesses had asked the court to take their case because they argued that federal law unconstitutionally prohibits intrastate cannabis activity, contravening the Commerce Clause.

That issue was raised in amicus briefs filed by supporters of the suit over recent weeks. That includes a public interest law firm representing a man who says federal law infringed on his property rights, libertarian think tank the Cato Institute and the Koch-founded Americans for Prosperity Foundation.

The powerhouse law firm Boies Schiller Flexner LLP submitted their petition for writ of certiorari from the court on behalf of their cannabis industry clients in October, and the Justice Department subsequently declined the opportunity to file a brief for or against the

The post U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Marijuana Companies’ Case Challenging Federal Prohibition appeared first on GrowCola.com.

A former top state marijuana regulator and current executive at a cannabis consulting firm will participate in a Senate committee hearing on banking issues this week.

While attention within the cannabis community is largely focused on a potentially imminent marijuana rescheduling decision by President Donald Trump, the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection will likely be discussing an adjacent issue for the marijuana industry: The lack of banking access for cannabis companies under federal prohibition.

Tyler Klimas—who served as executive director of the Nevada Cannabis Compliance Board (CCB) and was a founding member of the Cannabis Regulators Association (CANNRA) before becoming the founder of Leaf Street Strategies—will testify before the panel as the Democratic minority’s witness.

The hearing, which is scheduled for Tuesday, is titled “Ensuring Fair Access to Banking: Policy Levers and Legislative Solutions.” The description of the meeting doesn’t specifically mention marijuana, but Klimas’s participation signals that, at least on the Democratic side, there’s interest in addressing the industry’s banking issues.

The hearing is set to take place about two weeks after a GOP member of the House Financial Services Committee, Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH), raised the cannabis banking issue with Comptroller Jonathan Gould at

The post Former Top State Marijuana Regulator To Testify At U.S. Senate Banking Hearing This Week appeared first on GrowCola.com.