Business
Massachusetts Rec Cannabis Sales Exceed $9B Cumulative Total
BOSTON – Adult-use Сannabis retailers in Massachusetts have generated over $9 billion in gross sales since the first stores opened in November 2018, as reported by the state Cannabis Control Commission. Sales data on the commission’s Open Data Platform show the total crossed the line on February 4. A burst of buying ahead of a ...
Virginia Moves Toward Adult-Use Cannabis Sales While U.S. Policy Remains Uneven
RICHMOND- Virginia may finally close one of the most unusual gaps in U.S. Cannabis policy. Lawmakers in the Virginia General Assembly have approved legislation to establish a regulated adult-use Cannabis retail market and sent the bill to Governor Abigail Spanberger for consideration. If signed into law, the measure would create a legal marketplace for Cannabis ...
Week in Review: Cannabis & Psychedelics Industry Highlights
LOS ANGELES – The Cannabis and Psychedelics sectors delivered clear signals of financial stability, policy refinement, consumer-driven changes, and therapeutic expansion. State-level sales held firm in key markets, major MSOs shared Q4 and FY 2025 financial results that reflected disciplined operations, regulators advanced practical rules, and new research plus access programs pointed to longer-term value ...
Starting a Cannabis Business: The Real-World Founder Guide for an Industry That Gives You ZERO Margin for Error
LOS ANGELES - Starting any business is hard. Starting a Cannabis business is harder. A founder in a typical startup may need to deal with branding, hiring, websites, customer acquisition, and cash flow. A founder in Cannabis has to do all of that while also dealing with licensing, banking friction, tax distortion, compliance risk, packaging ...
LEGAL UPDATE: California Cannabis & Hemp Industry: What Operators & Investors Need to Know
LOS ANGELES- California’s cannabis and hemp markets are navigating a perfect storm of declining retail sales, shifting local tax policies, and a federal hemp reckoning that could reshape the competitive landscape for years to come. Whether you operate a licensed dispensary in Los Angeles, cultivate in the North Coast, manufacture edibles in the South Bay, or distribute ...
How the Irish Helped Shape — and Continue to Shape — the Modern Cannabis Industry
LOS ANGELES -For a small island, the Irish have a remarkable habit of turning up everywhere. From politics and literature to science and business, the Irish diaspora has left fingerprints across the modern world. Cannabis history is no exception. Some of the most important figures in the evolution of Cannabis — from early medical research ...
Women’s History Month: Supporting the Woman Who Supported Me
By Guy Rocourt. LOS ANGELES-March is Women’s History Month, and with International Women's Day celebrated earlier this month, it’s a good moment to reflect on the women whose strength, leadership, and resilience shape our lives and our work. For me, that reflection is deeply personal. For years my wife, Anea Bogue, supported me while I ...
Cannabinoids and Fatty Liver Disease: Emerging Research Highlights a Growing Health Challenge for Seniors
LOS ANGELES- A growing body of scientific research is examining how compounds derived from Cannabis may interact with metabolic diseases that affect hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Among the most widespread of these conditions is metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD)—a disorder previously known as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. MASLD affects roughly one-third of adults ...
Texas Restricts Sales of Smokable Hemp Products Effective March 31
AUSTIN – Texas retailers must pull smokable hemp products from shelves by the end of the month under final rules adopted by the Department of State Health Services (DSHS). The regulations, which take effect March 31, effectively ban the manufacture, distribution, and sale of hemp flower and extracts by requiring total THC testing that includes ...
Ownership Disclosure and 25% Change-of-Control Triggers: How Virginia Will Scrutinize Your Cap Table
VIRGINIA- Ownership transparency and anti-concentration controls remain central to Virginia’s adult-use legislation. Beneficial ownership disclosure requirements capture layered structures and indirect control arrangements. Transfers require Board approval, generally triggered at 25 percent ownership changes within 24 months. This provision directly limits incremental roll-up strategies. The anti–undue–influence mandate empowers regulators to scrutinize capital sources and governance ...
Alcohol Sales Slide as Cannabis Brings in $2.5B for Canada
OTTAWA – Federal and provincial governments in Canada collected $2.5 billion from recreational Cannabis in the fiscal year 2025, marking an 11.5% increase from the prior year. This growth in Cannabis-related earnings contrasts with a 4.2% decline in alcohol revenues, which totaled $13.1 billion – the steepest annual drop since 2004. Retail sales tell ...
ANALYSIS: When Oil Spikes, Cannabis Feels It Too
NEW YORK–Energy markets reacted immediately following the U.S.-Israeli strike on Iran. The operation — named by the Department of War (formally the U.S. Department of Defense)— raised fears of disruption to energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz. Before the attack, Brent crude was trading in the high-$70s per barrel. Within days it surged above ...
Explosion at New Jersey Extraction Facility Highlights Ongoing Safety Risks in Cannabis Processing
NEW JERSEY–A powerful explosion at an extraction facility in Logan Township, New Jersey on March 4 has left several workers seriously injured and reignited discussion around safety risks in solvent-based Cannabis processing. The blast occurred at the Savita Naturals facility, an industrial plant that produces botanical oils using hydrocarbon extraction systems. According to reporting from ...
Aurora Ditches Adult-Use Cannabis Market for Medical Focus
EDMONTON – Aurora Cannabis Inc. has completed its transition away from Canada's adult-use market to concentrate fully on medical Cannabis, targeting more profitable regulated opportunities overseas. Chief Financial Officer Simona King revealed the strategy during a presentation at the TD Cowen Healthcare Conference in Boston this week, marking a complete shift from the company's earlier ...
REVIEW: CannBev Summit-Recap from Brandon Bobart
MIAMI - The CannaBev Summit in Miami Beach took place at a pivotal moment for the hemp-derived THC beverage industry. The uncertainty referenced throughout the event is regulatory and political. Specifically, it centers on whether intoxicating hemp-derived THC beverages will continue to be federally permitted under the 2018 Farm Bill framework, or whether Congress and ...
What’s it Like Being a Black Entrepreneur in Cannabis?
COLUMBUS, OHIO- Although I was born and raised in Cleveland, my journey as a black entrepreneur in Cannabis didn’t start in a dispensary or at a grow facility. It actually started in culture, in music. I began my career at Virgin Records, where I had the privilege of working with amazing legends like Janet Jackson, ...
Week in Review: Cannabis & Psychedelics Industry Highlights
LOS ANGELES – It's been another fortnight, and the numbers, the deals, and the science keep telling the same story: the Cannabis & Psychedelics space is not slowing down. A few from the MSOs pack shared their Q4 and full-year 2025 results, and they look solid, showcasing that disciplined operators can still grow revenue and ...
DOJ Urges SCOTUS to Ban Cannabis Consumers from Owning Guns
WASHINGTON, D.C. –The U.S. Department of Justice is strongly urging the Supreme Court to uphold a federal rule that bars Cannabis consumers from legally owning or purchasing firearms. In a brief filed with the Court, Solicitor General D. John Sauer argues that banning Cannabis users from gun ownership is consistent with American history. The DOJ ...
Opinion: The Timing Has Never Been Better for Industrial Hemp
LOS ANGELES- A few years ago, ‘sustainable’ was a buzzword. Using the word ‘sustainable’ in marketing messages was a clever way for a company or brand appear to be living in the now, without having to do much to prove it. Times are changing. Governments are tightening purchasing standards. Corporations are being required to measure ...
Malta Raises Stock Limits for Cannabis Associations
VALLETTA – Maltese regulators have raised the amounts of Cannabis that non-profit associations can keep on hand, responding to supply challenges faced by the country's Cannabis clubs. The updates, introduced through a legal notice, replace a uniform 500-gram cap with membership-based tiers at distribution sites: Associations with more than 350 members may now hold up ...
Opinion: The Hemp Industry Has Finally Split Into Two Lanes
LOS ANGELES- The word “hemp” can mean five different things depending on who is talking, that era is finally ending. The industry didn’t get simpler, federal policy is forcing it to. It’s something I have been fighting for for a long time. The result of the impending ‘hemp ban’ is a hard separation between intoxicating ...
New York Bills Advance Low-THC Drinks in Liquor Stores
NEW YORK – A fresh legislative push in New York could soon let customers pick up low-dose Cannabis beverages at their neighborhood liquor store, blending two longstanding retail worlds under tight rules. State Senator Jeremy Cooney (D), who chairs the Senate Subcommittee on Cannabis, introduced Senate Bill S9220 with a companion measure, Assembly Bill A10191, ...
Rubicon Completes First Harvest at New Cascadia Facility in British Columbia
VANCOUVER, BC – Rubicon Organics Inc. has reached a key operational step with the completion of its first harvest at the newly acquired Cascadia facility in Hope, British Columbia. The company announced this milestone the same day it hosted a grand opening event at the site. Attendees included employees, local government representatives, and industry partners ...
Obituary: Barbara Webb: A Leader in Cannabis
From the Editorial Team at Highly Capitalized Network OBITUARY- Barbara Lynne (Christenson) Webb passed away on November 23, 2025, in Traverse City, Michigan, surrounded by her close family. Within the Cannabis industry Barbara was known for her clarity, sound judgment, and generosity with her time. She listened carefully, offered practical advice, and mentored people who ...
New Study: Medical Cannabis Linked to Measurable Sleep Improvements
NEW YORK- A newly published observational study in PLOS Mental Health adds real-world data to the ongoing discussion around Cannabis and sleep therapeutics. Researchers analyzed outcomes from 124 patients enrolled in the UK Medical Cannabis Registry who were prescribed cannabis-based medicinal products (CBMPs) after failing to respond to conventional insomnia treatments. The data were reported ...
