PA blows legalization, Ascend preps to uplist, and more

“Even in a world where you go to a 0.4 milligram effective ban in November, we are going to offer compliant products to our drinkers who rely on these drinks as alternatives to alcohol and to the retail partners to chains that have taken a bet on the brand,” Cann CEO Jake Bullock told Inc magazine. 

“They gave us shelf. They need a plan in November as well.” The story outlines why Cann is releasing a non-THC drink, and how they plan to navigate the hemp-derived THC ban set to go into effect in November. Bullock says the company did $40 million in revenue last year. Read the full story.

Pennsylvania's budget deal skips legalization, again 💰

Gov. Josh Shapiro signed a $50.8 billion budget Sunday that leaves out the recreational legalization plan he's now pitched four years running. The issue heads to November, where Shapiro faces Republican Stacy Garrity and Democrats hope to flip the state Senate and finally get a bill through.

Cannabis publisher takes on AI giants over scraping ⚖️

stupidDOPE says AI crawlers tied to Anthropic, OpenAI, and Perplexity hit its site more than 70 million times in 48 hours, and the company has filed complaints with the FTC and New York AG Letitia James' office, CEO Shane Breen said in an email. The company is also invoking New York's new stealth crawler law, which lets publishers sue over undisclosed bots that burden their sites.

Massachusetts repeal question faces one last hurdle 🗳️

The ballot measure to repeal recreational cannabis sales in Massachusetts qualified for November, but an objector filed a challenge alleging some of its final signatures were fraudulent or later withdrawn by voters. The State Ballot Law Commission takes it up Wednesday, and the campaign already survived one similar challenge in January.

Ascend preps to uplist 💰

Ascend Wellness will ask shareholders to approve a reverse stock split of up to 1-for-50 as it prepares to apply for a major US exchange listing, following Trulieve and Glass House onto the big boards. CEO Sam Brill said the company wants to "move decisively as those doors open," with the shareholder vote set for August 28. $AAWH ( ▲ 5.26% )

Curaleaf plants its flag in Spain 🇪🇸

Spanish regulators approved Curaleaf's registration of two standardized medical cannabis preparations, which the company says makes it the first under Spain's new hospital pharmacy framework. CEO Boris Jordan called the country of nearly 50 million "central to Curaleaf's vision for Europe." $CURLF ( ▲ 6.34% )

And more:

Vape maker Mfused launched LIVE, a limited-release line of live resin and live rosin vapes that won't be restocked once each drop sells out.

New York's first cannabis ER report shows kids driving the spike 🏥

Cannabis-related poisoning ER visits in New York nearly doubled from 2016 to 2024, with kids under 5 going from a handful of cases a year to more than 100 annually since 2021. The catch: the state says the data can't distinguish regulated products from illicit ones, and the sharpest pediatric increases began in 2020, before legal sales launched.

Healthcare professionals back medical cannabis, but lack understanding 🩺

Most US healthcare professionals support medical cannabis, but a Johns Hopkins survey of 879 providers published in the Journal of Cannabis Research found objective knowledge scores ranged from just 13% to 64% correct on indications, risks, and mechanisms. Their most common sources of cannabis knowledge were personal experience and popular media, not formal training.

Pa. election 2026: Where governor candidates Garrity and Shapiro stand on marijuana, hemp and more | Centre Daily Times

More U.S. Workers Are Testing Positive for Marijuana. Fewer Employers Are Concerned. | The Wall Street Journal

The latest science on cannabis has some good news and bad news | The Washington Post