Good morning.
Hemp’s in the national news again as President Trump reportedly personally intervened in the hemp fight, calling Sen. Ted Budd and laying out why he supports delaying the ban, Axios reports. We would’ve never guessed that one of the key disagreements between President Trump and Senate Republicans would be hemp policy, but here we are.
Budd, who’s pushing for the ban, complained that they’re “jamming” the ban reprieve in a must-pass funding bill. But that’s how the ban got here in the first place. Cannabis is always interesting.
Let’s get to it.
-JB, JR, ZH
Today’s newsletter is 950 words or about an 8.5-minute read.
💡 What’s the big deal?
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Cannabis earnings continue. Here’s the rundown today
Earnings season is still underway, but there have already been positive signs among U.S. operators, who continue to be enthusiastic about the current progress of federal cannabis reform.
We will continue to have analysis from the earnings calls, but for now, here is a brief update:
What They’re Saying: "Our U.S. business has clearly regained momentum. This was our second consecutive quarter of domestic year-over-year growth, and an important proof point that our reset is taking hold in a durable way," said Boris Jordan, Curaleaf CEO, during the company's Aug. 5 earnings call.
And more: "We built the company to stand on its own without waiting for federal reform. That discipline is paying off. Medical cannabis is now on Schedule 3 of the Controlled Substances Act. The first domino has fallen,” Green Thumb Industries CEO Ben Kovler said. $GTII.CSE ( ▼ 8.82% )
“DEA's broader rescheduling hearing wrapped in mid July and we expect a decision on the rest of cannabis later this year. This is in fact real progress.”
Curaleaf announced $12.5 million in net income on $340 million in revenue between both domestic and international markets, for the second quarter of the year. The results were a stark contrast from the $53.6 million loss in the same quarter last year. $CURLF ( ▼ 7.33% )
Verano announced a $13.4 million net loss on $217.9 million in revenue for the quarter, which was not a dramatic departure from the $19.2 million loss on $202.3 million in revenue in the same quarter last year. $VRNO ( ▼ 7.04% )
Aurora Cannabis announced CAD$ 3.8 million in income on $67.6 million in revenue, reflecting a decline from the $6.6 million in income on $74.1 million in revenue during the same quarter last year. $ACB ( ▲ 3.56% )
🗯️ Quotable
"When we push previously legal products into the illicit market, demand rarely disappears. Instead, the market becomes completely unregulated," wrote former Police Chief Antoine Ensley Sr. in an opinion piece for The Charlotte Observer.
While a larger federal hemp ban is potentially in the works (possibly a month later than expected), Antoine was specifically writing about North Carolina's own proposed ban.
⏩ Quick hits
Trump's chief of staff has a personal stake in hemp ⚖️
The White House pushed Senate negotiators to tuck a delay of last year's hemp ban into this week's stopgap spending bill, benefiting Bret Worley, the hemp company CEO who married Chief of Staff Susie Wiles' daughter in June. The catch: Worley led the industry's own lobbying push, and some Senators are balking at the rollback, threatening to derail the shutdown-prevention bill over it.
North Carolina punts its hemp ban until after the election 🗳️
The North Carolina House won't vote on a Senate-passed hemp THC ban until after November's election, despite police chiefs and sheriffs rallying for the 0.4 milligram cap that industry says would gut a $4 billion, 16,000-job market.
California claims $168 million in illicit product seizures 🚔
California's tax department has seized more than $168 million in illicit cannabis and tobacco products since 2019, according to the governor's office. That figure combines cannabis and tobacco over seven years, in a state where the illicit market still dwarfs the legal one.
Cannabis-related traffic injuries declined in Canada post-legalization
A new Traffic Injury Research Foundation report on drug-related road fatalities in Canada finds that cannabis' share of drug-involved driver deaths has actually fallen since its post-legalization peak, dropping from 30.4% in 2020 to 25.2% in 2023, below the pre-legalization rate. This trend broadly mirrors a parallel decline in the share of cannabis users who report driving after consuming.
▶️ Now streaming
Today at 10 AM Eastern on Cultivated Live, Jay will be joined by Brad Cross, Chief Revenue Officer of Sweed to talk about how dispensary operators are differentiating themselves in saturated markets to acquire and retain customers.
And, yesterday on Banker on Call, Jay sat down with Shield Compliance CEO Tony Repanich to talk rescheduling’s impact, 280E relief and the future of cannabis payments. Plus, Shield’s cannabis operators survey (which you should take 5 minutes to complete »)
🚀 Lawsuits
California Court says Elliot Lewis was right about diversion
Orange County Superior Court in California ruled against the state's Department of Cannabis Control, stating that the DCC failed to establish criteria in its seed-to-sale tracking system to detect irregularities and diversion. Elliot Lewis and Catalyst, who were the driving forces behind the suit, alleged that the DCC knowingly allowed cultivators to cater to the illicit market. Now the state has six months to fix that problem.
🧳 People moves
LEEF Brands engaged Ananda Strategy founder Hirsh Jain as a strategic advisor to help the extractor navigate rescheduling, interstate commerce, and export opportunities. $LEEF.CSE ( ▲ 3.64% )
💰 Earnings
Here’s the rest of the calendar:
Aug. 6
Cresco Labs
Cronos Group - 8:30 AM
TerrAscend - 5:00 PM
Aug. 7
Trulieve - 8:30 AM
Canopy - 10:00 AM
Aug. 10
Village Farms International - 7:00 AM
Aug. 11
Ascend Wellness Holdings
Organigram
Aug. 12
Marimed
Aug. 13
Chicago Atlantic - 9:00 AM
📰 What we’re reading
Why America is Switching From Booze to Weed | Plain English