Good morning.
4/21 is a really good day to take a deep breath. You made it through 4/20. So breath deep cannabis industry friends, and let’s get to it!
-JB, JR
Today’s newsletter is 845 words or about a 7-minute read.
THIS NEWSLETTER MADE POSSIBLE BY:
💡 What’s the big deal?
4/20
The worst 4/20 message ever?
We hope you enjoyed your 4/20 celebrations with friends, family, or colleagues yesterday.
Half of Americans can enjoy cannabis legally, which means the work has come far but isn’t done yet.
The parties and brand activations aside, it’s become an annual ritual for politicians, mostly Democrats, to beat the drum on cannabis reform. So it’s both a commercial holiday, with even companies like KFC offering a $4.20 chicken pot pie deal, and an opportunity for Democrats to fundraise.
There are far too many posts for one human being to possibly sift through. There were some absolutely terrible ones, like Gov. Kathy Hochul’s attempt to shoehorn environmental reviews into the conversation (sorry for this), some predictable ones, like Gov. Josh Shapiro pushing legislators to deliver him a cannabis bill, and even some surprising ones, like Senate candidate Graham Platner calling out a “monopolization of the growing and distribution of weed in this country.”
We’ll have more analysis in the coming days on 4/20 sales trends and more.
-JB
📣 Quotable
“Legalization isn’t enough. Everyone caught up in prohibition deserves freedom and a clean record.” - Maine candidate for US Senate Graham Platner
LIT ALERTS*
Challenger Brands in Ohio
Lit Alerts is back this week with the Challenger Brands data series and this week they are focusing on Ohio.
This is the first updated snapshot at Ohio's challenger brands since August 2025.
The most exciting update is the existence of the Pre-Roll category itself in the series!
As a reminder, Challenger Brands are identified by Lit Alerts as actively moving up the charts and challenging the Top 10 within their respective categories.
In the Flower category, Meigs County Grown continues to hover near the Top 10 but hasn't broken through. GTI's Good Green looks to be on the upswing and should break the Top 10 soon.
In the new Pre-roll category, Pure Ohio Wellness, Firelands Scientific, and Grassroots from Curaleaf are making noise. This highly contested category will continue to heat up as it does across all cannabis markets.
For vapes, not much changed. Eden's Trees and Sauce have kept their spots but have yet to break through to the Top 10 while Firelands Scientific took their second spot in the Challenger Brands but pushing up the charts in recent weeks.
Edibles national powerhouse WYLD is on it's way to the Top 10 no doubt with major momentum in recent weeks. They are chasing their now sister brand Grön who is now holding the top edibles brand spot by estimated sales.
In Concentrates, Pure Ohio Wellness picks up their second challenger brand spotand new entrants Wellspring Fields and Ohio favorite King City Gardens edged their way up the charts.
*To learn more about Lit Alerts and get a special offer only available to Cultivated readers, visit litalerts.com.
⏩ Quick hits
A conservative group called American Encore is collecting roughly 260,000 signatures to put a measure on Arizona's November ballot that would repeal the state law permitting dispensaries and shut them down by 2028. The July 3 deadline gives organizers about 10 weeks to gather the required signatures. These types of ballot measures at least recognize that legalization is a done deal, but they don’t deal with the fundamental issue that cannabis doesn’t exist via Immaculate Conception. So what they’re really asking for is to criminalize the supply chain. Read more.
-JB
Colorado is raiding its roughly $220 million in projected marijuana taxes to help close a $1.5 billion budget shortfall, with just 11% headed to education despite what voters were promised when they legalized cannabis in 2012, Axios reports.
Maryland lawmakers have sent a bill to Gov. Wes Moore that would protect firefighters and rescue workers from being disciplined for using medical cannabis off-duty, passing both chambers after three years of debate. Read more.
🔬 Science & research
A UC San Diego study of more than 11,000 teens — the largest of its kind in the U.S. — found that adolescents who use cannabis show slower gains in memory, attention and processing speed compared to peers who don't, with THC identified as the likely driver. The researchers note the study doesn't prove causation, but say even modest cognitive differences during a critical window of brain development can affect school performance and daily functioning. Full study here.
📰 What we’re reading
Opinion: What cannabis legalization looks like in New York today | City & State NY