Business
Democrats’ Historic Victory Could Accelerate Full Cannabis Legalization
WASHINGTON, D.C. –Democrats’ historic election victory could move Cannabis reform beyond medical rescheduling and put full federal legalization firmly back on the agenda. Democrats won Congress and gained ground in state governments, strengthening the opportunity to move beyond medical rescheduling toward full federal legalization. For independent businesses, the opening could mean more customers, fairer taxes ...
Curaleaf Presses Forward as Aurora Explores Rival Organigram Offer
STAMFORD – Curaleaf Holdings Inc. issued a pointed statement, acknowledging Aurora Cannabis's announcement of a competing arrangement agreement with Organigram Global Inc., and making clear it has no intention of standing down. Organigram, in its turn, announced it would acquire all outstanding Aurora shares at C$7.80 per share, placing Aurora's fully diluted equity value at ...
Medical Cannabis Gets Its Federal Papers
LOS ANGELES – On October 30, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the DEA had issued federal registrations to more than 900 state-licensed medical Cannabis dispensaries across seven states: Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. It was the first phase of implementing Attorney General Todd Blanche's April order, which reclassified qualifying ...
Curaleaf Reports Q3 2026 Financial and Operational Results
STAMFORD – Curaleaf Holdings Inc. posted third-quarter 2026 net revenue of $352.7 million with gains across both its domestic and international segments. Revenue grew 11% YoY and roughly 4% sequentially, extending three straight quarters of domestic year-over-year growth under the company’s Built For Growth strategy. Both retail and wholesale channels pulled their weight. Domestic net ...
Analysis: Higher THC Potency Doesn’t Always Correspond with More Pronounced Mood-Altering Effects
Melbourne, Australia: Doubling THC potency doesn’t necessarily lead to a corresponding increase in cannabis’ mood-altering effects, according to a review of 40 human studies published in the journal Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews. Researchers from Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States systematically reviewed studies on the subjective effects of THC versus placebo in ...
Big Alcohol. Big Tobacco. What About Big Marijuana?
By Mark Collins | HCN Opinion When Democratic Texas U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico identified Big Alcohol and Big Tobacco as beneficiaries of restrictions on hemp-derived THC, he raised an important question: Who profits when consumers lose access? In an interview with The Breakfast Club, he argued that competing industries had a financial interest in ...
Week in Review: Cannabis & Psychedelics Industry Highlights
LOS ANGELES – Federal regulators drew a firm line around medical Сannabis, a hostile bid for Aurora turned more personal, and Q3 2026 earnings showed which operators convert retail traffic into cash. Capital deployment remains disciplined while balance sheets face relentless scrutiny. Operators run tighter operations while regulators maintain stubborn boundaries. From contested takeover fights ...
DEA Bars Dual-Purpose Dispensaries From Federal Medical Cannabis Registration
WASHINGTON – In April, followed by Trump administration's rescheduling order, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that the DEA had granted federal registrations to more than 900 state-licensed medical Cannabis dispensaries in Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. However, the same announcement carried a significant catch. The DEA simultaneously refused to ...
Cannabis Deals Multiply and Shrink in Q3 2026, Viridian Finds
LOS ANGELES – The Viridian Cannabis Deal Tracker counted 74 transactions in the third quarter: 28 in M&A, 27 in equity and 19 in debt. That is the most in any quarter since early 2023 and more than the first two quarters combined (67). July’s 28 deals were the most in any month since February ...
AJNA Biosciences Files for DEA Authorization to Grow Cannabis Under FDA Drug Framework
LITTLETON – AJNA Biosciences, a botanical drug development company, applied to the DEA for registration as a bulk manufacturer of Schedule I controlled substances. The filing, made available for public inspection on 30 October and scheduled for publication in the Federal Register today, covers marijuana, marijuana extracts, and tetrahydrocannabinols – three controlled substance categories the ...
Cannabis Buyers Are Price-Sensitive, Now The Federal Data Proves It
LOS ANGELES – The study, published this month in the peer-reviewed journal Addiction, was conducted by researchers at the University of California San Diego and received funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the California Department of Cannabis Control. The research team drew from nearly 865,000 product-level sales records from licensed cannabis ...
Argent BioPharma Licenses Proprietary Cannabis Genetics in Global Thai Phytomed Agreement
LONDON / PERTH – Argent BioPharma Ltd. has signed a decade-long exclusive worldwide licensing agreement with Thai Phytomed International (TPI), covering four proprietary Cannabis genotypes developed within the Argent group over several years. Under the agreement, TPI assumes full operational and financial responsibility for global cultivation, extraction, manufacturing, and distribution of derived products, including dried ...
Jushi Reports Q3 2026 Financial Results
BOCA RATON – Jushi Holdings Inc. released its third-quarter 2026 financial results, reporting $70.5 million in revenue, a 7% YoY gain driven by record wholesale volume and retail growth across several key states, even as pricing pressure continued to compress margins. The company’s wholesale segment led the quarter, surging 40% YoY to $9.7 million and ...
Verano Reports Q3 2026 Financial Results
CHICAGO – Verano Holdings Corp. reported $212.4 million in third-quarter revenue, a 5% increase YoY. The figure came in modestly below analyst estimates of $216.4 million and trailed the $217.9 million posted last quarter, but the more significant story emerged in operating cash flow. Cash from operations reached $49 million for the quarter, nearly doubling ...
How to Survive MJBizCon: Parties, Meetings and Making It Worth the Trip
LAS VEGAS- An HCN guide to better connections, good parties and making the trip pay off long after Vegas Every year, sensible cannabis professionals travel to Las Vegas carrying three business objectives, two phone chargers and a touching belief that they will get enough sleep. Within 48 hours they are standing under a chandelier, eating ...
Could California Become Germany’s Next Recognizable Cannabis Origin?
LOS ANGELES- California’s products and ideas have been crossing the Atlantic for decades. Germans watch Hollywood films, listen to West Coast hip-hop, drink Californian wine and use technology developed in Silicon Valley. The cultural connection can be wonderfully incongruous. A German music fan can dress for Compton while waiting for a tram in Berlin. California ...
Germany’s Medical Cannabis Market Is Becoming a Global Supply Opportunity
LOS ANGELES- Germany’s medical Cannabis market offers North American producers an opportunity that exists today: supplying prescription products through an established pharmaceutical channel. Its significance lies in the combination of rising imports, regulated distribution and buyers able to source internationally. Understanding that opportunity requires looking beyond legalization headlines. The market is shaped by prescribing, pharmacy ...
Curaleaf Refuses to Back Down
STAMFORD – One day after the Alberta Securities Commission (ASC) dismissed Curaleaf's application to shut down Aurora Cannabis's at-the-market (ATM) share issuance program, Curaleaf Holdings pushed back with a firm statement, insisting the ruling changes nothing about the fundamental merits of its hostile bid. Boris Jordan, Curaleaf's Board Chairman and CEO, argued that the core ...
Cannabis Users Trust Dispensary Staff Over Doctors, Federal Study Finds
LOS ANGELES – People who use Cannabis trust dispensary staff more than healthcare providers or government agencies for information about the substance, according to a study published in the journal Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy. Researchers from the University of California, Johns Hopkins University, and several other institutions surveyed 1,023 U.S. adults aged 18-plus who ...
New York Cannabis Tops $4 Billion in Retail Sales
NEW YORK – Less than four years after the state welcomed its first licensed adult-use customer, New York's regulated market has crossed a major cumulative sales threshold, placing it among the top three recreational Cannabis markets in the country. Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that New York's legal Cannabis market has surpassed $4.1 billion in cumulative ...
SNDL Reports Q3 2026 Financial and Operational Results
EDMONTON – SNDL Inc. released its third-quarter 2026 results, reporting record quarterly free cash flow of CA$20.0 million, up 19.5% YoY, and a return to positive adjusted operating income of $5.2 million, compared with a $9.5 million loss in Q3 2025. Cannabis retail, operating across 193 Canadian locations, delivered its highest-ever quarterly revenue alongside a ...
Week in Review: Cannabis & Psychedelics Industry Highlights
LOS ANGELES – The Cannabis and Psychedelics industries closed out the past fortnight with a full plate of international boardrooms debates, M&A combat, a federal rescheduling docket moving toward a recommended decision, ballot momentum heading into November, and a crop of brand and capital moves that confirm operator confidence even in a price-compressed market. 1. ...
Alberta Regulator Sides with Aurora, Dismisses Curaleaf’s ATM Challenge
EDMONTON – The Alberta Securities Commission (ASC) dismissed Curaleaf Holdings' application to halt Aurora Cannabis's at-the-market (ATM) share-sale program, delivering a regulatory setback to the American Cannabis company's hostile takeover campaign. The ruling confirmed that Aurora's ATM program is compliant with securities laws. Curaleaf had filed a complaint with the ASC to halt Aurora's ATM ...
Safe Harbor and Opifex Media Set Terms for a Shared Nasdaq Future
DENVER — SHF Holdings, Inc., which operates as Safe Harbor Financial, has signed a non-binding term sheet with Opifex Media Inc. to combine the two companies under one publicly traded parent. Opifex, a Beverly Hills-based holding company with assets in publishing, music and video, would merge into a newly formed Safe Harbor subsidiary, with the ...
DEA Judge Admits GAO Report, Rejects Prohibitionists’ Attempt to Reopen Cannabis Rescheduling Hearings
WASHINGTON – Chief Administrative Law Judge Derek Julius admitted a Government Accountability Office report into the DEA's marijuana rescheduling record and turned down the other requests opponents had filed to slow the case. Opponents had asked to reopen the hearing, call new witnesses, obtain GAO's working files, cross-examine FDA's Dominic Chiapperino a second time, and ...
