The rescheduling hearings, week two – Newsletter 7/10/26
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Hi all,
Today we’ve got drug historian Emily Dufton’s latest dispatch from the rescheduling hearings. And she’ll make her triumphant return to WeedWeek Wonks on July 23 to discuss the historic process and what it means for the cannabiz. Sign up for the webinar here. Alex
Send tips, press releases, concerns, feedback and criticism to hello@weedweek.com. Sensitive material to share? Contact Alex on Signal.
FROM WEEDWEEK
The rescheduling hearings, Week two: The DEA’s missing defense
Reformers initially cheered the DEA’s defense of moving REC to schedule three. But the DEA’s lawyers said less this week as a half-dozen new witnesses made the case for prohibition. Representing the enforcement agency, they offered few objections during testimony and on several occasions declined to cross-examine witnesses.
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Also in WeedWeek:
- Newsbrief: SF advances “Amsterdam-style” cafe measure
- Newsbrief: Lawyer slams Calif. market structure
- Newsbrief: Trulieve plans three Texas storefronts
QUICK HITS
Federal:
- Longtime cannabis scribe Natalie Fertig reported on the rescheduling hearings for Cultivated.
- Americans for Safe Access founder and president Steph Shearer argues federal laws “need massive rewrites” to accommodate rescheduling.
The Hill
Business:
- Leading MSO Trulieve spent $300,000 on federal lobbying in Q2.
Legis1 - Think tank the Niskanen Center released a policy playbook for fixing REC markets.
- Wrigley heir William ‘Beau’ Wrigley beat a $25M securities fraud suit.
- Also in Law360, vape maker PuffCo got hit with an employee racial discrimination suit. The company didn’t respond to a request for comment.
- Rob Starr reports on the meaning of the first World Cup with legal weed.
MJBiz - The WNBA dropped marijuana from its banned substances list and opened the door to hemp endorsements.
Nicotine Insider
State and local:
- Washington state has a pot glut.
KUOW (Public radio) - Illinois Gov. JP Pritzker(D) signed a market overhaul bill at Sway dispensary.
- MED is super expensive in Kentucky.
WKU (Public radio) - The Massachusetts initiative to recall REC legalization qualified for the November ballot.
Marijuana Moment - After a long tug of war, Virginia may have accidentally legalized REC a year early. Cultivated did a deep dive with influencer and entrepreneur Brett Puffenbarger on the state’s forthcoming market.
Virginian Pilot - North Carolina’s Democratic governor and Republican house speaker are at odds over legalization.
Marijuana Moment - Margins have improved for Michigan’s high-end growers, Crain’s Detroit Business reports.
- Texas state senator Charles Perry (R) plans to refile his hemp ban bill.
The Texan - Acquisitive MSO Vireo Growth entered the Pennsylvania MED market with a $20M deal.
MJBiz - Missouri workers are notching union wins.
Missouri Independent - Wyoming’s attorney general said it the state would opt out of federal cannabis rescheduling.
Health and science:
- A big new study linked teen use to serious mental illness.
ScienceDaily - Famed Humboldt grower Kevin Jodrey is part of a project to send cannabis seeds into space.
- A study found youth use is associated with an artery inflammation disorder.
Circulation Research
Fun and interesting:
- SFGate reports on the famous hunt for a plane full of weed which crashed in Yosemite in 1977.
- Cannabis Now reviewed Cookies impresario Berner’s new book Becoming Legend.
CALIFORNIA HITS
State:
- Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) continues to tout illegal market busts. Butte County was among the top targets.
SacBee, Sierra Daily News - Voting is now open for the Consumers Choice Awards, to be awarded at the state fair in Sacramento. The fair begins July 17.
Business:
- Glass House started selling smokable hemp biomass to Europe.
- Civil and criminal cases related to last summer’s federal raids on Glass House facilities are advancing in the courts. Calls to 911 are helping to put together what happened.
VC (Ventura County) Star
Local:
- Alta reviews the new book Mendo by English writer Charlie Harris.
- Three Bay Area men faces charges for a May dispensary break in that led to a fatal shooting by a security guard. As many as nine masked men rushed the dispensary. The security guard, who shot two of them, killing one, faces manslaughter charges.
SacBee - A fire at a Santa Rosa warehouse is under investigation.