Top Stories (2026) -
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
| May 4, 2026 |
GOP Congressmen Advance Legislation to Block Marijuana Rescheduling Republican lawmakers on a key House committee are pushing forward a spending proposal that could halt federal efforts to reschedule cannabis. The move comes shortly after the Trump administration signaled plans to proceed with reclassifying the drug. The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science & Related Agencies released draft legislation that includes language designed to block any funding from being used to alter marijuana’s current status under the CSA. |
| May 4, 2026 |
Why Global Expansion Is Becoming a Strategic Imperative for Cannabis Companies
For years, and particularly since the 2018 Farm Bill and the growing medical market, U.S. cannabis was viewed as the global industry’s primary growth engine. Here was where companies raised capital, built brands and MSOs and scaled operations despite federal limitations. Today, however, that same market presents structural constraints that are reshaping how operators think about long-term growth. |
| May 4, 2026 |
Cannabis leads US microdosing, with 24.1 million adults reporting lifetime use Researchers from University of California San Diego have found that microdosing—taking very small amounts of psychoactive substances—is more common among U.S. adults than previously recognized, with cannabis leading by a wide margin. The study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, estimates that millions of Americans have microdosed substances such as cannabis, psilocybin, LSD ("acid") and MDMA ("ecstasy"). |
| May 4, 2026 |
Medical Marijuana Can Be A ‘Profoundly Helpful Tool’ For Seniors Dealing With Pain And Other Maladies As a primary care physician, I see it every day in my clinic: seniors are increasingly turning to cannabis to find relief from the medical indignities of aging. Whether it’s the grinding discomfort of chronic pain, the “gray” fog of late-life anxiety or the persistent, soul-crushing frustration of insomnia, older adults are discovering that the cannabis plant can often do what many of our standard prescriptions cannot—provide genuine relief without a laundry list of debilitating side effects. |
| May 4, 2026 |
New York Officials Are Now Accepting Applications For Marijuana Farmers’ Markets And Pop-Up Events New York marijuana officials have announced that they have begun accepting applications from licensed dispensaries that want to host temporary cannabis farmers’ markets and pop-up events. The Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) on Monday launched the application process for what the state is calling “Cannabis Showcase Events.” |
| May 4, 2026 |
Bahamas Cannabis Authority chairman: Licensing platform for firms complete Lynwood Brown, chairman of the Bahamas Cannabis Authority, told Guardian Business yesterday that the licensing platform for firms making application for cannabis licenses is completed, and all that is needed now is the marketing campaign for applicants to be made aware of the process. Brown said: "The platform is finished, it's ready. The cannabis authority's office has already been paid for, we have already gotten possession of it. We're just waiting for the right ministry to come and furnish it. This will happen after the general election and depending on the direction the election lands." |