Category: Cannabis Info

Houses from Forbes “America’s Best Architects” 2025 lists



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Opinion: Why does ‘Live Free or Die’ not apply to cannabis policy?

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Rescheduling Optimism Fades, Cannabis Stocks Follow

It is now nearly two months since President Donald Trump surprised the global cannabis industry by signing an executive order to drag the highly-anticipated cannabis rescheduling process out of the bureaucratic  swamp.  

With no mention of the project from the administration ever since, the void is once again being filled with prohibitionist pushback, market scepticism, and relentless distractions.  

As the initial euphoria of the Executive Order to expedite cannabis rescheduling now all but evaporated, cannabis stocks have predictably surrendered their rapid gains.  

The AdvisorShares Pure US Cannabis ETF (MSOS), which surged 24% following the December announcement, is now down 15% year-to-date as the broader S&P 500 climbs into positive territory. 

While the project is by no means written off, the cannabis industry at large historically has poor form on succumbing to hype, and an increasing number of leading voices are now suggesting it could have fallen into this trap once again.  

“Rescheduling is just going to be a big tax break largely the MSOs, and it’s going to help their bottom line, which might help their stock price,” Arthur Cordova, CEO of cannabis company Ziel and former Wall Street institutional trader. “But outside of that, it will do nothing to inject any additional capital in the traditional sense.” 

With the Justice Department offering no updates on implementation progress and the administrative pathway remaining unclear, Cordova says he’s still waiting for credible analysis of how the process moves forward: “I have yet to read an incisive article that explains how rescheduling gets done now.” 

That uncertainty compounds mounting political resistance from within Trump’s own party. The path to Schedule III faces significant legal and administrative hurdles, and even if successful, may not deliver the transformational change legacy operators anticipated.  

The implementation problem 

Trump’s executive order directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to ‘take all necessary steps to complete the rulemaking process related to rescheduling marijuana to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act in the most expeditious manner.’  

But two months later, the Justice Department has provided virtually no clarity on how, when, or whether that will occur. 

When pressed by Marijuana Moment last month, a DOJ spokesperson said the department had no ‘comment or updates’ to share. More recently, an agency official told Salon that the ‘DOJ is working to identify the most expeditious means of executing the EO’, suggesting that the path forward has not yet been established.  

“You sign one of these executive orders,” Cordova continued, asking if Trump can simply ‘call his DEA person and just do it…don’t give me any guff about it…I want it done by Monday?’ 

“All the people who are against rescheduling will then take them to court, and they’ll have a field day because it was rushed. So will it stand? Did they have public hearings for the other side?” 

The administrative requirements are substantial. The Drug Enforcement Administration must still review 43,000 public comments submitted during the Biden administration’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking process. The agency has had no administrative law judges on staff since August 2025, the very officials responsible for overseeing drug reclassifications. DEA Administrator Terry Cole, who was confirmed in July, has yet to commit publicly to rescheduling and controls the appointment of new judges who could restart the process. 

A recent Congressional Research Service report outlined how the DOJ could, in theory, reject the president’s directive entirely or delay the process by restarting the scientific review.  

Attorney General Bondi has so far remained silent on the issue. While it had been speculated the issue would be brought up in this week’s explosive hearing, the session was inevitably derailed by the Epstein Files scandal. .  

Legal challenges are also virtually guaranteed. Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers led a multistate opposition letter during the Biden process and has continued litigation against medical cannabis programs and hemp-derived intoxicants.  

Anti-cannabis groups have already prepared challenges to the rescheduling science. Even pro-reform advocates may sue, arguing that rescheduling doesn’t go far enough and that cannabis should be de-scheduled and entirely removed from the Controlled Substances Act.  

What will really change? 

The central focus for US-based cannabis operators regarding rescheduling has been the removal of the 280e tax rule, the IRS code section that bars ordinary business deductions for Schedule I/II drug operations.  

But suggestions it could open the door to institutional capital, Cordova suggests, are overcooked.  

“Could it make those stocks more attractive who are publicly traded on, say, a Canadian exchange, and thereby elevating the stock price and the market capitalisation of which they could then maybe get loans from non-conventional means, raise more equity in that way? Yeah, but that’s an around the bend way.” 

The real barrier isn’t Schedule I classification, it’s banking reform, which remains stalled despite widespread state legalisation. Without access to traditional banking and capital markets, rescheduling offers limited relief. 

“Banking reform,” Cordova says, would require the “one two punch” of rescheduling combined with legislative action. “Even Chuck Schumer…when they had control of the Senate, would not bring it to a floor vote.”  

Furthermore, most of the MSOs are already operating as if 280e has already been abolished, meaning immediately gains will likely be modest.  

The one area where Cordova sees genuine progress is research access, but the real-world benefits for patients and businesses will likely not be felt for years.  

“It should allow people to work in the clear rather than just the three or four government research centres,” he explained.  

Big Pharma companies that have been ‘quietly working behind the scenes’ will finally be able to discuss cannabis in their pipeline publicly. Multinationals like Bayer and Novartis, previously cautious about jeopardising US operations, can now engage openly.  

Clinical trials, FDA approvals, and pharmaceutical development timelines don’t move quickly, and legacy cannabis operators lack the regulatory infrastructure that Big Pharma has spent decades building. 

Business of Cannabis will be publishing a series of articles diving into the detail of the realities of rescheduling in the coming weeks.

The post Rescheduling Optimism Fades, Cannabis Stocks Follow appeared first on Business of Cannabis.

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To Willie Nelson, “Cannabis is food, it’s medicine, it’s energy, it’s health.” His new book, “Willie & Annie Nelson’s Cannabis Cookbook,” contains 85 recipes and amusing anecdotes from the 91-year-old country music legend.



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New Farm Bill Released By GOP Committee Chair Aims To Reduce Hemp Industry ‘Regulatory Burdens’

A key House committee chairman has unveiled the latest version of a large-scale agriculture bill—with provisions his office says will reduce “regulatory burdens for producers of industrial hemp.”

The proposed 2026 Farm Bill released on Friday by House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn Thompson (R-PA) would maintain the industrial hemp program at a time when the cannabinoid industry finds itself threatened by a pending recriminalization of most consumable cannabinoid products under separate legislation President Donald Trump signed into law last year.

But for farmers growing hemp for industrial purposes such as fiber and grain, the latest iteration of the Farm Bill is being pitched as a source of industry relief, with policies allowing the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), as well as states and tribes, to “reduce or eliminate testing requirements and background checks for producers,” for example.

Those provisions are modeled after the standalone Industrial Hemp Act, bipartisan legislation introduced in the 118th Congress aimed at bolstering the hemp market that evolved after the crop and its derivatives were federally legalized in 2018 during Trump’s first term in office.

Under the new 2026 Farm Bill, USDA would also face a mandate to “establish a process by which laboratories can be

The post New Farm Bill Released By GOP Committee Chair Aims To Reduce Hemp Industry ‘Regulatory Burdens’ appeared first on GrowCola.com.

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Trump Pardons Former NFL Star Convicted Of Trafficking 175 Pounds Of Marijuana

President Donald Trump has pardoned a former NFL star who was convicted of trafficking 175 pounds of marijuana.

As advocates await action on federal marijuana rescheduling—and many people continue to endure the consequences of ongoing cannabis criminalization—Trump granted clemency to five ex-NFL players, including Nate Newton, who helped lead the Dallas Cowboys to three Super Bowl victories in the 1990s.

In 2002, however, Newton was arrested in Texas and convicted on federal drug trafficking charges after police discovered $10,000 in his truck and 175 pounds of marijuana in an accompanying vehicle. The president hasn’t publicly discussed the pardon or nature of the offense.

“I would like to thank President Trump and all of those that work under him who put this Pardon into effect,” an X account labeled as belonging to Newton posted on Friday. “Thank you Sir for taking time out of your busy day in running this country. Thank you Sincerely and may God bless You.”

Alice Marie Johnson, who herself received a pardon for a drug offense from Trump during his first term and now serves as the White House pardon czar, also didn’t speak directly to the cannabis conviction that was formally forgiven, but she said on Thursday that “excellence is built on grit, grace, and the courage to rise again,” and “so is our nation.”

“Special thanks to [Cowboys owner] Jerry Jones for personally sharing the news with Nate Newton,” she said. “I’m holding Nate’s pardon in my hands today—what a blessed day.”

Advocates have generally applauded any examples of clemency for people who’ve faced marijuana-related convictions, but such pardons have been relatively rare so far during Trump’s second term—even as he’s pushed the attorney general to move cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).

“I’m encouraged to see President Trump recognize that past cannabis convictions deserve clemency. But there are still people serving lengthy prison terms for less cannabis than Nate Newton had,” Weldon Angelos, founder of the criminal justice non-profit The Weldon Project who received a cannabis-related presidential pardon during Trump’s first term, told Marijuana Moment. “I’m hopeful this momentum continues so that those still incarcerated for cannabis offenses will also receive clemency in the near future.”

At the start of his second term, the president fulfilled a campaign promise by commuting the life sentence of Ross Ulbricht, a man who was convicted of running a dark web illicit drug market.

The pardons and rescheduling push stand in stark contrast to other administrative drug policy actions, which has also involved military strikes resulting in the deaths of more than 100 people accused of participating in illegal drug trafficking.

Newton’s pardon for trafficking 175 pounds of cannabis also comes as people continue to face incarceration or collateral consequences related to federal marijuana convictions for offenses involving lesser amounts of the controlled substance.

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Last year, Angelos, the pardon recipient and reform advocate, paid a visit to the White House, discussing future clemency options with Johnson, the pardon czar.

Former marijuana prisoners who received clemency from the president during his first term also staged an event outside the White House last April, expressing gratitude for the relief they were given and calling on the new administration to grant the same kind of help to others who are still behind bars for cannabis.

In the background of the latest pardons, industry stakeholders and reform advocates are closely monitoring the Justice Department to see what comes of Trump’s December executive order directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to expeditiously complete the cannabis rescheduling process.

Separately, Trump recently signed large-scale spending legislation that continues a longstanding policy blocking Washington, D.C. from legalizing recreational cannabis sales.

The post Trump Pardons Former NFL Star Convicted Of Trafficking 175 Pounds Of Marijuana appeared first on Marijuana Moment.

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White Earth Nation plans cannabis dispensary in East Grand Forks – InForum

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Seth Rogen fans were eagerly awaiting a druggy episode of his hit Apple TV+ series, “The Studio.” Ep. 9 delivers in a major way with a heavy dose of mushroom chocolates.



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Parsonsfield Showed up for Silver Cannabis Company Grand Opening Weekend

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South Dakota: Lawmakers Reject Bills That Sought To Dismantle State’s Voter-Initiated Medical Cannabis Access Program

Over 18,000 South Dakotans are currently registered in the program, with participation having increased greatly in recent years.

The post South Dakota: Lawmakers Reject Bills That Sought To Dismantle State’s Voter-Initiated Medical Cannabis Access Program appeared first on NORML.

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