News
FDA Finalizes Psychedelic Drug Guidance and Schedules September Public Hearing
WASHINGTON, D.C., The US FDA has established clearer expectations for psychedelic clinical trials while inviting public input on how the therapies could eventually be delivered in supervised healthcare settings. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has finalized its long-awaited guidance for companies and researchers developing psychedelic medicines, marking an important step toward bringing the emerging ...
Ascend Wellness Seeks Shareholder Approval for Reverse Stock Split Ahead of Potential Uplisting
NEW YORK – Ascend Wellness Holdings Inc., a vertically integrated multistate Cannabis operator, is preparing for a possible move to a major U.S. stock exchange. The company has filed documents outlining a shareholder vote on authorizing a reverse stock split of its Class A common shares. In a definitive proxy statement filed with the U.S. ...
The Real Operational Cost of Cash Discrepancies in High-Volume Dispensaries
LOS ANGELES – Cannabis dispensaries occupy a distinctive position in American retail. They are among the highest-grossing single-location stores in the country, processing thousands of transactions per day, yet the majority remain locked out of conventional banking infrastructure due to federal prohibition. That creates an industry moving hundreds of millions of dollars annually in physical ...
Psychedelic Alpha Partners with Horizons to Present The Psychedelic Business Forum
NEW YORK – The Psychedelic Business Forum, Horizons: Perspectives on Psychedelics, returns to the New York Academy of Medicine on October 15, 2026, with Psychedelic Alpha formalized this year as a co-presenter alongside Horizons. Horizons confirmed the arrangement on its website, describing the day as "a collaboration between Horizons and Psychedelic Alpha, an independent media ...
Trulieve Earns Spot on TIME’s America’s Best Companies 2026 List
TALLAHASSEE – Trulieve Cannabis Corp. received recognition from TIME magazine as one of America's Best Companies for 2026. The Florida-based medical Cannabis operator is one of only two Cannabis companies to appear on the list, drawn from a field of more than 7,200 eligible candidates. The list, developed in partnership with Statista, evaluated thousands of ...
Nepal’s Gandaki Province Breaks Ground on Regulated Cannabis Cultivation
KATHMANDU – The Gandaki Province Assembly in Nepal has passed landmark legislation legalizing the cultivation of Cannabis for medicinal and industrial purposes. This makes the province a pioneer in the country, setting the stage for a legal commercial framework that, according to lawmakers, could reshape the region's agricultural economy. The bill, formally titled "Bill Related ...
Rhode Island Moves to Restart Cannabis Retail Licensing
PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island officials are taking steps to revive a stalled process for issuing new retail Cannabis licenses. A federal judge blocked the effort earlier this year over concerns about state residency rules. Lawmakers responded by changing the law, and regulators now seek to clear the way forward. State attorneys asked U.S. District Judge ...
Curaleaf Opens Free CPD Training Portal for UK Medical Cannabis Prescribers
LONDON – Medical Cannabis has been legally prescribable in the UK since 2018. The endocannabinoid system, the biological mechanism at the core of how cannabinoid therapies work, still gets barely a mention in most British medical degrees. That structural gap is now what Curaleaf International is directly targeting with a rebuilt digital training resource. The ...
Germany Puts “GMP Washing” in Medical Cannabis on Notice
BERLIN – Germany's Hessian State Office for Health and Care (HLfGP) published a formal guidance document targeting the widespread practice of "GMP washing", i.e. importing Cannabis flowers from third-country cultivators under Good Agricultural and Collection Practice (GACP) certification, then running them through EU-based GMP facilities before supplying the German market. At the center of the ...
Week in Review: Cannabis & Psychedelics Industry Highlights
LOS ANGELES – The past fortnight delivered the most jam-packed period of meaningful news our sector has seen in 2026. Federal rescheduling hearings opened. Virginia finally locked in its retail framework. Definium posted the cleanest psychedelic clinical data the FDA has ever been handed. Glass House earned a NYSE listing. And California's midyear market numbers ...
Lazear Advises Medical Cannabis Company Organic Remedies on ESOP Transaction
COLUMBUS, Ohio, July 6, 2026 – Organic Remedies, one of Pennsylvania's leading medical cannabis companies, has completed its transition to 100% employee ownership through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), marking another milestone in the growing adoption of ESOPs as an ownership transition strategy for the cannabis industry. Lazear Capital Partners (Lazear) served as the ...
Q2 2026: The Quarter That Counted For Psychedelics
LOS ANGELES – Q2 2026 gave the psychedelic medicine sector the quarter that practitioners, investors, and regulators had been building up for years. Clinical programs delivered Phase 3 results, the White House signed an executive order, and the FDA cleared its first ibogaine-derived compound for U.S. study. Together, the three months ending June 30 produced ...
California’s Legal Cannabis Market Holds Steady at Midyear
LOS ANGELES – California's licensed retailers generated $323.1 million in Cannabis sales in June, pushing the state's first-half total to nearly $1.95 billion. The June figure landed almost exactly in line with the roughly $322 million sold in June 2025, marking one of the cleaner year-over-year comparisons California's licensed sector has produced in several years. ...
High Tide Tightens Ownership Guardrails with New Two-Part Rights Plan
CALGARY – High Tide Inc. announced that its board of directors approved a Temporary Shareholder Rights Plan and an Amended and Restated Shareholder Rights Plan, both executed with Olympia Trust Company as Rights Agent, dated June 26, 2026. The dual structure stems from a procedural constraint. The Amended and Restated Plan updates the shareholder rights ...
Splash Beverage Group Takes Global License on CannEpil, Targeting Drug-Resistant Epilepsy
FORT LAUDERDALE – Splash Beverage Group Inc. announced it has secured an exclusive worldwide license to CannEpil®, a cannabinoid-based investigational treatment for drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE), through an agreement with Argent BioPharma Limited, the Australian-listed clinical-stage company behind the therapy. DRE affects approximately 30% of epilepsy patients worldwide and remains one of the most significant unmet ...
Legal Cannabis Generates Billions, Reaches New Highs Across Key States
LOS ANGELES - When Colorado and Washington launched the first legal adult-use Cannabis markets in January 2014, the debate was primarily about public safety and social policy. Twelve years later, the fiscal argument has taken center stage. A comprehensive report published by the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) found that the 24 states and the District ...
Cannabis Retailers Face Engagement Gap in Loyalty Programs
LOS ANGELES – A new report published by Sweed, a tech company that provides an all-in-one software ecosystem for Cannabis dispensaries, draws on Q1 2026 data from 2.1 million shoppers and $452.5 million in retail transactions to produce what may be the most detailed picture yet of how dispensary loyalty programs actually perform vs. how ...
Virginia Lawmakers Enact Plan for Legal Cannabis Sales
RICHMOND – The Virginia Senate and House of Delegates gave final approval Monday to a budget bill that legalizes recreational Cannabis sales. Lawmakers adopted Gov. Abigail Spanberger's proposed amendments in full, meaning the measure is now law without further action required from her office. The outcome follows Spanberger's veto last month of an earlier sales ...
Tilray Acquires HelloMD to Build Out Canadian Medical Cannabis Network
NEW YORK – Tilray Brands Inc. has agreed to acquire HelloMD Corporation’s Canadian medical Cannabis assets, in a deal the companies say will build a fully vertically integrated medical Cannabis structure in Canada and add a digital healthcare platform to Tilray's broader operations. Tilray was named the winning bidder in HelloMD's formal sale process, and ...
DEA Opens Hearing on Adult-Use Cannabis Federal Schedule III Status
ARLINGTON – The Drug Enforcement Administration began hearings Monday on a proposal to reclassify Cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), a proceeding officials and advocates on both sides describe as among the most expected in the history of federal drug policy. The hearing is scheduled to run through ...
Helus Pharma Advances Phase 3 Trial for Novel Therapy in MDD
NEW YORK – Helus Pharma, the business name now used by Cybin Inc., announced that enrollment in its APPROACH Phase 3 trial has passed the 86% mark. The trial is testing HLP003, the company's lead drug candidate, as an add-on treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD) in patients who have not fully responded to standard ...
Hemp THC Beverages Return to Ohio Shelves
CLEVELAND – Hemp-derived THC drinks are back on a limited number of Ohio shelves after U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Helmick temporarily blocked the state from enforcing its newest hemp licensing law against a group of plaintiff companies. The temporary restraining order, issued June 15 in the Northern District of Ohio, found that Senate Bill 56 ...
Georgia Expands Access to Medical Cannabis
ATLANTA – A revised medical Cannabis law takes effect in Georgia on Wednesday, broadening the conditions that qualify patients for legal access and permitting vaporization as an approved method of use for the first time. The measure, Senate Bill 220, known as the Putting Georgia's Patients First Act, was signed by Gov. Brian Kemp in ...
California Directs $227M Toward Cannabis Enforcement
SACRAMENTO – Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that California has awarded $227 million in Proposition 64 grant funding to local governments working to address the public health and safety effects of Cannabis legalization. The money is meant to help cities and counties strengthen enforcement against illegal operators, fund youth prevention programs, support public health initiatives, and ...
Bipartisan Cannabis Banking Bill (SAFE) Returns to Congress Ahead of DEA Hearing
WASHINGTON – A bipartisan coalition of senators and representatives reintroduced the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act, restarting a long-running effort to let banks and credit unions serve Cannabis businesses without fear of federal punishment. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D) is again leading the Senate version, with Rep. Dave Joyce (R), leading the companion bill ...
