Good morning.
We’re back after our break for Yom Kippur. We’ll catch you up on everything you missed.
Before we do, two things:
Join us online on Thursday for Metrc is here. Now what? Making track-and-trace work for your New York cannabis business. We’re pleased to announced that Thursday’s webinar will feature a segment with Luis Vallesteros, Director, Retail ID at Metrc. So you’ll want to join us. Register »
We’ve opened up applications to The Highrise in New York City on October 22nd. Space is limited, so get your application in today. Apply »
Let’s get to it.
-JB, JR
Today’s newsletter is 992 words or about a 7.5-minute read.
📅 CULTIVATED CALENDAR
September 24 » Webinar → Metrc is here. Now what? Making track-and-trace work for your New York cannabis business
October 22 » The Highrise → Check out the second in our NYC series and apply to attend. Event details coming!
November 12 » Pot Policy and Politics → The second installation of the Midwest Cannabis Forum, this time in St. Louis. Ticket discounts through October 12.
COMING EVENTS → Las Vegas & Buffalo
Stay tuned for more Fall 2026 events coming soon!
Quotable
Last week, we noted that Aurora was slowly coming around to a more offensive tack against Curaleaf’s ongoing hostile bid for the company. In a Globe & Mail story published Monday, Aurora executives including CEO Miguel Martin discussed how Canadian cannabis companies, thanks to coherent federal regulations, have a massive leg up on their U.S. counterparts for the growing export mark.
But those advantages could be lost without federal intervention. It’s an interesting strategy for Aurora to tie cannabis into the broader US-Canada trade fight without naming Curaleaf.
“If nothing is done, we are going down,” Martin said. “We won’t stay flat while the rest of the world grows.”
Thought bubble
A big investigation on illicit, Chinese-linked grows from City Journal, the right-leaning Manhattan Institute’s publication, has been making the rounds on social media. It’s been amplified by prohibitionist groups like Smart Approaches to Marijuana, as well as conservative writers who are opposed to cannabis.
But the article makes a rather surprising case for testing and regulating cannabis. A federal official claimed to the outlet that the cannabis in these grows is intentionally injected with pesticide as an effort to slowly poison cannabis-consumer Americans over time.
I have no idea if that’s true. At the same time, what better way to protect Americans than by testing and regulating cannabis nationwide?
-JB
Quick hits
Cannabis workers in NY average $25.87 per hour
A new survey from Safe & Affordable Cannabis NY finds that the average cannabis worker in NY makes $25.87 per hour, nearly 20% higher than retail workers in other sectors. But 57% of NY cannabis businesses reported net losses in the last fiscal year. This comes as Albany weighs a cannabis industry wage board bill, which the group is opposed to. Full survey results here.
New York cannabis retailers owe suppliers $3.9 million
Eighty-seven New York dispensaries, about 12% of stores open for business, are on the state's cash-on-delivery list for unpaid invoices, owing an average of $45,000 each at roughly 281 days past due. Growers and brands are left carrying the gap, and some may owe excise tax on sales they haven't been paid for.
Massachusetts rewrites cannabis rules weeks before repeal vote
The Cannabis Control Commission laid out a sweeping overhaul covering a standalone medical dispensary license, a new testing framework, seed sales at retail stores and possible statewide license caps. Commissioners plan to vote on draft rules in December, a month after voters decide on Question 8, which would end recreational sales.
Iowa's Democratic nominee for governor backs legalizing cannabis
Democratic nominee Rob Sand, Iowa's state auditor, said regulating cannabis like alcohol would raise "hundreds of millions of dollars every single year" to help defuse what he calls a "fiscal time bomb" in the state's $9.5 billion budget. Sand leads Republican Zach Lahn in recent polls
DEA still hasn't given California any cannabis rescheduling guidance
California Department of Cannabis Control Director Clint Kellum said the DEA has offered no implementation guidance on medical cannabis rescheduling, even as the agency asks the state for medical production and dispensing data. Kellum said California will hold off on further rule changes until the feds show their hand.
Austin police say a delta-8 label can justify a felony arrest
Since Texas reinstated its delta-8 ban July 31, possessing under a gram is a state jail felony, and Austin police said the packaging alone can establish probable cause before any lab test. Police and the Travis County DA both say sleep gummies aren't a priority, but penalties are based on aggregate weight, so a single gummy over a gram could carry up to 10 years.
Science & research
About 9% of US adults use cannabis for sleep, survey finds
Some 8.6% of US adults say they use cannabis to sleep, roughly 22 million people, per a National Sleep Foundation survey of 1,367 adults published in Sleep Health. Users reported worse sleep than non-users, but so did people who only say they'd try it, a hint that poor sleep may be driving the habit rather than the reverse.
People moves
LEEF Brands named cannabis strategist Hirsh Jain to its board as it preps for interstate sales. $LEEF.CSE ( 0.0% )
Lawsuits
TerrAscend asks judge to toss $8.36 million tax refund lawsuit
TerrAscend asked a New Jersey federal judge to dismiss with prejudice the government's suit to claw back a refund tied to 280E deductions, arguing the feds sued a tax-return label rather than an actual company and filed in the wrong state. The motion doesn't touch the 280E question itself, and the government has until Oct. 5 to respond. $TSNDF ( ▲ 0.57% )