Welcome back.
We hope you are all staying safe and warm out there in this blizzard. It’s a good day to stay home and curl up with your favorite cannabis industry newsletter (not to mention your favorite legal cannabis products).
We’re looking forward to seeing many of you at The Highrise on Thursday. We’ll be there bundled up and ready to go!
-JB, JR, ZH
Today’s newsletter is 488 words or about a 4-minute read.
📣 Quotable
“The lack of transparency is hamstringing our efforts right at the finish line,” said Morgan Hill, a spokesperson for Smart & Safe Florida, the group behind the push to get legalization on the 2026 ballot. “We need accurate data to know where we stand and how to allocate resources before Feb. 1.”
We’re excited to officially announce something new we’ve been quietly building with our partners at Grown In.
Cultivated and Grown In are hosting the first-ever Midwest Cannabis Forum on March 12 in Chicago, and applications are now open.
This is not a traditional cannabis conference.
The Midwest Cannabis Forum is a curated, application-only gathering designed to bring together the people actually doing the work in the cannabis industry day in and day out — operators, investors, regulators, lenders, and service providers who are shaping the Midwest market in real time.
Our goal is simple: Create a high-signal room, with smart people, honest conversations, and zero fluff.
Event details: Salvage One, Chicago Wednesday, March 12. Application-only attendance
👉 Apply here: Midwest Cannabis Forum
We’ll be reviewing applications on a rolling basis and space is limited.
We hope to see you in Chicago.
Team Cultivated
⏩ Quick hits
Columbus has collected more than $4.7 million in excise tax revenue since recreational marijuana sales started in August 2024, more than any other city in Ohio, according to figures from the Ohio Department of Taxation.
Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA) and Rep. Marc Veasey (D-TX) introduced the HEMP Act, a bipartisan bill that would create the first federal regulatory framework for hemp-derived CBD products under the FDA.
Indiana Rep. Aaron Freeman, a Republican, introduced a bill that would mimic the federal government’s closure of the hemp-derived THC ‘loophole.’ It’s part of a push, he says, to bring Indiana’s policy in line with the federal government.
📺 In case you missed it
If you missed This Week in Cannabis LIVE on Friday, it was a good one! Jay and Jeremy were joined by Marc Hauser of Cannabis Musings and Ben Larson of High Spirits. They chatted about the HEMP Act, the Metrc rollout in NY, and much more.
Watch it:
📰 What we’re reading
New York’s Cannabis Boom Is Real, But So Are the Risks | Cannabis Industry Journal
Cannabis Repeal Outreach Vendor Once Submitted Signatures Of Dead Voters | Talking Joints Memo
Bills would delay harmful impact on state’s hemp industry | Indiana Public Media
Trump Putting Science First by Rescheduling Marijuana | RealClearHealth