Good morning and happy Friday.
We’re back at it! We’ll see you at Noon Eastern for This Week in Cannabis Live with our friends at High Spirits and Cannabis Musings.
Also, it’s the final week to have your voice heard on the Cannabis Banking Operator Survey. If you do, you’ll be entered to win a $250 Amazon gift card. Take the survey »
A jam-packed newsletter to help you finish out your week below.
Let’s get to it.
-JR, ZH
Today’s newsletter is 1,157 words or about a 10-minute read.
THIS NEWSLETTER MADE POSSIBLE BY:
💡 What’s the big deal?
NYT
The New York Times cannabis coverage has a numbers problem ➗
The New York Times covered a new JAMA Psychiatry study on cannabis use disorder twice in two days. A news story Wednesday, then an essay in The Morning, its flagship newsletter, on Thursday.
The study, drawn from federal survey data on 186,823 adults, found cannabis use disorder rose between 2021 and 2024, to about 9% of men and nearly 6% of women, while alcohol use disorder held flat or declined.
The only people quoted across both pieces are senior author Nora Volkow, who runs NIDA, the federal agency with a drug abuse mandate, and experts who seem to largely agree with her.
The news story fails to mention that "mild" cannabis use disorder means two or three symptoms out of eleven, a bar that captures plenty of people no clinician would call addicted. Potency and dose also get treated as the same thing, when people often use less of a stronger product to get the same effects. It’s a well-documented pattern neither story engages with.
The scariest numbers take a big relative increase on a small absolute basis, a classic statistics sleight-of-hand: the "40% jump" of cannabis use among women over 50 is really just going from 9% to 13%.
And The Morning newsletter ends with an, um, masterstroke of hyperbole: "Addiction, memory loss, stroke. Maybe it's OK that I keep forgetting to use that vape."
On the stroke risk: Much of the reporting on it traces back to a 2024 analysis in the Journal of the American Heart Association, which found daily cannabis users report strokes at 3.4% over a lifetime. For nonusers, that number is 2.8%. The alarming "42% higher odds" only shows up after statistical modeling.
Meanwhile, the DEA itself said in a brief the judge who presided over the rescheduling hearings that the “vast majority” of individuals who use cannabis “do so in a manner that does not result in dangers to themselves or to their communities. Take it from them.
This has unfortunately become The New York Times’ playbook for reporting on cannabis issues.
In February, the editorial board declared America has a "Marijuana Problem." We wrote then that the Times was conflating more reported use with more harm, without engaging the obvious confounder that people admit more use when it's legal and normalized. And a June opinion piece from German Lopez has a similar gap, arguing higher cannabis taxes would curb use without engaging with the illicit market which is always ready to undercut legal prices.
None of this means the underlying trend of rising cannabis use disorder is fake. But it does call into question its importance. Of course, rising potency and increased heavy use are real, and the industry dismisses them at its own risk especially at such a critical moment.
But the paper of record has clearly picked its lane on cannabis. Given the size of its platform, it’s worth keeping in mind with rescheduling still pending. This is very much a live policy debate and I hope the Times does a better job of keeping us all informed. It’s important.
-JB
⚖️ Lawsuits
Texas hemp businesses and a consultant sue DSHS over new THC crackdown
Three Texas hemp companies and an industry consultant sued the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS), arguing its new enforcement standard outlaws THCA and other hemp compounds the Legislature legalized in 2019, threatening a $5.1 billion industry in the state. It's already a campaign issue, with Senate candidate James Talarico making his opposition to the crackdown a pitch to swing voters. Attorney David Sergi, who’s sued the DSHS three times since April, is leading the suit.
No one understands the challenges of cannabis banking better than the businesses navigating them every day. That's why we're asking licensed cannabis operators to participate in an important survey.
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The findings are shared with banks and credit unions to help improve access, strengthen relationships, and support a more effective banking experience for cannabis businesses.
Complete the survey today, and you'll be entered for a chance to win a $250 Amazon gift card as our thanks for participating.
⏩ Quick hits
Missouri opens its final cannabis microbusiness lottery
Missouri drew nearly 900 applications for 77 remaining microbusiness licenses, with the state lottery set for Sept. 9. New rules now require regulators to vet ownership arrangements before licenses go out, not after, following the dozens of revocations that hit the program's first two rounds.
🚀 Deals, launches, partnerships
Tilray boosts global cannabis output as Curaleaf presses its hostile bid for Aurora
Tilray $TLRY ( ▼ 3.31% ) increased its worldwide cultivation capacity to about 275 metric tonnes, up from 210, expanding output in Quebec and Portugal to feed medical cannabis demand in Germany, the UK and Australia. The timely press release lands as Curaleaf $CURLF ( ▼ 2.34% ) takes a hostile $4-per-share bid for Aurora Cannabis straight to shareholders, chasing Aurora's EU-GMP capacity as a way into the German medical market.
SpringBig surrenders its marketing platform to settle debt
Marketing platform SpringBig surrendered the business to a creditor affiliate in July, wiping out $12.5 million in debt for $172,000 cash and going private under Lightbank and Shalcor Management. The public shell left behind faces going concern doubt and a possible wind-down. $SBIG ( ▲ 2.0% )
RYTHM debuts a THC iced tea as hemp-derived beverage launches pile up
RYTHM introduced Lifted Lemon, a hemp-derived THC and CBG iced tea and lemonade blend, sold direct to consumers and in select Georgia and Illinois retailers Thursday. It's the second big THC drink launch in as many days, a day after Verano debuted its own Easy Landings line in dispensaries. $RYM ( ▲ 3.03% )
💰 Earnings
Decibel posted record Q2 revenue of $36 million, up 19% year over year, and raised full-year guidance. $DB.TSXV ( ▲ 8.7% )
🧳 People moves
A few Friday people moves:
Our partners at Sweed are hiring across engineering, sales & marketing, and product roles. Check it out!
Christina Stella joined Surfside as VP, adult beverages
📰 What we’re reading
Texas needs to end its Reefer Madness and legalize marijuana | Houston Chronicle