Top Stories (2026) -
(411 items)
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| Mar 27, 2026 |
New Zealand sun-grown cannabis site earns endorsement from Columbia University scientist Not every cannabis farm gets visited by a Columbia University professor. Fewer still get singled out as the best place on earth to grow the plant. That is what happened when Colin Nuckolls, an organic chemistry professor at Columbia and one of the most cited independent researchers on cannabis chemistry, toured Puro's K?kereng? farm on the Kaik?ura coast earlier this year. |
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| Mar 27, 2026 |
Synthetic seeds show a glimpse of the future for cannabis breeding When tissue culture laboratories first emerged in the 1970s, they quickly became standard infrastructure for propagating tomatoes, corn, and dozens of other crops. Decades of scientific literature followed, refining the formulas and SOPs that made the process reliable at scale. For cannabis, that body of knowledge simply doesn't exist, effects from the prohibition era. It's a gap that companies like Microhemp, a tissue culture lab based in Italy, are now working to close. "Tissue culture laboratories have been existing since the 70s," says Marco Bianco, founder of Microhemp. "But when it comes to cannabis, this is quite the new space." |
| Mar 27, 2026 |
Vancity Original® enters legal cannabis market with launch of Vancity® Cannabis Brand VANCOUVER, B.C. — March 27, 2026 — Vancity Original®, the iconic Vancouver brand founded in 1998 by Jeff “Mister Martini” Martin, is proud to announce its expansion into the legal Canadian cannabis market with the launch of The Vancity® Cannabis Brand, alongside cannabis industry veteran Brad Nishimura and award-winning cannabis lawyer Robert Laurie of AD LUCEM LAW CORPORATION. |
| Mar 26, 2026 |
German high court rules against medicinal cannabis advertisements
Germany’s Federal Court of Justice has ruled that advertising for medical treatments with medical cannabis violates the country’s law on advertising medicinal products. In a ruling posted on March 26, 2026, the First Civil Senate of the Federal Court of Justice, which handles competition law in Germany, ruled that a company operating an online platform that brokers medical cannabis treatments and connects patients with cooperating doctors violates medicinal product advertising law by publicly advertising prescription drugs. |
| Mar 26, 2026 |
Case of Mi’kmaq man facing cannabis charges moves to constitutional challenge in N.S. DARTMOUTH - The legal case of a Mi’kmaq man charged with selling unlicensed cannabis is moving ahead to a constitutional challenge. A provincial court judge has determined that Thomas Durfee’s treaty rights are not to be considered in the initial stage of the proceedings, and court dates for his constitutional challenge will be set on April 10. |
| Mar 26, 2026 |
Ghana: NCC unveils 11 licence categories to regulate cannabis industry The Narcotics Control Commission has announced eleven licence categories under a new framework aimed at regulating industrial and medicinal cannabis in Ghana. According to the Commission, the move is intended to promote transparency, safety and accountability within the licensing system. |
| Mar 26, 2026 |
US: Medical cannabis measure heads to Georgia governor’s desk Major changes to Georgia's medical cannabis program are now just a signature away. Senate Bill 220 passed the state House and Senate and now heads to the governor's desk for final approval. The bill removes a cap on the amount of THC in medical marijuana products. It will also legalize medical cannabis vaping products for medical use. There will also be new eligible conditions to qualify for medical marijuana, including lupus, severe arthritis and severe insomnia. |
| Mar 26, 2026 |
White House Schedules Meeting for FDA’s New CBD Compliance Enforcement Policy White House officials will review a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed rule concerning CBD product compliance and enforcement policies on April 1. The White House Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) informed the public on March 13 that it received the CBD guidance recommendation from the FDA. |
| Mar 26, 2026 |
Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke says no to retail cannabis After nearly a year of deliberation, the Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke (MCK) announced on March 25, 2026 that it will not be allowing the sale of cannabis in their community. The Ratitsénhaienhs, the elected chiefs, have formally taken a position that the number of cannabis retail dispensary licences be set to zero, thereby prohibiting the retail sale of cannabis within the Territory of Kahnawà:ke. The Kahnawà:ke Mohawk Territory is a First Nations reserve of the Mohawks of Kahnawá:ke, located on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River in Quebec, Canada. |
| Mar 25, 2026 |
7 States with a Chance to Legalize Marijuana in 2026 Efforts to expand cannabis laws across the U.S. remain active as 2026 unfolds, with seven states weighing proposals that range from limited medical access to full adult-use legalization. Timelines vary, but advocates in multiple regions are working against approaching deadlines to move their measures forward. In Idaho, a campaign to permit medical marijuana is gaining momentum. The Natural Medicine Alliance of Idaho is pushing to place the Idaho Medical Cannabis Act before voters this November and is racing to submit more than 70,000 valid signatures by May. |
| Mar 25, 2026 |
US cannabis growth: "We are forecasting 2026 legal revenues to be $30.5 billion, an increase of 4.9% since 2025" Whitney Economics (WE), a global leader in cannabis and hemp business consulting, data, and economic research, today announced it has published its U.S. legal cannabis revenue forecast for the period of 2025 – 2030. "We are forecasting 2026 legal revenues to be $30.5 billion, an increase of 4.9% since 2025," WE founder and Chief Economist Beau Whitney said. "This is a welcome rebound from just a year ago, when the U.S. legal cannabis market experienced its first year-over-year revenue decline in the legal regulated market's history." |
| Mar 25, 2026 |
US: Examining the relationship between unions and the cannabis industry Cannabis was supposed to be different. Ask the budtenders at Exclusive Brands how that worked out. When Emily Hull, a budtender at the Ann Arbor dispensary of the Livonia-based chain with seven locations in Michigan, and a handful of coworkers walked off the job in August, they were asking to join a union. They wanted to join UFCW Local 876, the same union that represents 18,000 workers in grocery, meatpacking and food processing. And cannabis. |
| Mar 25, 2026 |
Ex-justice minister fined for possessing illegal drugs The former Conservative MP and justice minister Crispin Blunt has been fined after pleading guilty to possessing illegal drugs, including cannabis and crystal meth. He admitted to four drugs charges at Westminster Magistrates' Court, following a police raid on his Surrey home in October 2023. The 65-year-old was found with the chemical sedative GBL, cannabis and methamphetamine - commonly known as crystal meth. Blunt, who hit out at the decision to charge him and suggested all drugs should be legal, was fined £1,200. |
| Mar 25, 2026 |
UK and Germany Medical Cannabis Markets Both Double in 2025 The UK and Germany’s medical cannabis markets both more than doubled in size throughout 2025, once again cementing the countries as the engine behind European market growth. Their runaway growth, according to Prohibition Partners‘ newly released Global Medical Cannabis Market Review 2026, continues to be driven by the growing prominence of telemedicine clinics. |
| Mar 25, 2026 |
US army raises upper age for recruits to 42 and scraps marijuana restrictions The US army has raised the maximum enlistment age to 42 years old and scrapped a barrier for potential recruits who have a legal conviction for marijuana or drug paraphernalia possession. |
| Mar 25, 2026 |
People Who ‘Regularly Gather To Smoke Marijuana’ Could Be Deemed A ‘Criminal Gang’ And Deported Under House Bill, Congressman Warns A top congressional Democrat is warning that a committee-passed bill meant to expedite the deportation of immigrants who’ve committed certain crimes is so broad that even “high school students who regularly gather to smoke marijuana” could be defined as a “criminal gang” under its provisions. |
| Mar 25, 2026 |
He May Be the Only American Sent to Prison for the Pot Tax My name is Ryan Richmond: former medical marijuana dispensary owner and now a convicted felon. I served one year in federal prison on a two-year sentence. My probation will soon be over. Here’s the part that surprises people: I didn’t go to prison for selling weed. I went because the government couldn’t make that narrative stick, so it did what it often does in that situation—it reached for another weapon and won. |
| Mar 25, 2026 |
Europe Is Becoming A Center For The International Cannabis Industry The cannabis industry is in the midst of a worldwide revolution and is continuing to evolve from a patchwork of individual, siloed markets to an increasingly connected international web. That was already true, to a degree, before 2020. However, in late 2020, the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) voted to remove cannabis from Schedule IV of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. It was a major milestone, with the CND finally recognizing the medicinal and therapeutic benefits of cannabis. |
| Mar 25, 2026 |
Ohio Bans THC Drinks, Tightens Cannabis Rules in New Sweeping Changes Ohio’s cannabis market is entering a more restrictive phase less than two years after voters approved legalization, as new rules tighten how marijuana and hemp products can be sold, transported, and consumed. Senate Bill 56, which took effect after failing to be overturned by referendum, revises the 2023 voter-backed framework by introducing stricter potency limits and handling requirements, as well as new criminal penalties tied to everyday use. |
| Mar 24, 2026 |
Scathing audit for Alabama medical marijuana authority on eve of market launch Alabama’s beleaguered Medical Cannabis Commission failed to follow state procedure and open-meetings laws, overpaid an outside law firm by $204,000 and didn’t maintain records properly, a recent state audit found. The audit comes at an awkward time – just weeks before the long-awaited launch of Alabama’s medical cannabis market. Lawsuits filed by applicants who were denied licenses delayed the launch. Some of the allegations in the lawsuits are supported by the audit, according to Alabama Political Reporter. |