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Top Stories (2026) - (1739 items)

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Apr 24, 2026	What Happens When Cannabis Magazines are Too Scandalous for Dispensaries? Fat Nugs Magazine’s Kids and Cannabis issue tackled a tough but necessary conversation. A partner dispensary refused to carry it. What does that say about the industry’s willingness to advance the cannabis conversation?
Apr 24, 2026	Canadian Cannabis Sales Continued to Advance in February Statistics Canada released February retail sales for the country, with cannabis sales decreasing from the January levels, down 7.9% to C$440.5 million from the prior month. The sequential decrease was up 2.0% on a per-day basis more due to the fewer days than in the prior month. January, originally reported at C$466.1 million, was revised higher to C$478.2 million. The sales in February were up 7.9% from a year ago, down from the level last month at 9.4% and in May at 8.3% and 7.5% in June but better than the prior lowest annual growth rate since legalization commenced of -0.9% in September 2024 due to the BC strike. In 2024, total sales increased 4.5% to C$5.39 billion, and they were up 4.1% in 2025 to C$5.62 billion. So far in 2026, sales are up 8.6%.
Apr 24, 2026	What to Know About Trump’s Reclassification of Medical Marijuana On April 23, acting U.S. attorney general Todd Blanche signed an order changing the federal classification of medical marijuana. The move, which came at the behest of President Donald Trump and will make the substance a Schedule 3 drug, will bring enormous tax benefits to medical marijuana producers in the 40 states where medical use is legal and may speed research into its effects, experts say. But it does not legalize marijuana at the federal level, nor does it change the status of marijuana grown for recreational use. Here’s what you need to know.
Apr 24, 2026	Reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug might only be the first step for Trump U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to reclassify state-licensed medical marijuana as a less dangerous drug is a boon for the industry: It gives dispensaries a big tax break, eases some barriers to researching cannabis and could even allow the export of marijuana to other countries. But that might only be Trump’s first step. A new administrative hearing slated for the end of June could result in the reclassification of marijuana more broadly, granting tax and other benefits to state-licensed recreational markets, too.
Apr 23, 2026	Trump’s Rescheduling Move Could Change the Cannabis Industry Overnight The scheduling reclassification does not legalize cannabis use under federal law, but it will impact the 40 states that have approved medical cannabis programs. The directive for rescheduling also provides a tax incentive to state-licensed medical cannabis operators. Medical cannabis is defined by a drug product made from the Cannabis plant or derivatives that can legally be marketed under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act).
Apr 23, 2026	Department of Justice officially reschedules marijuana: What truckers need to know Moving marijuana onto the Schedule III controlled substance list might in future make medically-prescribed cannabis a possibility in some form or fashion for CDL drivers. Yet given the lack of an absolutely effective way to test for impairment beyond cannabis-problematic urine tests, it's likely a very long time coming.
Apr 23, 2026	Trump’s Rescheduling Move Could Change the Cannabis Industry Overnight Acting U.S. Attorney General (AG) Todd Blanche signed an order Thursday to reclassify state-licensed medical cannabis as a less dangerous substance. The order shifts the designation of licensed medical cannabis from Schedule I –the most restrictive category of drug classification for substances that have no medical value and potential for abuse including heroin– to the less restrictive Schedule III for substances, or chemicals, defined as drugs with a moderate-to-low potential for physical and psychological dependence alongside Tylenol with Codeine, ketamine, anabolic steroids, and testosterone.
Apr 23, 2026	Cannabis Use Associated With Lower Likelihood of Metabolic Disorders, Including Hypertension, Type 2 Diabetes, and Obesity Hangzhou, China: Those with a history of cannabis use possess a lower risk of suffering from metabolic disorders – including hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and obesity, according to data published in the journal Nutrition, Metabolism & Cardiovascular Diseases. Chinese researchers assessed the relationship between cannabis use and metabolic syndromes in a nationally representative sample of 91,000 adults.
Apr 23, 2026	Trump Pushes Congress To Keep Full-Spectrum CBD Legal While Restricting Hemp Products That Pose ‘Health Risks’ President Donald Trump is urging congressional lawmakers to take action to amend a law that threatens to federally recriminalize hemp-derived full-spectrum CBD products in November.
Apr 23, 2026	Cannabis Stocks Lose Buzz Despite This Landmark Decision Cannabis stocks rose Thursday after the Trump administration, in a landmark decision, reclassified marijuana as a less-dangerous drug. But early stock gains faded. Marijuana now goes from being classified among the most dangerous drugs to Schedule III, a federal designation for drugs with a moderate to low potential for dependence and abuse.
Apr 23, 2026	Market Outlook: U.S. cannabis reclassification drives stock surge Marijuana stocks surged after the U.S. Department of Justice reclassified cannabis to a lower-risk category, easing restrictions in a major policy shift.
Apr 23, 2026	Trump administration eases rules on some marijuana categories. Here's what to know The Trump administration is easing rules on medical marijuana, moving it out of the restrictive Schedule I and into Schedule III — a category shared by drugs such as Tylenol with codeine and anabolic steroids.
Apr 23, 2026	Marijuana Reclassification Explained: What the Trump Administration’s Schedule 3 Move Actually Means On April 23, 2026, the Trump administration officially moved FDA-approved marijuana products and marijuana products regulated under qualifying state medical marijuana licenses from Schedule I to Schedule III under federal law. If you’re trying to understand what that actually means — for dispensaries, patients, cannabis businesses and federal policy — this is the explainer.
Apr 22, 2026	‘We’re not going anywhere’: Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club raided Tuesday A day after the annual 4/20 day, the Victoria Police Department raided the Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club, a longstanding unlicensed cannabis club in Victoria. The dispensary is known for selling products with a high level of THC to mostly low-income people with chronic illnesses. “People’s lives are at stake here, we’re not going to give up because of a raid or two or four,” said Ted Smith, founder of VCBC, reiterating, “People’s lives are at stake, I don’t think the provincial government understands that.”
Apr 22, 2026	Canada’s cannabis export dominance remains despite global price compression, rising standards The global medical cannabis market is growing quickly but inconsistently, with tightening regulatory environments and a competitive supply chain where margins are universally compressing, according to the newest market report from the Global Cannabis Exchange.
Apr 22, 2026	US set to move to reclassify marijuana as early as Wednesday, Axios reports WASHINGTON, April 22 (Reuters) - The United States administration is expected to move to ?reclassify marijuana as soon as Wednesday, Axios reported, ?citing an official familiar with the matter, sending U.S. stocks of cannabis-related companies higher. The decision to reclassify marijuana would represent one of the ?most significant federal changes to marijuana policy in ?decades, removing barriers to researching the drug's potential ?use cases.
Apr 22, 2026	Does the UK Media’s Cannabis Coverage Reflect Public Opinion? The Data Says No This morning, the latest in a now-weekly series of stories in the British mainstream press was published in The Times, for the second week in a row taking aim at the advertising practices of some of the UK’s largest clinics. It comes just days after one of the country’s largest and most widely respected polling companies, YouGov, published the results of a representative survey examining the British public’s attitudes towards cannabis.
Apr 22, 2026	Six Out Of Ten Americans Support Legalizing Marijuana, New Poll Shows Americans broadly favor legalizing marijuana for recreational or medical purposes, with support across party lines, according to a new poll. The YouGov survey from published on Monday found that 59 percent of U.S. adults want to legalize cannabis—including 75 percent of Democrats, 50 percent of Republicans and 54 percent of independents.
Apr 22, 2026	Rosin, Raids and Risk: Spain’s New Cannabis Frontier On a cold night in late January 2025, a home lab in Espinardo (Murcia) ended in tragedy. Two young men were killed when a butane-based cannabis extraction attempt went catastrophically wrong. As the local press later reported, the pair had been attempting to produce highly concentrated hash oil — BHO, short for butane hash oil — by blasting cannabis with flammable gas. The blast leveled the walls, igniting a deadly fire.
Apr 22, 2026	Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club says about $100,000 in products seized in raid Provincial authorities raided the Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club on Tuesday, more than three years after the last raid on the unlicensed non-profit dispensary, which sells cannabis products to mostly low-income people with chronic illnesses. Club founder Ted Smith said officers with the province’s Community Safety Unit arrived Tuesday morning shortly after the shop opened and began seizing products.
Apr 21, 2026	Iowa Gubernatorial Candidate Plans to Legalize Adult-Use Cannabis, Regulate Hemp Products Iowa’s 2026 governor’s race is now considered a toss-up, and the lone Democratic candidate pulled back the curtain on his plans to legalize adult-use cannabis and regulate cannabinoid hemp products. Rob Sand, who has served as Iowa’s state auditor since 2019 – he was the only Democrat to win a statewide election race in 2022 – released the details of his plan to legalize, tax and regulate adult-use cannabis similar to alcohol on April 20, an international cannabis holiday.
Apr 21, 2026	Bipartisan Congressional Bill to Let States Have Their Own Hemp THC Rules A new bipartisan effort in Congress is offering states a way to sidestep an upcoming federal crackdown on hemp-derived THC products, instead of forcing an immediate nationwide ban. The proposal, introduced last week, would let individual states maintain their existing regulatory systems rather than adopt a stricter federal standard scheduled to begin in November.
Apr 21, 2026	The Extinction of the Real: How Traditional Hashish Vanished While the Modern Market Looked Away Traditional imported hashish—hand-rubbed Nepali charas, Lebanese blonde, Moroccan temple balls, Afghani black—has effectively vanished from North American markets. This is not a story about enforcement or interdiction. This is a story about market economics and how legalization ironically destroyed demand for the very craft products it claimed to celebrate.
Apr 21, 2026	Cannabis Industry Council Releases Global Guide for Patients Travelling with Medical Cannabis The UK’s Cannabis Industry Council (CIC) has published a new comprehensive guide for patients travelling with prescribed medical cannabis in the wake of a series of reported incidents involving both airlines and border control authorities. The guide, Travelling with Medical Cannabis, published today and available free via the CIC’s website, covers domestic UK travel, international country-by-country frameworks across Europe, the Americas, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Australasia, and includes a practical pre-travel checklist.
Apr 20, 2026	Sri Lanka detains 22 Buddhist monks for drug smuggling Twenty-two Sri Lankan monks returning from Thailand were arrested on Sunday at the main international airport with 110 kg (242 pounds) of powerful cannabis, officials said. A Sri Lanka Customs spokesman said the group, returning home after a four-day holiday in the Thai capital, had Kush - a potent, plant-based strain of cannabis - hidden in their luggage.
Apr 20, 2026	New Report Reveals Massive Decline in Cannabis Arrests Following Legalization [PRESS RELEASE] – WASHINGTON, April 20, 2026 – The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), the nation’s leading cannabis policy organization, released a comprehensive new report detailing the landscape of cannabis arrests in the United States. Based on FBI Crime Explorer data, the report examines cannabis arrest data in all 50 states and highlights a wide gap between legalization and prohibition states. The full report, including a state-by-state breakdown of arrest data, is available here. https://www.mpp.org/issues/criminal-justice/the-state-of-enforcement-progress-and-shortcomings-in-cannabis-arrest-rates/
Apr 20, 2026	4/20 draws smaller crowds in Vancouver but advocates say cannabis issues remain Clouds of smoke drifted above the Vancouver Art Gallery on Monday as cannabis users gathered to mark 4/20, a day long associated with cannabis culture, protest and advocacy. The annual event featured vendors, music and speakers sharing personal stories, including how they use cannabis medically and why they say stigma around the drug still lingers. Free joints were handed out and the crowd cheered as speakers took turns at the microphone. While the atmosphere was celebratory, many attendees said the event continues to serve a deeper purpose.
Apr 20, 2026	Happy 4/20 2026 From Cannabis Culture Happy 4/20 2026 From Cannabis Culture! Join us on the Pot Block in Vancouver for a huge 4/20 celebration. Today is APRIL 20 and we are celebrating on the Pot Block in Vancouver with four floors of live music, contests, dab bars, tattoos, tarot readings, live painting, give-aways and tons more fun for stoners (19 years+). Passes give you access to the Cannabis Culture Lounge, High Score Lounge and The New Amsterdam Cafe (301 West Hastings Street in Vancouver).
Apr 20, 2026	Instead of competing on price, cannabis retailers win with community Competing solely on price is becoming increasingly difficult for cannabis retailers as markets mature and prices decline, squeezing margins. But since advertising bans limit how operators can attract new customers, discounting remains a necessary tool for many retailers but not a sustainable long-term strategy. In response, some operators are shifting their focus toward community engagement. From yoga classes and educational workshops to movie nights and workforce development programs, cannabis retailers are investing in experiences that bring customers back for reasons beyond price.
Apr 20, 2026	Teen Marijuana Use Is Lower Now Than Before Legalization, Government Study From Minnesota Officials Shows Despite concerns from marijuana legalization opponents who claimed the policy would lead to skyrocketing use by teens, cannabis consumption by middle and high school students in Minnesota is lower now than it has ever been over the past decade, according to newly published state data. “There continues to be a steady decline in youth cannabis use since 2013, with 96% of students reporting not having used cannabis in the last month,” the state Department of Health said in a press release on Monday about the latest results of the Minnesota Student Survey, which is conducted every three years among students in grades 5, 8, 9 and 11.
Apr 20, 2026	Idaho MMJ Ballot Initiative Supporters Have 100k Signatures as Deadline Looms Backers of a proposed medical marijuana measure in Idaho say they have surpassed 100,000 collected signatures and are now racing to meet an April 30 deadline that would place the issue before voters in November. The campaign, led by the Natural Medicine Alliance of Idaho, aims to allow patients with serious illnesses to access cannabis for therapeutic use. Conditions listed by organizers include PTSD, cancer, epilepsy, AIDS, and Crohn’s disease.
Apr 20, 2026	New Report Reveals Massive Decline in Cannabis Arrests Following Legalization WASHINGTON, April 20, 2026 – The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), the nation’s leading cannabis policy organization, released a comprehensive new report detailing the landscape of cannabis arrests in the United States. Based on FBI Crime Explorer data, the report examines cannabis arrest data in all 50 states and highlights a wide gap between legalization and prohibition states. The full report, including a state-by-state breakdown of arrest data, is available here. Since 1995, law enforcement has made more than 21 million cannabis arrests in the U.S. However, MPP’s report shows that as states move toward legalization and sensible regulation, the era of mass arrests is beginning to wane, but not everywhere.
Apr 20, 2026	House passes bill removing limits on THC in cannabis products Connecticut - A bill revamping regulations around the cannabis market passed the House of Representatives Monday night after a debate over what some lawmakers saw as a loosening of important restrictions on cannabis sale, and what others saw as logical modifications to a system that was placing barriers in front of a growing market.
Apr 20, 2026	Retail cannabis prices still dropping, but unevenly across the country According to Statistics Canada’s Consumer Price Index (CPI), retail cannabis prices dropped 3.2% year-over-year in March 2026 compared to March 2025, and declined 0.3% from February to March. ....For cannabis, a baseline price of 100 was established in December 2018 following legalization. Since then, the index value has mostly declined, with only a few small and brief monthly or bi-monthly increases. While the first few years of legal cannabis saw prices drop by about 8-9% a year, prices since December 2023 have decreased at a more modest rate.
Apr 20, 2026	4/20 draws smaller crowds in Vancouver but advocates say cannabis issues remain Clouds of smoke drifted above the Vancouver Art Gallery on Monday as cannabis users gathered to mark 4/20, a day long associated with cannabis culture, protest and advocacy. The annual event featured vendors, music and speakers sharing personal stories, including how they use cannabis medically and why they say stigma around the drug still lingers. Free joints were handed out and the crowd cheered as speakers took turns at the microphone. While the atmosphere was celebratory, many attendees said the event continues to serve a deeper purpose.
Apr 20, 2026	New Marijuana Report Shows Arrests Are Plummeting As Legalization Spreads, But Criminalized States Still Send Thousands To Jail Each Year As more states pass laws legalizing marijuana, arrests for cannabis are dropping considerably, a new report from an advocacy organization shows, not surprisingly. But it also makes the case that there is still work to be done as tens of thousands of people continue to be put in handcuffs every year in the U.S. over something that is now legal in nearly half the states.
Apr 20, 2026	This 4/20, Remember The Cannabis Prisoners Legalization Left Behind As legal cannabis becomes a multibillion-dollar industry, people are still serving decades, even life, in prison for the same plant. That is not progress. It is unfinished business. Every year on 4/20, millions of people celebrate cannabis culture. Legalization expands, new markets open, and the industry keeps growing. But while the legal cannabis economy thrives, there are still people sitting in prison cells serving decades, and in some cases life sentences, for cannabis offenses.
Apr 20, 2026	Cannabis Policy in 2026—Setbacks, Rollbacks, and Roadblocks For more than a decade, cannabis policy in the United States has steadily moved toward legalization. Since Colorado and Washington became the first states to legalize adult-use cannabis in 2012, a growing number of states have adopted regulated cannabis markets. Today, 40 states have legalized medical and/or recreational cannabis. Approval of the legalization of cannabis, for either medical or recreational use, continues to be strong among Americans.
Apr 20, 2026	Is it legal to have weed in Texas? See latest on THC flower crackdown A crackdown on smokable hemp products in Texas has hit pause — at least for now — adding to confusion over what’s legal when it comes to cannabis and THC. For years, vape and smoke shops across the state have sold hemp-derived alternatives to traditional cannabis, which remains largely illegal in Texas. Those products include delta-8, delta-10 and THCA. (Delta-9 THC is the primary intoxicating compound in cannabis and is illegal above 0.3% under state law.)
Apr 20, 2026	The 420 Failure: Here's the Real Reason Tilray Brands Has Been a Horrible Investment Despite Operating in a Legal Marijuana Market Key Points Tilray has been struggling to generate much organic growth, and it remains deeply unprofitable. It and other cannabis companies have experienced significant declines in value over the past five years. While marijuana is legal in Canada, government regulation has been highly restrictive.
Apr 19, 2026	Can cannabis treat opioid addiction? In July, a user on the popular social media forum Reddit posed a simple but charged question: “Does cannabis help?” Posted to r/OpiatesRecovery, a 56,000 member forum for people recovering from opioid addiction, the question drew mixed responses within minutes. Some said they found it helpful; others cited cannabis’ negative side effects. For cannabis and psychedelics researcher Philippe Lucas, the question is not hypothetical.
Apr 19, 2026	Teen cannabis use rose after California legalization, reversing years of decline Teen cannabis use in Northern California increased following the legalization of adult recreational cannabis and later declined during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new research from Kaiser Permanente published in JAMA Network Open.
Apr 19, 2026	They tried everything, and nothing worked. Now, women are turning to cannabis for help By Dr. Sanjay Gupta - When I started filming the first “Weed” documentary back in 2012, I could not have predicted where this journey would take me — or the stories that would keep unfolding long after that initial exploration into the world of cannabis. At the time, I thought I was making a single self-contained film about a controversial plant and its place in modern medicine. What I didn’t realize was that I was also beginning a long, evolving conversation about hope, healing and who gets to be taken seriously when talking about something as provocative as medical marijuana.
Apr 18, 2026	Trump Complains DOJ Is ‘Slow-Walking’ Marijuana Rescheduling, Four Months After He Issued An Order To Get It Done President Donald Trump on Saturday appeared to complain that federal officials are “slow-walking” following through on an executive order he issued to complete the process of federally rescheduling marijuana.
Apr 17, 2026	An exciting archaeological discovery from prehistoric times – the world’s oldest cannabis plant from Saxony-Anhalt? Researchers at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin came across a spectacular plant fossil whilst cataloguing the collection. Further investigations are now underway to determine whether this is indeed by far the oldest known specimen of the Cannabis genus. It is certainly a highlight.
Apr 17, 2026	Forbes 2026 Cannabis 42.0 List Every April 20, the high holiday for marijuana lovers, is a reason to examine the state of the $30 billion cannabis industry. And this year, there is tremendous optimism that federal reform is finally coming.
Apr 17, 2026	Nebraska Medical Marijuana Regulations Now Await AG and Governor’s Approval The Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission has approved a set of rules governing the state’s emerging cannabis supply system, almost a year after first adopting temporary guidelines. The framework has operated under short-term extensions lasting 90 days at a time. The measures, repeatedly renewed, outline how medical marijuana businesses must operate. They address licensing limits, security standards, approved product types, and the qualifications required for physicians who recommend cannabis to patients.
Apr 17, 2026	Mass. cannabis law could take effect before 4/20 — here’s what changes A new cannabis law in Massachusetts could take effect on the eve of April 20 — the informal “4/20” holiday widely celebrated by cannabis users — triggering immediate changes for dispensaries and consumers alike. The new statue, called "H.5350, An Act Modernizing the Commonwealth’s Cannabis Laws‚" was on Gov. Maura Healey’s desk for consideration to become law no later than April 19, after it was passed by the House and Senate on April 6.
Apr 17, 2026	Life in Prison for a First Time, Nonviolent Cannabis Charge? Advocates, members of Congress, and those negatively impacted by cannabis incarceration will come together for a 4/20 congressional briefing and press conference designed to recenter the cultural holiday around an urgent reality: cannabis remains federally illegal and the harms of prohibition persist
Apr 17, 2026	New Zealand: Nascent medical cannabis industry aims for growth The budding medicinal cannabis sector is struggling to put down roots, and another specialist processing factory is set to close. But regulators considering current rules and a new industry collective offer some promise to reduce New Zealand's reliance on imported medicinal bud.

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