CannabisLink.ca - Current Affairs 2026

(2026) - Chronological (1437 items)

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Sep 1, 2026	How Cannabis Legalization Affects Substance Use The legalization of cannabis affects substance use, with the potential for both negative and positive impacts on public health, a new McGill-led study found. The researchers conducted a systematic review of evidence from 176 studies spanning 30 years in Canada, the United States, Europe, Uruguay and Australia. Published in The Milbank Quarterly, the review is one of the most comprehensive assessments to date of how cannabis policy reforms affect substance use and public health.
Aug 31, 2026	House To Vote On Delaying Hemp THC Ban This Week, Giving Lawmakers More Time To Craft Regulations To Keep Products Legal The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to consider a bill this week that contains provisions to delay the federal recriminalization of hemp THC products that is currently scheduled to take effect in November. The legislation, which has already been approved by the Senate, is intended to give lawmakers more time to craft regulations as an alternative to prohibition.
Aug 31, 2026	Rastafari leader urges brethren to join legal cannabis industry High Priest Selah, also known as Conneal Christian, is urging Rastafari brethren still operating outside the law to join the regulated cannabis industry, warning that division within the community is undermining the economic opportunities now available. The Nyabinghi Order leader made the appeal during an interview with Observer Media on the state of Antigua and Barbuda’s cannabis sector, framing legalisation as an opportunity the community must not squander through infighting.
Aug 31, 2026	BC, Ontario Lead in Cannabis Licensing in 2026, Revocations Surpass New Licences There have been 45 new cannabis production licences issued in Canada in the first eight months of 2026. As of the end of August, there are 900 federal cannabis licences. More than seven in 10 of these new licences were Micros (32), 24% were Standard (11), and one each was a Nursery and a Medical Sales-Only licence. Most new Micros (18 of 32) received both a Micro cultivation and a Micro Processing licence. British Columbia was home to the most new licences, with 18 (15 Micro, two Standard, one MSO). Ontario followed this with 12 (six Micro, six Standard), and Quebec with eight.*
Aug 30, 2026	A high old time! More than half of NYC senior citizens now use weed simply ‘to get high’: study Senior citizens in the Big Apple are using marijuana at record levels, with the vast majority doing it simply “to get high” rather than for medical reasons, according to a new study. Roughly 60% of people ages 65 and older in the city admitted they get stoned just for fun — outnumbering those who partake to treat chronic pain, relieve tension or sleep, said the study by NYU Langone, which surveyed hundreds of older adults in New York City.
Aug 30, 2026	Who Gets to Name a Weed Strain? Nobody. Everybody. There is no registry, no copyright and no authority. Six breeders on how a plant gets its name, who has the right to give it one, and why the market is drowning in names that mean nothing.
Aug 30, 2026	Scientists Discover a Cannabis Receptor That Could Stop Breast Cancer Spreading Cancer cells are proving trickier than we thought, so scientists are getting even trickier to shift the survival odds in our favor. Recent medical research has highlighted a significant issue: cancer cells display plasticity. Some cancer cells can spontaneously revert from a differentiated state to become 'immature' and stem-cell-like again, switching their identity to yield more diverse, aggressive, and proliferative tumors. As a result, they thwart traditional treatments like chemotherapy and radiation, which aim to stop cellular division and kill cancerous (and other) cells outright.
Aug 29, 2026	Cannabis Overtakes Cigarette Smoking In Gallup’s Latest U.S. Habits Poll Americans who say they smoke cannabis have overtaken those who say they smoke cigarettes, according to Gallup's latest poll on U.S. habits, reinforcing a broader trend of cannabis gaining favor over tobacco and alcohol.
Aug 29, 2026	The Industry Bet Against Bud. Flower Smokers Never Left. The cannabis industry spent years predicting flower’s decline. Grown Rogue CEO and co-founder Obie Strickler argues that the prediction said more about industry executives than it did about consumers.
Aug 29, 2026	Study Finds CBD Suppressed Growth and Invasion of Human Glioma Cells, While Reducing Tumor Growth in a Mouse Model Cannabidiol (CBD) significantly suppressed the growth, migration and invasion of glioma cells while reducing tumor burden in mice, according to a new study that identified a potential mechanism behind the cannabinoid’s anticancer effects. The study, published in BioMed Research International, was conducted by researchers affiliated with Anhui Medical University, Lu’an People’s Hospital and the Beijing Institute of Basic Medical Sciences. Researchers examined whether CBD limits glioma progression partly by suppressing lysyl oxidase-like 2 (LOXL2), a protein involved in extracellular-matrix remodeling and cancer-cell invasiveness.
Aug 29, 2026	Tennis players complain as smell of cannabis distracts at US Open Britain’s US Open hopefuls thought they had put the grass behind them when Wimbledon finished – but the smell of it is all around Flushing Meadows. Marijuana is legal for adults in New York and while smoking is not allowed on site, the aroma of weed wafts over some outside courts from the nearby Corona Park.
Aug 28, 2026	Diversity is not the same as equity in US cannabis industry (This is a contributed guest column. To be considered as an MJBizDaily guest columnist, please submit your request here.) The first time I understood cannabis enforcement, I was with five friends on the side of a road while police searched our car. Only one of us was white. He had smoked a blunt. An officer said he smelled cannabis, and that was reason enough to detain all six of us and search the vehicle. The officer didn’t know who had smoked or what lives we would go on to lead. In that moment, a smell turned a group of young men into a police matter. new framework ctas (2) My white friend later became an exceptional legal cannabis grower, but prohibition affected him by criminalizing the plant around which he developed expertise. I entered government and worked on cannabis regulation, social equity funding and business development. Both stories belong in the legal cannabis industry. But that encounter taught me that the same law can touch several people without leaving the same scars. That difference is what equity is supposed to measure. Are diversity and equity synonyms? Diversity asks who is present. Inclusion asks who is permitted to participate. Equity asks who was harmed, what was taken from them and whether resources, authority and opportunity are being directed toward repairing that injury. A cannabis company can employ people of different races and genders while ownership, investment and executive control remain concentrated among people with the greatest access to capital.
Aug 28, 2026	Colorado Governor Pardons More People For Marijuana Convictions Colorado’s governor has issued additional pardons for past marijuana convictions, adding to the thousands of such acts of cannabis clemency he has granted to date. Gov. Jared Polis (D) on Wednesday pardoned 29 people—several of whom were sentenced for cannabis-related crimes.
Aug 28, 2026	The Future of Cannabis Tourism Starts on the Farm Cannabis Wine Tours founder Charles Kimball argues that farmer-hosted experiences can connect visitors with the land while giving small Northern California growers another way to be seen and supported.
Aug 28, 2026	Poll finds 90% of Aurora investors oppose Curaleaf takeover bid An informal poll by The Marijuana Herald finds 90% of self-identified Aurora Cannabis investors oppose Curaleaf Holdings' current takeover bid, while 64% of self-identified Curaleaf investors support the proposed acquisition. The Marijuana Herald collected the first 50 responses from people identifying as Aurora investors and the first 50 from those identifying as Curaleaf investors, for a total of 100 respondents. Investors who identified as shareholders in both companies were excluded. The poll is not scientific, and The Marijuana Herald did not independently verify respondents' share ownership.
Aug 28, 2026	Connecting the Dots Between Cannabis Laws and Workplace Absenteeism No one wants to hear their HR teams talk about marijuana or other controlled substances in the workplace, whether for medical use or its recreational benefits, but these topics are worth being transparent about. New research from the University of Georgia shows that changes to cannabis laws can have a direct impact on workplace absenteeism, specifically in terms of medical marijuana usage. According to the paper, states where medical cannabis use has been authorized can find employees taking fewer days of sick leave by about 6.9%. While no direct links have been established between recreational cannabis legalization and health-related workplace absenteeism, employees who rely on the substance for wellness reasons can find much relief, adding a vote in favor of legalization of medical marijuana use.
Aug 28, 2026	Medical Cannabis Reduces Pain, Insomnia Or Mood Issues In 91% Of Older Adults, Study Finds Medical marijuana helps 91 percent of older adults improve their pain, insomnia and mood or behavioral symptoms, a new study has found. The research involved 124 people over the age of 65 who received medical cannabis from a specialized practice in Colombia and whose symptoms were measured at baseline, 44 of whom had a follow-up visit after three months. Most of the participants had not previously used marijuana, and the most frequent diagnoses they presented with were pain-related and musculoskeletal disorders, cancer and neurodegenerative and non-degenerative neurological disorders—with their top therapeutic objectives being relief of pain, mood/behavioral issues, insomnia and motor symptoms.
Aug 28, 2026	Canada now the world’s largest legal cannabis market OTTAWA — Canada is now the largest legal cannabis market in the world by monthly retail sales, with dispensaries outnumbering liquor stores in some communities as national sales climb to record levels. Statistics Canada says cannabis stores sold $517.8 million worth of products in June, setting a monthly record. The previous month also surpassed half a billion dollars, with revised May sales reaching $510.4 million. Both totals exceeded the previous record of $508.6 million set in December 2025.
Aug 27, 2026	Market Convenience Outperforms Price in Legal Cannabis Adoption A new study says variety and convenience seem to drive consumer choices in the legal market, while price is not a significant differentiator. The research, published in the Journal of Cannabis Research, compares provincial retail systems and concludes that legal market adoption was higher in provinces with competitive private retail systems. The article was accepted on August 10, 2026, and provides early access to its findings. While pricing remained relatively consistent across eight provinces, legal market adoption reached 78% in the four provinces with private retail (Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta), compared to 69% in provinces with uniform systems (PEI, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec).
Aug 27, 2026	Gallup: 17% of Americans Smoke Cannabis; 15% Consume Edibles Seventeen percent of Americans said they smoke cannabis, according to a Gallup poll released Monday. The figure ties the previous record high found by the pollster in 2023. In 2024, the number of Americans polled by Gallup who said they smoked cannabis fell to 13% but rose to 14% in 2025. Another 15% of those polled indicated they consume cannabis edibles, including 17% of women and 12% of men; comparatively, 15% of women and 18% of men said they smoked cannabis.

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