California promised clean weed. What happened — Newsletter 2/20/26
THE BIG IDEA
Hi all,
Another week and no rescheduling news. But there’s plenty more going on.
In the newsletter:
- EXCLUSIVE: California promised clean weed. What happened?
Read up.
Alex
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FROM WEEDWEEK
EXCLUSIVE: California promised clean weed. What happened?
California requires cannabis to be tested for 66 pesticides, more than most legal states. Yet more than eight years after the REC market opened, the DCC has struggled to show that contaminated products are consistently identified and kept off store shelves, or promptly recalled when they are not. For this story, the agency declined to answer detailed questions about specific incidents, enforcement decisions and recalls.
This is the third of three stories on Nicole Elliott’s tenure as DCC director.
Also in WeedWeek:
- Packaging company sues Stiiizy alleging $7M debt
- Newsbrief: Calif. regulator touts cost reductions
- Newsbrief: Mass. considers freezing grow license count
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QUICK HITS
Federal:
- A draft of the new Farm Bill would not change the upcoming federal ban.
Cultivated
Business:
- British Columbia’s supreme court ordered Nicholas Vita, former CEO of MSO Columbia Care (now The Cannabist Company) to pay more than C$7.4M to investment bank Canaccord Genuity after he “engaged in a high-stakes workaround designed to bypass U.S. securities regulations.
BIV - Innovia Consulting announced it acquired ERP shop 365 Cannabis.
- Canada’s Organigram has agreed to buy German MED company Sanity Group in a deal valued at up to €250M. million.
Cultivated - New Cannabis Ventures previews earnings season.
- A judge gave Mike Tyson and Ric Flair more time to respond to an ex-partner’s lawsuit.
Front Office Sports - Rising minimum wages are catching up with industry workers’ pay.
MJBiz
State and local:
- Florida’s Trulieve-backed REC initiative asked the state supreme court to revive its ballot push by restoring more than 70,000 signatures, about 10% of the total needed.
Tallahassee Democrat - Massachusetts equity businesses continue to struggle. And the state’s top regulator wants it to become a MED research hub.
Boston Globe, MJBiz - Cartoonist Brian “Box” Brown weighs in on the Ohio MSO antitrust lawsuit.
@boxbrown - Virginia moved a step closer to REC sales.
Virginia Mercury - An audit found flaws in Missouri’s REC framework.
FOX - Arizona bills would make creating “excessive” marijuana smoke a nuisance crime.
Marijuana Moment - New York bills would allow liquor stores to sell low-dose hemp-derived drinks.
Marijuana Moment - Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson (D) vetoed a hemp-derived THC ban.
Chicago Sun-Times - Canna Law Blog previews the Oregon legislative season.
- Colorado saw a big drop in year over year sales.
Westword - Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) wants to eliminate the state’s MED industry. Can he?
The Oklahoman
Books:
- Cookies impressario Berner’s new book Becoming Legend lands March 3.
Fun and interesting:
- Lifestyle brand 8th Iron Golf Club wants to attract duffers.
High Times - California’s Pretty Dope released “the most innovative product” Respect My Region has ever seen.
CALIFORNIA HITS
Business:
- The collapse of the Kings Garden grow in Palm Springs has sparked fraud and extortion claims.
Desert Sun - Daniel Cook with consultancy Higher Origins asked who has the most canopy statewide.
- Review app Budist is applying “wine industry metrics” to weed.
Cannabis Now
Local:
- Newly promoted to news editor at SFGate, Lester Black went hunting for the world’s most mythical weed in Big Sur. The piece discusses the state’s not yet operational “appellations” program as well.
- Many Santa Barbara County growers are set to miss the March 18 deadline for installing odor filtration systems.
Santa Barbara News-Press - Records show how retail licensing collapsed in Anaheim amid an FBI probe.
LA Times - A new podcast revisits the decade old Emerald Triangle police corruption case.
KymKemp