Welcome back, everyone.
You’ll want to mark your calendars today at 10 AM Eastern for a Cultivated Live conversation with Michael Johnson, CEO of Metrc. Tune in on LinkedIn or YouTube.
Let’s get to it.
-JB, JR, ZH
Today’s newsletter is 901 words or about a 6.5-minute read.
THIS NEWSLETTER MADE POSSIBLE BY:
💡 What’s the big deal?
NY, NY
NY needs to strengthen its cannabis testing standards, report says 💪
Driving the news: New York needs to overhaul and strengthen its cannabis recall, tracking, and testing standards according to a new white paper from the Empire State Green Standard Alliance (GSA) shared exclusively with Cultivated.
The report comes weeks after the state dropped a case against Omnium Health and cancelled a recall order issued against the Long Island cannabis processor.
What they’re saying: "Recalls do not indicate failure. They indicate responsibility. They demonstrate the maturity of a regulatory system that is capable of identifying potential risks, responding decisively, and maintaining public confidence even in moments of uncertainty,” said the 12-page report.
What’s in the report: The paper outlines four scenarios in which a recall is appropriate.
Those are documentation failure due to missing or inconsistent records, laboratory irregularities such as a wide range of potency results for the same batch or overly-uniform microbial testing results, and unauthorized manufacturing or gaps in traceability across the supply chain.
The GSA stressed the importance of a functioning seed-to-sale tracking system to better track events that would justify a recall, and make it more targeted.
The state needs accurate and verified lab testing, with full transparency, and should establish a standard recall procedure to ensure consistency and fairness in enforcement, with external and internal audits taking place for every recall, the report said.
Zoom in: The GSA urged the state legislature to amend cannabis regulations to include a codified procedure for recalls, amend the statute that enables tracking, and expand the law that governs lab testing to give consideration for recall procedures.
Meanwhile, the Office of Cannabis Management should adopt regulations that reflect these suggested legislative fixes, the report urges.
Zoom out: New York originally planned to use BioTrack for its track-and-trace system.
But last summer, BioTrack announced a partnership with its then-rival Metrc resulting in New York opting to switch to Metrc. Retailers were finally required to enter their inventory by Jan. 12, 2026, about three years after the state's first legal cannabis sale took place.
The final word: "A recall system rooted in verification, transparency, and scientific rigor is essential to the long-term legitimacy of legalization," said the report.
-ZH
📣 Quotable
The Smart & Safe Florida campaign said in a statement that the state is “using every means necessary to stifle the voices of over a million Florida voters who have lawfully and legally signed petitions.”
“It seems there is nothing that will stop the administration from preventing these voters from having their say,” a campaign spokesperson told The Tampa Bay Times.
LIT ALERTS INSIGHTS*
NYC will soon have more cannabis stores than all of New Jersey
At first glance, comparing New York City to the entire state of New Jersey seems like an uneven match — one is a dense metropolis, the other a sprawling state.
The data, however, reveals a surprising parity.
Despite the vast geographic difference, the eligible consumer bases are surprisingly close with NYC’s ~6.5 million adults 21+ population rivaling New Jersey’s ~7.1 million.
As NYC’s store count (233) climbs toward New Jersey’s (284), The City is proving that a single urban center can effectively compete with the retail footprint of an entire state.
The graphic illustrates that NYC is servicing a population of ~6.5M with nearly the same efficiency (3.58 stores per 100k) as New Jersey services its ~7.1M residents (4 stores per 100k).
Have a look at Lit Alerts’ exclusive insights into NYC vs. NJ cannabis retail counts. 👇
*To learn more about Lit Alerts and get a special offer only available to Cultivated readers, visit litalerts.com.
⏩ Quick hits
West Virginia's State Treasurer has yet to allocate over $34 million they have collected from the state's medical cannabis industry. Those funds were originally supposed to go toward substance abuse treatment, law enforcement training or research.
The Indiana House of Representatives defeated a bill amendment that would have allowed a select group of farmers to plant cannabis seeds in anticipation of federal rescheduling.
Cannabis operator Haze sued the township of Niles, Michigan after the residents reversed course on allowing retail shops. The township voted to allow retailers in 2024, but in 2025, voters changed their minds, despite Haze and other operators investing in locations and licenses for the Indiana border town.
Both advocates and the state filed appeals in Florida over a split decision regarding signatures gathered to put legalization back on the ballot in November. Leon County Circuit Judge Jonathan Sjostrom ruled that 42,000 signatures from "inactive votes" were improperly invalidated, but he upheld a similar move to invalidate 29,000 signatures that were gathered by out-of-state petitioners.
A smuggler was caught attempting to bring cannabis disguised as candles into Scotland from Las Vegas, Nevada.
🧪 Science & research
Scientists at the USDA Agricultural Research Service redefined the value of hemp roots last week after a recent study found that they contain potential treatments for pediatric cancers.
📰 What we’re reading
The surprising source of Ireland's cannabis | The Irish Times