Trump signs order to reschedule marijuana — Newsletter, 12/19/25
THE BIG IDEA
Hi all,
Let’s get to it:
- Trump signs order to reschedule
- SCOOP: Operator sues New York, Metrc over QR code system
- Top WeedWeek stories of 2025
It’s going to be a busy 2026 folks. As usual I’m not the business of making predictions, except that it won’t be boring.
The WeedWeek newsletter will return January 9. Wishing everyone a happy, healthy and peaceful holiday season,
Alex
*
Send tips, press releases, concerns, feedback and criticism to hello@weedweek.com.
Sensitive material to share? Contact Alex on Signal.
*
FROM WEEDWEEK
SCOOP: New York and Metrc sued over QR code mandate
An upstate New York processor is suing the state and leading compliance software vendor Metrc over a QR code system mandated by the state Office of Cannabis Management (OCM.) New York is apparently the only state requiring operators to use the Metrc-owned system.
Related: There’s a petition to halt Metrc’s New York rollout.
*
Newsbrief: U.S. Supreme Court passes on legalization case
Newsbrief: Sen. Rand Paul visits Cornbread Hemp
*
TOP STORIES OF 2025
A few of WeedWeek‘s best stories of the year, in chronological order:
- Calif. pesticides mess has no easy fix
- Riverside licensing reveral angers retailers
- Santa Cruz Co. supes challenge DCC on pesticides
- Calif. DCC ignored “rampant” diversion, staffer alleged in 2021
- Calif. DCC and Metrc “conspired” to allow diversion: Lawsuit
- “A debt trap:” LA market crisis deepens
- Calif. judge “troubled” by how DCC shuttered lab
- Glass House signed deals with maritime union
- Calif. regulator’s tenure dogged by diversion questions
*
TRUMP SIGNS ORDER TO RESCHEDULE
Much of the cannabis world cheered as President Donald Trump signed an executive order calling on U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to expedite the process of rescheduling marijuana from a schedule I controlled substance to less restrictive schedule III.
Politico
Trump’s order cites a review by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, ordered by President Joe Biden, which endorsed rescheduling. The measure was before the DEA (part of the Justice Department) when Trump returned to office in January.
While Trump teased rescheduling in August, his administration has stepped up cannabis enforcement in some respects. Last month Trump signed a federal ban on intoxicating hemp-derived products as part of the deal to end the federal shutdown.
- The order also aims to make CBD more accessible to Medicaid and Medicare patients.
Rescheduling raises many new questions for the industry, beginning with: “When will it happen?” But many insiders are confident it will end the impact of industry-hated tax rule 280E which explicitly only applies to schedule I and II substances.
More links:
- Politico reports on the industry’s lobbying efforts and credits Trulieve CEO Kim Rivers, a regular at high-dollar Trump fundraisers, with convincing him to reschedule in today’s announcement.
- Here’s a meaty post from Canna Law Blog.
- The state markets will remain federally illegal. Rescheduling “only exacerbates a bad situation,” three pro-legalization policy experts argue in the LA Times. “Picture Schedule III as a rudderless, aging ship taking on water. Adding cannabis is like piling a whole bunch of new cargo onto this sinking vessel.”
- It may inspire Congress to pass banking reform. With many prominent conservatives opposed to rescheduling, Trump dismissed GOP dissenters.
Marijuana Moment, MJBiz - Experts are skeptical it will do much for bank access, Reuters reports.
- Emerald Triangle farmers mostly shrugged.
KymKemp.com - Reuters asks what it means for consumers.
- Kyle Sherman, CEO of tech shop FlowHub posted on “Schedule III and the myth of a Big Pharma takeover“
- Poseidon investors Morgan Paxhia commemorated the occasion in verse.
*
QUICK HITS
Business:
- MSO Vireo Growth said it would acquire Colorado dispensaries from rival PharmaCann.
MJBiz - Cannabis Musings checks out former ancillary distributor Greenlane, which is now in the digital currency space.
- A survey by longtime weed scribe David Downs sought to find the 50 best breeders of 2025.
- The number of active cultivation licenses in the U.S. has fallen 23% since 2023, according to CRB Monitor.
MJBiz
State and local:
- An investigation by the Miami Herald and Tampa Bay Times found Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) diverted more than $35M from state money intended to help needy Floridians into his successful effort to defeat two 2024 ballot measures to legalize REC and protect the right to an abortion. A grand jury has been weighing the matter.
Sun Sentinel - Kentucky’s first MED shop opened.
Kentucky.com - New restrictions on hemp advanced in New Jersey.
Heady NJ - The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians of Michigan and Indiana and Michigan’s regulator signed the state’s second tribal-state cannabis compact.
Health and science:
- Pro-cannabis doctor Ben Caplan responded to a Journal of the American Medical Association assessment that cannabis has little apparent benefit treating most medical conditions.
- Life-threatening withdrawal from medetomidine, a veterinary sedative mixed with fentanyl is causing a crisis in Philadelphia. And it’s spreading.
NY Times
International:
- ABC reports on Morocco’s burgeoning industry.
Fun and interesting:
- Wana Brands founder and former CEO Nancy Whiteman “came out of retirement” to respond to a misdirected email.
CALIFORNIA HITS
Business:
- A big Glass House investor “commended” Jeffrey Epstein days after Epstein was accused of exploiting underage girls.
Washington Square News - Glass House is fighting Ventura County over property taxes.
- Brand accelerator Petalfast and manufacturer Sunderstorm announced plans to combine their California distribution.
Local:
- Santa Cruz supes rejected a proposal to strip cannabis licenses if a customer gets in a car accident after leaving a cannabis lounge.
@jade_grove_farm - Raids on a licensed farm in Humboldt allegedly uncovered huge amounts of unlicensed product, guns and trafficking victims.
KRCR - The Palm Springs Desert Sun called I-5 California’s “Black-market cannabis superhighway.”
- Does northern, inland San Diego County have a choice about the cannabiz?
ValleyCenter.com