Good morning.
The DEA hearings continue and so does our around-the-clock coverage. On Tuesday’s Cultivated Live, we chatted with Gary Kaminsky, an attorney who’s been in the room about what he’s seen and heard. Plus, we’ll have former Politico cannabis policy journalist Natalie Fertig reporting from the hearing room today and Monday. Stay tuned.
If this reporting is valuable to you, consider sharing Cultivated with your colleagues, friends, and anyone who’s interested in the most impactful federal cannabis hearing in decades.
Later today, we’ll be sitting down with Brett Puffenbarger from Old Dominion Cannabis about all things Virginia. 10AM Eastern on LinkedIn >> and YouTube >>
-JB, JR
Today’s newsletter is 635 words or about a 5-minute read.
🗨️ Quotable
“It may be a kangaroo court — but for once, we're the kangaroo,” says Gary Kaminsky, a lawyer representing Dr. Corey Burchman who testified to the efficacy of medical cannabis for pain management during the DEA rescheduling hearings last week.
Kaminsky joined Cultivated Live to break down what happened inside the hearing room and what’s coming next.
⏩ Quick hits
New York CCB cuts its 2026 cannabis sales forecast 📉
The Cannabis Control Board lowered its 2026 sales projection to $2.0-2.5 billion, down from $2.5-3.0 billion, now that actual Metrc data has replaced self-reported figures, per Growv's meeting analysis of the July 2 meeting. The Board also licensed 15 more cultivators, its largest cohort since March.
Colorado's 14th cannabis recall of 2026 is another vape, another pesticide ⚖️
Colorado's Marijuana Enforcement Division ordered a recall of Blueberry Kush cartridges from Sofa King Medicinal Wellness near Idaho Springs after the products tested positive for bifenazate and metalaxyl, two pesticides banned in cannabis cultivation, sold between April and June. It's the second vape recall in just over a month in Colorado, following a June 1 action that hit over 320 dispensaries.
Union wave sweeps Missouri cannabis 💰
UFCW Local 655 notched three organizing milestones in a single week: High Profile Cannabis ratified Missouri's first cannabis collective bargaining contract, Proper Brands post-harvest workers voted 25-21 to unionize, and Vibe Cannabis workers filed a petition with an election set for late July.
⚖️ Lawsuits
Michigan's high court says probation can't ban cannabis
Michigan's Supreme Court unanimously ruled in People v. Hess that state trial courts can no longer prohibit cannabis use as a probation condition solely because it remains illegal under federal law, holding that the state's voter-approved recreational cannabis act supersedes the probation statute.
🤝 Deals, launches, partnerships
Glass House starts exporting to Europe 💰
Glass House completed its first international hemp sale, moving smokeable CBD biomass from Greenhouse 4 at its Camarillo Farm to European buyers, with longer-term positioning aimed at the proposed Medicare-reimbursable CBD program and medical cannabis exports as Schedule III opens those channels. The company is explicitly framing it as the opening move in an export strategy that didn't exist before rescheduling. $GLAS
Pennsylvania medical cannabis operator goes fully employee-owned 🤝
Organic Remedies completed its transition to 100% employee ownership through an ESOP, the company said, advised by Lazear Capital Partners. ESOPs let owners sell tax-free to a trust for employees, and cannabis operators are increasingly using them to sidestep the federal tax burden created by Section 280E.
📊 Stat of the day
THC drinkers say they'd rather ditch alcohol than the seltzer 🥤
A new survey of 1,637 THC beverage drinkers found 77% said they've cut back or quit alcohol since switching, and most said a federal ban would push them toward other THC products or dealers rather than back to booze. The survey was commissioned by Crescent Canna, a cannabis beverage company.
📰 What we’re reading
Puff, Puff... Pass? | The Assembly