CannabisLink.ca - Current Affairs 2026

(2026) - Chronological (666 items)

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May 16, 2026	Appeal court orders trial for Montrealers who had cannabis case stayed three years ago The Quebec Court of Appeal has ordered that a trial involving four Montrealers charged with growing cannabis illegally and conspiring to produce it proceed while reversing a judge’s decision that halted the case in 2023.
May 8, 2026	Greece Moves to Ban Hemp Flower Sales, Despite Government Advisory Body Warning of ‘Conflict’ With EU Law Last week (April 27), the deadline for Greek industry stakeholders to have their say on a controversial new hemp ban expired. The proposed legislation would impose a blanket ban on the sale of CBD flowers across the country, placing yet another European Union member state on the front lines of the perpetual ‘Hemp Wars’.
May 8, 2026	The Mothers Building Cannabis Cannabis has long been spoken about in feminine terms: the Green Goddess, lunar cycles, pot girls, and canna-moms. Cannabis growers speak about the “mother plant,” the living genetic anchors from which entire harvests emerge. A healthy mother plant is not rushed. She is protected, tended to carefully, relied upon for consistency, resilience, and future growth.
May 8, 2026	Older Adults Turning to Cannabis Edibles Cannabis use is increasing faster among adults over 60 than in any other demographic, yet research is only beginning to understand the motivations behind this trend. A new study by researchers from University of Utah Health and University of Colorado Boulder revealed that many older adults start using cannabis to manage sleep disturbances, chronic pain, or mental health concerns, according to data published in JAMA Network Open.
May 7, 2026	Marijuana Reclassification Eases Some Industry Hurdles Cannabis rescheduling in the U.S. could reshape scientific research and parts of the industry, though key questions remain about how the change will be carried out. Under a final rule issued by the Office of the Attorney General, federally approved drug products containing marijuana would be placed in Schedule III of the CSA. This represents a significant change from the current Schedule I status, a category reserved for substances considered highly dangerous and lacking accepted medical use. Moving cannabis into Schedule III places it alongside drugs such as ketamine and codeine, signaling recognition of its therapeutic potential.
May 7, 2026	Harvard Doctor’s New Book Reframes Cannabis As A Senior’s Way Out Of Pharmaceutical Overload Dr. Peter Grinspoon’s new book “Aging Well with Cannabis” reframes the plant as what one geriatrician calls an “exit drug”: a tool for helping older Americans reduce their reliance on the prescription medications stacking up in their medicine cabinets. With 60 million Americans over 65 and twice that over 50, the book targets the fastest-growing cannabis demographic in the country.
May 7, 2026	Health Canada’s directive on tours leaves industry questioning what’s still possible Health Canada’s recent reminder to licensed producers about the rules governing facility visits hasn’t introduced new regulations, but it has shown that possibilities for meaningful compliant tours may be far narrower than previously assumed. For years, tours have served as a tool for producers to build brand equity, attract investors, and demonstrate quality in a highly regulated market. But the latest guidance appears to shift how the regulator interprets who should be allowed inside a cannabis facility and why.
May 7, 2026	California Bill To Allow Drive-Thrus At Marijuana Dispensaries Advances To Assembly Floor Vote A bill that would allow California marijuana stores to offer drive-thru windows to serve customers is heading to a floor vote in the state Assembly. The measure, which cleared the Assembly Appropriations Committee in a 13-1 vote on Wednesday, says that licensed cannabis retailers and microbusinesses with storefronts could sell marijuana products “to a customer in a motor vehicle in a drive-through located on the premises.”
May 7, 2026	‘Mutant Marijuana’ Is Changing How Weed Is Grown. It’s Not What You Think. For outdoor growers, pollen is the enemy. One rogue male, one stressed hermaphrodite at the wrong moment, and an entire field seeds up. Premium sinsemilla becomes something you can barely move. The industry has tried feminized seeds, aggressive male elimination, tight protocols. The threat never fully disappears. Triploid cannabis offers a different answer: a plant so genetically scrambled it can barely reproduce at all.
May 7, 2026	Cash Crop: The Extractive Cannabis Industries Of the Global South For the past couple of years, many Global South nations have sought to capitalise on the global cannabis boom, reforming their drug laws just enough to allow for domestic cultivation industries to blossom, yet maintaining usually harsh systems of criminalisation. In late 2025, Sri Lanka’s President Dissanayake opened the country up to medical cannabis investments, and the national investment board selected seven international unnamed firms to cultivate cannabis for medical oil production. Cultivation is set to be highly controlled, with police and Special Task Force monitoring and the explicit guarantee that cultivation is “permitted solely for export, with strict assurances that the crop will be used only for pharmaceutical production and testing.” Its purpose is solely to generate “significant foreign currency inflows”, whilst assuring “no part of the plant… may enter the domestic environment”. Government forces continue to consider cannabis as a highly dangerous drug, and legislation remains unaltered to reflect this.
May 6, 2026	Looming Federal Ban Causes Colorado Bill Regulating Hemp THC to Fail Efforts to expand where hemp-derived THC beverages can be sold in Colorado stalled this week as lawmakers were unable to gather enough support to move the proposal forward. SB 164 sought to open the door for these drinks to be offered in restaurants and bars, rather than limiting sales to licensed marijuana dispensaries. However, the measure was withdrawn by its lead sponsor after it became clear that it would not secure the votes needed to pass.
May 6, 2026	Arizona Activist Drops Bid To Repeal Legal Cannabis The sponsor of a proposed ballot initiative to repeal recreational marijuana legalization in Arizona has abandoned the effort, saying he has “adjusted my viewpoints on the threat to kids.” Sean Noble told reporters that he is dropping his planned ballot measure, which would have repealed the 2020 initiative that legalized the possession, sale and use of cannabis by adults aged 21 and over. Noble, the founder of the conservative organization American Encore, told Capitol Media Services that the legalization repeal initiative was not aimed at medical marijuana. Instead, the effort was focused on the legalization of recreational cannabis and perceived abuses by the industry, including the marketing of marijuana products to children.
May 6, 2026	Hard to predict results of raising legal age to purchase cannabis, says expert The P.E.I. government is considering raising the legal age to purchase nicotine pouches and cannabis to 21. CBC News: Compass host Louise Martin speaks to a pediatrician and researcher from Quebec, where the legal age to purchase cannabis is already 21.
May 6, 2026	America’s CBD Industry Now Faces Same Evidential Battle Europe Has Been Fighting for 8 Years The long and arduous journey to regulate cannabidiol (CBD) in Europe, which began in 2018 with the European Union’s classification of CBD as a ‘novel food’, is now playing out in the courtrooms of the United States. On 1 May 2026, a federal judge in Washington heard oral argument in a pivotal court case set to determine whether a US government programme to introduce hemp-derived CBD into Medicare-funded care should be halted.
May 6, 2026	Target Is Launching Hemp THC Drink Sales In Three Of The U.S.’s Most Populous States Major retailer Target is deepening its involvement in the hemp-derived THC beverage market by launching sales in three more states—significantly expanding beyond a pilot program it rolled out in Minnesota last year—even as a federal law is set to ban the products later this year. Last year, the company began a pilot program involving sales of cannabis drinks at 10 select stores in Minnesota. It later applied with state officials for licenses to sell THC beverages at all 72 of its stores in the state, where the company is headquartered.
May 6, 2026	Cannabis Stocks Are Going Nowhere Quickly The New Cannabis Ventures Global Cannabis Stock Index has rallied slightly in May, rising 1.1% to 5.76. It is down year-to-date by 12.6%. The index, which was rebalanced as of the end of Q1, has rallied 9.9% so far in Q2, which is behind the S&P 500’s gain of 12.8%. Here are the returns of the 23 names currently in the index (SMG was removed as of the end of April subsequent to its sale of Hawthorne Gardening):
May 6, 2026	PEI considering raising the cannabis age of access to 21 Prince Edward Island is considering raising the age of access to cannabis from 19 to 21 years of age. As part of an effort to raise the age of access to nicotine pouches, PEI Health Minister Cory Deagle told CBC News that he supports the effort to also raise the age of access to cannabis products.
May 5, 2026	Experts Say Partial Marijuana Rescheduling is Causing Confusion While the Trump administration has taken a partial step toward rescheduling marijuana, the move has left many in the industry uncertain about what comes next. Acting AG Todd Blanche recently signed an order moving certain cannabis-related products out of the most restrictive federal category. Specifically, products sold through state-licensed medical cannabis programs, along with those approved by the FDA, will move from Schedule I to Schedule III.
May 5, 2026	North Carolina Voters Could Decide To Legalize Marijuana At The Ballot In November Under New Senate Bill North Carolina senators have filed a new bill that, if enacted, would allow voters to decide whether to legalize marijuana for personal or medical use at the ballot box this November. The legislation, filed by Sens. Kandie Smith (D), Caleb Theodros (D), Paul Lowe Jr. (D) and Joyce Waddell (D), seeks to place two separate cannabis questions before voters.
May 5, 2026	Cannabis 2016–2026: The Green Rush Fizzled. What Came Next Is More Interesting Over the past decade, cannabis has shifted from taboo to a regulated global industry, with expanding legalization, medical adoption, and economic impact. Yet in 2026, early “Green Rush” expectations have given way to a more complex reality shaped by bureaucracy, uneven policies, and ongoing cultural and political debate.

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