Insights

LOS ANGELES- Industrial hemp has more ROI potential than the medicinal and intoxicating side for a simple reason: industrial hemp is a raw material that can be swapped into enormous existing markets, while medicinal products are constrained by a small set of delivery formats and a much higher regulatory playing field. On the medicinal side, ...

CHICAGO- CannaLaugh, a live event series combining nationally touring stand-up comedians with cannabis education, will host its second annual event on March 28. The event, scheduled to take place at the Galleria Chicago at 9 W. Division Street, will feature touring comics Mike Samp, Big Keef, Zako Ryan, and Casey The Icon. The experience continues ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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, ...

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 ...

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 ...

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- 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 ...

LOS ANGELES- If Cannabis 1.0 was legalization and survival, and Cannabis 2.0 was scale and brand proliferation, Cannabis 3.0 is something far more structural. It is the shift from product velocity to process discipline. From retail differentiation to clinical readiness. From promotional cycles to repeatable systems. Cannabis 3.0 is not louder. It is tighter. In ...

RICHMOND- Virginia’s adult-use design is built on scarcity and structural oversight. The 350 retail cap materially limits market density, shaping site selection and long-term valuation models. Tier V cultivation remains limited to five large operators. Combined with Board authority to impose regional caps, supply will be intentionally constrained. Wholesale compression risk is therefore lower than ...