A month has now passed since Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, alongside Sens. Cory Booker and Ron Wyden, introduced a far-reaching marijuana reform bill dubbed the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act. The reception to the bill has been underwhelming, with both marijuana advocates and opponents lobbing criticism at the bill from all angles. Read more via MJ Biz Daily

Legalizing marijuana for recreational use could lead to fewer opioid-spurred health emergencies and overdose deaths, a University of Pittsburgh study has found. Opioid-related emergency department visits dropped by 7.6% within a year of cannabis legalization for adult residents in four states — California, Nevada, Maine and Massachusetts — according to the analysis led by Pitt’s [...]

For the first time in history, some Senate Democrats on Wednesday moved to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level, proposing to the remove cannabis from the federal list of controlled substances. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, one of the leaders of the effort, promised to use his "clout" to make decriminalization a Senate priority. Read [...]

"Joints for Jabs" is officially a thing in Washington state.  The state's Liquor and Cannabis Board said this week that it would allow state-licensed cannabis retailers to "provide one joint to adult consumers who receive COVID-19 vaccination at an in-store vaccination clinic." Read more via USAToday

The program launched two years ago after overcoming initial concerns about the legal status of marijuana at the federal level, and it quickly attracted dozens of professionals of all stripes who were working in the field or wanted to find a position. Read More via Capital Gazette

While the revenue growth rates remain impressive, what is really capturing our attention is how much more efficient these companies have become, resulting in bottom-line growth that is far exceeding expectations. Read More via New Cannabis Ventures

Near the end of March 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic was just beginning to rage across the United States, states across the country deemed cannabis an essential business, allowing them to continue operating in whatever capacity was necessary—sales, production, and cultivation included. Read More via Forbes

At age 29, Maryland native Hope Wiseman is the youngest Black woman to own a marijuana dispensary in the U.S. Determined to break barriers in the cannabis industry, as well as within her community, and provide an opportunity to show others how to create generational wealth, Wiseman founded Mary and Main, a dispensary located in Prince [...]

While the pandemic has taken a significant toll on state and local budgets overall, its impact on cannabis taxes (and alcohol taxes, for that matter) appears to have mostly been a positive one. Total excise and sales tax revenue from cannabis during the first six months of the pandemic (March through August 2020) shot up by 44 [...]

That can be seen in the deal just announced by Curaleaf Holdings Inc., the largest U.S. cannabis company, that aims to turn Europe into a launchpad for international growth. Or take a look at British American Tobacco Plc’s new stake in a Canadian marijuana company, Organigram Holdings Inc.  Read More via Bloomberg