Janet Jackim (Courtesy photo)

(This is a contributed guest column. To be considered as an MJBizDaily guest columnist, please submit your request here.)

President Donald Trump’s Dec. 18 executive order directed U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to take “all necessary steps” to move marijuana to Schedule 3 of the Controlled Substances Act. It also encouraged medical marijuana research, testing and use.

For healthcare providers and legal marijuana businesses, federal marijuana rescheduling marks a potentially significant shift in how medical cannabis may be researched, regulated, prescribed, and commercialized at the federal level.

But medical is the key word here. Near-term federal policy changes are expected to apply only to cannabis used for legitimate medical purposes, not adult use.

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President Trump’s kind words for

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Hemp-derived products containing CBD – the non-intoxicating cannabinoid President Donald Trump proposed covering via Medicare last month – would be regulated under federal law for the first time if a bipartisan bill introduced in Congress on Thursday passes.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) would set cannabinoid limits for hemp-derived products under the Hemp Enforcement, Modernization and Protection (HEMP) Act, sponsored by Republican U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith of West Virginia and Texas Democratic U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey.

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The bill does not regulate cannabis.

While draft language appears to empower the health secretary to set THC limits, the bill’s intent is limited to CBD, according to a statement from Griffith’s office.

That’s still good news for the U.S. hemp sector, which

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As predicted, Arkansas medical marijuana operators reported record-breaking sales in 2025.

Dispensaries rang up $291.1 million in sales in 2025, surpassing the previous record of $283 million set in 2023, according to data from the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration.

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That’s a $15 million increase over the prior record of $275.9 million set in 2024 and signals a rebound for the state’s medical cannabis industry, which launched in 2019,

Arkansas medical cannabis sales recover after 2024 stumble

“The industry certainly rebounded in 2025 with a new sales record, following a decrease in sales the previous year,” Scott Hardin, a spokesperson for the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration, said in a statement.

Arkansas has recorded $1.6 billion in sales since the

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Minnesota’s adult-use cannabis market may finally be taking off after a slow and challenging start.

Since the September launch of non-tribal adult use sales, Minnesota cannabis stores reported more than $31 million in revenue from 466,000 transactions through the end of December, according to the Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management.

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In that time, medical cannabis sales totaled $31.7 million, according to OCM data. December was the first month that adult-use sales outpaced MMJ sales, with $9.4 million in adult-use compared to $8.8 million for medical.

The growing pains that slowed Minnesota cannabis sales

Among the problems hampering Minnesota’s launch was a lack of licensed cultivation space that left many retailers with bare shelves.

Then, after cultivators kicked into gear, a lack

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Thailand, where a billion-dollar cannabis industry has blossomed since the country became the first in Asia to experiment with decriminalization in 2022, is poised to make the drug illegal again.

Inspired by a backlash to the thousands of shops that have sprung up around the country – but also the Thai cannabis industry’s failure to deliver on promised potential – all three parties likely to prevail in national elections on Feb. 8 have promised to impose restrictions, Bloomberg News reported.

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That’s left cannabis business owners and advocates in Thailand feeling burned, and some of the North American players that have expanded to the region are pondering next steps even as they grapple with unprofitability.

Did Thailand’s cannabis rush fizzle?

Thailand decriminalized cannabis in

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This is the first in a regular series of MJBizDaily interviews with major THC industry players. To be considered for an interview, contact editorial@mjbizdaily.com.

Seasoned cannabis executive Joe Bayern’s path into the legal marijuana industry didn’t start with a passion for the plant.

It began with water.

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While chief operating officer at Voss Water in the late 2010s, he began scouting for new products. At the time, the “next big thing” was CBD. But as he looked deeper, he discovered a hidden world that traditional consumer packaged goods executives weren’t aware of: legal THC.

“I was never a big user, but I saw the potential of the marketplace,” Bayern told MJBizDaily.

Now, after a stint as president and chief executive officer of a

The post Joe Bayern’s ‘Day 2’ cannabis strategy: Build brands, not canopies appeared first on GrowCola.com.

Cannabis reform measures, including state-level adult-use marijuana legalization, are encouraging American adults who have historically steered away from cannabis to try the drug, according to recently published research.

According to a study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, these include adults who are “older, female, white, or college educated” – some of the exact demographics that the $32 billion legal industry is keen to attract.

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Despite selling far more products than in prior years, declining prices mean legal cannabis operators are registering less sales by dollar in key markets, including California and Michigan, the country’s two biggest markets.

That’s led to manufacturers developing new products, including drinks as well as “functional THC” products, tailored toward populations, including older women and Gen

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Over the weekend, Congressional leadership removed language from the spending bill released Tuesday morning that would have delayed a looming ban on hemp THC, MJBizDaily has learned.

In addition to creating further uncertainty for hemp farmers and operators on the eve of planting season, the setback for hemp in Washington promises to delay when insurance will cover CBD treatments, as President Donald Trump promised last month, industry lobbyists said.

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The $28 billion U.S. hemp industry has been on high alert since November, when the deal to end the government shutdown also redefined hemp under federal law to recriminalize most popular hemp-derived THC products.

With a temporary spending package set to expire at the end of January, lawmakers are working on another funding bill. Hemp

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Connecticut’s last medical-only cannabis dispensary must relocate amid a possible shift to a hybrid model in a new town.

Bluepoint Wellness’s move within town comes after repeated denials from Westport’s Planning and Zoning Commission to allow recreational cannabis sales, according to CT Insider.

But unless the zoning code is updated, Bluepoint’s move could mean mean Connecticut will no longer have a medical-only cannabis dispensary.

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Opened in late 2019, Bluepoint has not been permitted to expand into recreational sales due to local rules, setting it apart from other marijuana stores in the state that have shifted to hybrid sales.

The state has 61 licensed stores, with 29 of them selling both medical and recreational products.

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In a “major escalation” of the ongoing feud between state officials and the campaign to legalize adult-use marijuana in Florida, state Attorney General James Uthmeier announced dozens of new election fraud investigations Tuesday.

Stridently denied by Smart & Safe Florida, the campaign committee primarily bankrolled by Tallahassee-based marijuana multistate operator Trulieve Cannabis Corp., the fraud allegations come less than two weeks before a key deadline to qualify adult-use cannabis legalization for the 2026 ballot.

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Smart & Safe Florida has until Feb. 1 to submit more than 880,000 valid signatures from registered voters to qualify adult-use cannabis legalization for the November ballot.

A voter initiative to pass a constitutional amendment in Florida requires at least 60% of the vote.

But with Gov.

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Michigan cannabis retailers sold more products in 2025 than in any year since the launch of adult-use sales.

However, declining prices mean overall sales revenue in the country’s second-biggest market dropped by about $113 million, according to state data.

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Cannabis stores reported about $3.17 billion in revenue in 2025, according to the Michigan Cannabis Regulatory Agency.

Michigan is still the second-largest adult-use marijuana market in the country, behind only California.

How much cannabis was sold in Michigan in 2025?

And Michigan cannabis retailers sold nearly 260,000 more pounds of marijuana flower last year than they did in 2024, according to the CRA.

But by December, the average price for an ounce of flower was $58.22 – 16% lower than a year

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The administration of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a sworn enemy of marijuana legalization, is roping county elections officials into “a political war” to halt an adult-use cannabis measure, one critic said.

And the state’s continued efforts to halt marijuana legalization come amid recent polling that shows voter support flagging beneath the 60% threshold required for Florida, the country’s biggest medical-only market, to finally transition to adult use.

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Smart & Safe Florida, a ballot initiative campaign funded by Tallahassee-headquartered marijuana multistate operator Trulieve Cannabis Corp., is mounting another effort to qualify legalization for the 2026 ballot.

A 2024 effort fell short despite an endorsement from President Donald Trump, then the Republican Party’s presidential nominee.

In this cycle, DeSantis officials are throwing everything

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A New Jersey cannabis store co-owned by actor and rapper Ice-T and a former Playboy playmate abruptly closed earlier this month, less than a year after a highly publicized launch.

The failure of The Medicine Woman in Jersey City has sparked legal action, with the shop’s landlord filing a breach of contract lawsuit alleging unpaid bills, according to Jersey Digs.

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Regulatory challenges blamed for cannabis shop closure

Celebrity-owned cannabis brands have had mixed results. Hashtoria, a Newark marijuana store co-owned by Wu-Tang Clan rapper Raekwon, has also closed, according to The Bergen Record.

And Ice-T’s foray into cannabis retail may have been a poor fit, with the-then 67-year-old telling Forbes last year that he doesn’t use cannabis.

In a statement to

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Vic Mensa (Courtesy photo by Roderick Ejuetami)

(This is a contributed guest column. To be considered as an MJBizDaily guest columnist, please submit your request here.)

Culture doesn’t come quietly.

It brings rhythm, memory, and truth. It carries the voices of people who turned nothing into something long before investors and policymakers saw the value in what culture built.

In cannabis, that culture was born from basements, backyards, block parties and studios long before legalization, before stock markets and before branding – before the plant became a profit line.

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In Chicago, where I’m from, cannabis and music are intertwined. They weren’t trends – they were language. In hip hop, the cannabis plant represents peace, focus and inspiration. It slows the chaos of a

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Back in session as of earlier this week, Georgia lawmakers are set to reconsider a major expansion of the state’s limited, low-THC medical cannabis program.

That would be good news for medical marijuana operators in the state, where patient growth remains stagnant under the status quo, according to a recent state report.

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Last fall’s legislative session ended without definitive action on Senate Bill 220, which proposed legalizing vaporizable cannabis flower for the first time and raising allowable THC from 5% to 50%, as Fox 5 reported.

Current access is restricted to low-THC oil, also included in edible products.

According to Axios, medical cannabis advocates are pushing lawmakers this session to revisit the bill, which would also expand the list of medical

The post Georgia under pressure to expand low-THC medical cannabis in 2026 appeared first on GrowCola.com.

Montana cannabis retailers reported a record $327 million in sales in 2025, marking another year of steady growth since adult-use sales launched on Jan. 1, 2022, according to state Department of Revenue data.

Over the past four years, Montana has recorded more than $1 billion in combined cannabis sales, and the market composition has changed.

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During the first year of adult-use sales in 2022, the market was more balanced. Sales reached $304 million, with medical marijuana products accounting for about one-third of that figure.

Adult-use sales now account for 90% of all cannabis purchases, the Montana Free Press reported, citing state data.

Adult-use cannabis sales have steadily climbed, while the medical marijuana market has experienced a sharp contraction.

From the start

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A flurry of acquisitions, mergers and other cannabis sector deals followed President Donald Trump’s Dec. 18 executive order instructing marijuana’s status under federal law to be downgraded.

But while some observers agree that this historic step – and with it, the promise of other major reforms – appears to have been the determining factor pushing at least some of these deals across the finish line, cannabis M&A stands to be transformed when marijuana rescheduling is finalized, analysts contacted for this article told MJBizDaily.

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“The signed deals we’re seeing are deals that have been worked on for some time now, and the signing of the EO was the catalyst to close those deals,” said Avis Bulbulyan, CEO of California-based cannabis consultancy Siva.

“Over the

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Connecticut cannabis sales dipped slightly in 2025, to $290 million from $293 million in 2024, according to state data.

That’s despite retailers selling a 8.6 million distinct items – a record haul and nearly 1 million more items than in 2024, as per the state Department of Consumer Protection.

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Adult-use cannabis retailers reported ringing up 650,503 sales in December – a record monthly total.

Connecticut cannabis prices decline in marijuana prices

As in other states, the average price of cannabis products in Connecticut has been declining amid increasing supply, from $39.70 in 2023 to $33.67 last year.

Yet prices remain higher than in neighboring Massachusetts. That may be depressing Connecticut’s potential, as customers seek cheaper cannabis across state lines.

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Elections fraud allegations lodged against the campaign to end Massachusetts’ $1.65 billion adult-use cannabis market may be difficult to prove.

Even if the claims that signature-gatherers for a Coalition for a Healthy Massachusetts deliberately misled voters are sustained, they may not be enough stop cannabis sales recriminalization from going on the ballot, according to the Statehouse News Service.

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Affiliated with state Republican Party operatives, the coalition has since last summer been attempting to qualify a voter initiative for the November ballot that would ban adult-use marijuana sales in Massachusetts.

Bid to end Massachusetts’ $1.6 billion adult-use cannabis industry formally challenged

If Petition 1E qualifies for the ballot and is approved by a majority of voters, medical marijuana sales would continue, and personal use

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Smokable “hemp flower” and other popular hemp THC products could soon disappear from Texas store shelves under new regulations proposed for the state’s estimated $5 billion sector.

The Texas Department of State Health Services wants to account for THCA, or tetrahydrocannabinolic acid, when determining whether a product meets the definition for hemp under state law – a move that many hemp operators say amounts to a de facto ban, according to Houston Public Media.

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THCA converts to delta-9 THC when heated.

Proposed rules could hike fees by 10,000%

The new rules, prompted by Gov. Greg Abbott’s September executive order to regulate hemp products after he rejected an outright ban, could take effect as early as Jan. 25.

They also include a dramatic increase

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