Good morning.
It was great to see many of our most avid readers and followers in Atlantic City yesterday for our reader-only breakfast at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino during MJ Unpacked. The New Jersey market has loads of energy and expertise and it is always great to hear feedback from our daily readers. Expect more reader-only events in the not-too-distant future.
And a special thank you to Carter Lewis and the entire Aquinnah Capital Partners team for hosting the breakfast. If you haven’t met Carter and team, you must.
Let’s get to it.
-JB, JR
Today’s newsletter is 617 words or about a 5-minute read.
💡 What’s the big deal?
HEMP
Target expands hemp THC beverages to 300 locations with ban looming
Target is adding intoxicating hemp beverages to 300 locations including all stores in Florida, and Texas, as well as Illinois, BevNet reports.
This follows a 10-store pilot in Minnesota which began last year. Among the brands offered will be Cann, Wynk, and Trail Magic.
Zoom in: The House passed the Farm Bill on April 30, which left the looming ban on intoxicating hemp products intact. If a lobbying push can’t change the rule doesn’t change ahead of the November deadline, Target plans to mark down all of its intoxicating hemp inventory.
Obviously, this is a lot easier for big companies like Target than smaller brands and shops. But it’s an interesting pathway if there’s no solution found.
📣 Quotable
“I’ve adjusted my viewpoints on the threat to kids,” Sean Noble, president of the conservative American Encore foundation said. “I went into it with a pretty profound belief that it was happening.”
“I was kind of relying on things that I had seen or read from other people. They have not done some of the things that I thought they were doing.”
It’s not usual for cannabis opponents to update their priors, but here’s a rather striking example from the man behind the push to repeal cannabis in Arizona, who is now scrapping the plan.
⏩ Quick hits
The Congressional Research Service tries to explain rescheduling
The Congressional Research Service released a new analysis of the rescheduling order, saying it moves state-licensed medical cannabis and FDA-approved products to Schedule III but explicitly keeps “unlicensed bulk cannabis” in Schedule I. The CRS says rescheduling doesn’t yet apply to recreational use, and doesn’t bring state-legal operators into full federal compliance since cannabis still lacks FDA approval as a drug. The analysis confirms that 280E tax relief applies to covered medical operators and that a new DEA hearing on full rescheduling is set to begin June 29.
💸 Earnings roundup
Cannabis Q1 earnings season kicks off this week, and it’s going to be an interesting one as we’ll hear from execs as they digest the medical-recreational rescheduling bifurcation:
Green Thumb Industries reported Q1 net income of $15.4 million, or $0.07 per share, on $300.2 million in revenue, up 7.4% year-over-year. Normalized EBITDA came in at $93.5 million, or 31.2% of revenue, compared to $85.2 million in Q1 2025. $GTBIF ( ▲ 2.96% )
LEEF reported Q1 net loss of $426,253 on $9.4 million in revenue. Adjusted EBITDA came in at $2.4 million, compared to a loss of $780,846 in Q1 2025, driven by gross margin expansion to 49% from 22% a year ago. $LEEEF ( ▼ 8.94% )
🚀 Deals, launches, partnerships
Dr. Peter Grinspoon has a new book, Aging Well with Cannabis:
🧳 People moves
Emilie Lewis, who has headed up MJBizCon since 2023, announced via LinkedIn that she was leaving Emerald, MJBiz’s parent company, to become VP of Events at Informa.
📰 What we’re reading
Cloud of uncertainty hangs over Texas hemp | The Dallas Morning News