Good morning.
As the industry evolves, we want to highlight how operators, investors, and advocates rely on Cultivated Daily to stay informed. If this newsletter plays a meaningful role in your workflow or decision-making, would you share a brief testimonial? Just hit reply and tell us how you read it and why it matters.
Today, it continues to be hemp week here at Cultivated, but not for the best reasons.
Let’s get to it.
-JB, JR, ZH, NM
This newsletter is 939 words or about a 5-minute read.
💡What’s the big deal?
HEMP
Hemp and cannabis industry companies speak out after hemp ban goes through 🪢
Driving the news: Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul’s last-minute bid to strike a hemp ban from the funding bill that would re-open the government failed on Monday night.
Hemp and cannabis companies spoke out on either side of the issue. Here are the highlights.
What they’re saying: “We support a legal, regulated marketplace for hemp-derived products that includes age gating, traceability, and strong consumer protections. But a blanket federal ban is not the answer,” Uncle Arnie’s founder Theo Terris said. Uncle Arnie’s is a hemp beverage brand.
“Overly broad prohibition will only push consumers toward unregulated and potentially dangerous alternatives.”
And: “In just a few years, American entrepreneurs have created an entirely new, fast-growing beverage category that offers adults a safe, low-dose alternative to alcohol. Now, that progress is under threat,” Wynk CEO Angus Rittenburg said.
“This isn’t just a policy debate. It’s about distinguishing between responsibly made, low-dose beverages like Wynk — and the unregulated, high-potency products that have flooded the market in the absence of clear federal guidelines.”
Even traditional cannabis firms like Tilray — which sells hemp-derived THC beverages in the US — spoke out against the ban.
“Tilray Brands strongly supports smart, forward-looking regulation - not prohibitions that stifle innovation, threaten small businesses, and restrict consumer choice. The hemp language buried within the government funding bill is misguided, out of touch with consumer interests, and misplaced in legislation where it does not belong,” Sam Garfinkel, an SVP at Tilray, said.
Some brands are even circulating a petition to Save Hemp Products Nationwide.
On the other hand: Some industry trade groups spoke in favor of the ban.
“We applaud lawmakers for taking this critical step to clarify Congress' intent in the 2018 Farm Bill. Willful misinterpretation of the Farm Bill led to the proliferation of unregulated synthetic THC products widely available for sale to minors,” said Chris Lindsey, Director of State Advocacy and Public Policy, ATACH (American Trade Association of Cannabis and Hemp).
“The bill clearly distinguishes between intoxicating and nonintoxicating products, synthetic and natural products, and industrial and consumer products. These distinctions create regulatory lanes for hemp-derived products and address perceived loopholes.”
Why it matters: The conventional wisdom among cannabis investors is that the intoxicating hemp industry is a dire threat to publicly traded, state-regulated cannabis firms.
But cannabis stocks mostly fell on Tuesday. $MSOS, the ETF that tracks a basket of US cannabis stocks, closed down 5% on Tuesday.
Our take: The whole hemp/cannabis fight has cleaved the industry in two, and left consumers confused.
I’ve been getting questions all day about what this means, and even people who buy THC seltzers every day don’t fully understand what lawmakers just did, or why hemp is legally different from cannabis.
We all talk about this stuff every day. But anecdotally, there’s a long way to go before this permeates the mainstream.
Canada, which regulates THC federally, doesn’t have this issue.
Infused seltzers can be created from regular cannabis, but must be sold through dispensary channels rather than grocery stores or liquor retailers like in the pre-ban US. Consumers, outside of true connoisseurs, mostly don’t care what raw material created their drink — they just want the THC, at a good price, and conveniently available. The hemp ban makes that far more difficult.
While Canada’s cannabis regulatory environment is far from perfect for businesses, it’s much more sensible than the jumbled mess of US cannabis policy.
-JB
🥊 Quick hits
Government funding bill omits VA cannabis protections 🌿
While hemp got all the headlines, the Senate funding bill also omitted key protections that allow U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs doctors to prescribe cannabis in legal states. Marijuana Moment has more.
D.C. expands medical access to non-resident patients ⚕️
Regulators in Washington D.C. approved new emergency regulations that allow non-residents who have a medical cannabis card to access dispensaries in the capital. The change is just the latest for a jurisdiction that has been working to increase access after residents voted to allow cannabis only to have that vote blocked by the GOP-controlled U.S. House.
💰 Earnings report
Cannabis earnings season continues:
C21 Investments $CXXIF ( ▲ 0.31% ) reported a $486,655 loss on $8.5 million in revenue. The increase in revenue marks a 13% increase in sales year-over-year, though Nevada retail sales were down 16% in the last quarter.
Grown Rogue $GRUSF ( ▼ 5.63% ) reported $1.3 million in income on $5.3 million in revenue. Revenue from Oregon and Michigan were both down compared to the same quarter in 2024, but this time was also able to account for new revenue from New Jersey.
😜 One fun thing
Cantrip CEO Adam Terry poked some fun at the draconian new hemp rules on social media:
📰 What we’re reading
Calif. regulator departs a market in turmoil | WeedWeek