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• Newsom to the rescue?
• Big week for hemp

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Until this morning, it appeared California’s cannabiz had lost an all hands push to avert a 15% to 19% hike in their excise tax, warning it would be catastrophic for the industry if allowed to take effect Tuesday.
WeedWeek

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) left the tax hike in his mid-May budget proposal. But this morning his office said he would sign a bill to halt the tax hike. There are now two possible routes to rush it through the legislature.

“I don’t know if that’s achievable, but there are certainly some last-minute Hail Mary attempts to make it happen,” Amy O’Gorman Jenkins, executive directory of the California Cannabis Operators Association (CaCOA) said.

Read the story

It was a wild week for the intoxicating hemp industry.

In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) vetoed the hemp ban championed by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. Saving the state’s $5B+ hemp industry made bigger news than the state’s expansion of its MED program. 

• Abbott called the bill well-intentioned, but said it wouldn’t survive legal challenges. He’s now wants a special session of the legislature to set hemp policy based on alcohol.
  Houston Chronicle

As the California market fizzles, and Gov. Newsom (D) seeks to make his hemp-ban permanent, MJBiz suggests Texas is now poised to lead the country “in THC — And THC policy.” 
MJBiz

• Patrick was furious about the veto.
  HuffPost
• “Hemp has real sway,” investor George Allen writes. “The kind of sway that can only make cannabis jealous.”
• Longtime Humboldt exec and activist Jesse Duncan 

Elsewhere in hemp:

• A federal appeal’s court reinstated Arkansas’ ban.
  KY3
• A U.S. House committee passed a federal ban.
  Marijuana Moment
• Lawyer Rod Kight posted on a fast-moving bill he says would wreck North Carolina’s hemp industry.
• An industry analyst says hemp drinks will outsell craft beer within a decade.
  Washington Post

Business:

• Yelp of weed, Weedmaps’ co-founders backed out of a deal to take the company private. They may make a new offer.
  MJBiz
• A survey found that cannabis industry workers are the “happiest” workers in the country.
  Marijuana Moment
• NewLake Capital Partners co-founder Jarrett Annenberg argues private credit built and will continue to sustain the cannabiz.
  MJBiz
• Is Meta warming to ads from hemp drinks? (h/t Cultivated)
• MSO Verano is opening its first “bodega-style” shop in Arizona.
• In a tech deal, AlpineIQ acquired Happy Cabbage’s marketing suite.
• NFLer turned drinks exec Gabe Carimi is the new CEO of Mary Jones, which just spun off from Jones Soda Company.
• Beer exec Jeff Chassner joined Cann as VP, sales.

State and local:

• In an op-ed, dispensary owner Wanda James, the only current Black regent of the University of Colorado, said the university is trying to silence her after she raised concerns about racially insensitive imagery in a cannabis-related university PSA. Two regents responded that while the imagery has been removed and apologized for, she is under investigation calling for the program to be defunded. Here’s an additional story from March.
  Denver Post
• Ohio lawmakers hit pause on reining in the state’s new REC law before summer break.
  Ohio Capital Journal
• Baltimore’s pot-tax funded reparations fund is in limbo.
  FoxBaltimore
• Ayr Wellness dismissed talk that it’s leaving Connecticut. The company is one of several MSOs with huge debts coming due in the next 18 months.
  MJBiz
• A judge threw out a lawsuit challenging Nebraska’s new MED laws.
  Nebraska Examiner
• Tourist town New Buffalo, near the Indiana border, is the cannabiz capital of Michigan.
  Crain’s Detroit Business

Health and science:

• “If cannabis raised your heart attack risk by 30%, wouldn’t we notice by now?” Dr. Benjamin Caplan responds to the recent study.
• Seniors are consuming more than ever before.
  AARP

International:

• After launching a $1B industry in recent years, Thailand moved to recriminalize weed.
  Reuters

Fun and interesting:

• Elon Musk launched Tesla’s robotaxis in Austin with a $4.20 flat fare.
  Fortune

State:

• Barring an unforeseen event, the 25% excise tax hike is set to take effect Tuesday. The industry continues to fight it. A separate bill to repeal the tax, AB 564 recently passed the state assembly with no ‘no’ votes. MJBiz asks what’s next?
  Then, this morning, Gov. Newsom called for the legislature to repeal the hike.
  California Cannabis Industry Association
• National Guardsmen sent to Los Angeles by Trump participated in the huge, recent bust in the Coachella Valley.
  Task & Purpose

Business:

• Republic National Distributing Co., the country’s second largest alcohol distributor, said it would abruptly exit California on September 2 citing various commercial headwinds.
  SF Chronicle
• Andrew Nash,founder of financial firm El Capitan Advisors, was ordered to return $21M in misappropriated funds, largely to MSO Planet 13, which has been suing him for years. Snoop Dogg founded Casa Verde Capital, which seeded Nash with $1M is suing both him and Planet 13. Nash has not faced criminal charges but a judge permanently barred him from working in finance.
  Santa Barbara Independent, Barron’s
• NorCal cartoonist Terry Torgerson took aim at testing standards.
  KymKemp.com
• Distributor Nabis launched an online wholesale marketplace in New York.
• Surfer magazine is doing a collab with Embarc and Humboldt Family Farms.
• Vape brand Rove launched in Maryland.

Local:

• Despite lack of interest and the pleas of existing operators, LA plans to move forward with its last equity-only dispensary lottery.
  WeedWeek
• Oceanside (San Diego Co.) “tiptoes” toward opening shops.
  San Diego Union-Tribune
• Multiple raids in Trinity Co. targeted unlicensed operators.
  KymKemp
• Non-profit Cannabis For Conservation introduced a new watershed restoration project up north.
  Times-Standard

Academia:

• Students at Cal Poly Humboldt have added weed to their inflation-tracking Consumer Price Index (CPI). Prices have been flat. 

Recognition:

• Budist announced gold,silver and bronze medal winners of the 2025 California Cannabis Awards, to be awarded at the state fair next month.

Upcoming:

• Chapel of the Flowers, in Berkeley, is hosting a July 12 screening of “Emerald Giants: The legend of Eddy and Linda.”
• The first ever California Leaf Bowl is tomorrow on the Richmond waterfront.
• Cannifest announced the headliner for its Labor Day event in Humboldt.
  GreenState
• SF Hash Week returns for 710.
  Respect My Region