Where do things stand?
Cannabis policy in 2026 is moving on two tracks: states continue expanding access while the federal government — after the DOJ's April 23 order moving medical cannabis to Schedule III — heads into a June hearing on rescheduling everything else. Here's the map, the federal picture, and the reporting behind both.
States to watch in 2026
Four states where the next meaningful move could happen this year. Editorial picks based on where bills, ballots, and political will are actually aligned — not a model.
Bipartisan SB 120 is further than any rec bill has ever gone in PA history.
83% of Idahoans support medical — but the legislature placed a counter-measure on the same ballot.
One of 11 states with no medical program. The Senate passed a bill in 2022 — the House never voted.
150,000 medical patients prove the model works. S 350 would open the full market.
How the 50 states break down
Where is cannabis legal?
Click any state for program details, legalization year, dispensary count, senator NORML grades, and the legislation still in motion.
The road to Schedule III
On April 23, the DOJ moved state-licensed medical cannabis to Schedule III via the 1961 treaty exception. A new expedited Phase Two hearing on rescheduling all cannabis opens June 29. The full timeline and current status lives on the home page's Schedule Watch.
View Schedule Watch →Recent reporting
The Commonwealth in Limbo: How Virginia Built a Cannabis Market for Everyone Except Cannabis Companies
Five years after becoming the first Southern state to legalize, Virginia still has no legal way to buy weed. On May 19, 2026, Gov. Abigail Spanberger — who campaigned on signing exactly this bill — became the third Virginia governor in a row to veto retail cannabis, this time against her own party's trifecta. The story runs through Total Wine's hemp-THC lobby, an FBI raid on Sen. Louise Lucas's dispensary, $700M in forgone tax revenue bleeding to Maryland, and a regulator built to regulate nothing. The earliest plausible adult-use retail launch in Virginia is now 2028.
The MSO Uplisting Question: Why Nobody Agrees, and What's Actually True
Zero US plant-touching MSOs trade on NYSE or NASDAQ — and SAFE Banking, the April 2026 partial rescheduling, and Trulieve's Delaware move don't change that on their own. A deep dive into where MSOs actually trade, the NASDAQ Rule 5101 wall, the MSOS swap book held together by five non-US-bank counterparties, and the three-layered stack of events (broader rescheduling + CLIMB-style safe harbor + exchange policy revision) that has to clear before the first uplisting. Base case: late 2027 to mid-2028.
Green Thumb Is Paying $70 Million a Year to License Its Own Brands
Green Thumb's Q1 looks clean by cannabis standards: $300M revenue up 7.4% YoY, $76M operating cash flow, $54.6M net cash, an aggressive buyback. But starting Q2, GTI begins paying $70 million a year in fixed brand-licensing fees to RYTHM, Inc. — a separately Nasdaq-listed holding company chaired by GTI's own CEO. The $15.4M net income was flattered by a $17M Ascend arbitration win and $6.5M RYTHM equity income; strip those out and operating income actually declined year-over-year. The DEA registration filing, the Texas TCUP license, and the dual-entity architecture all telegraph one thing: Green Thumb is engineering itself into something that isn't quite a cannabis operator anymore.
The $99 Million Line Item Curaleaf Doesn't Want You to Overthink
Curaleaf's $70M Q1 profit was a 280E reversal in disguise — strip out the $98.7M one-time tax benefit and pre-tax operating losses actually widened 74% year-over-year. The headline beat masks compressing margins, a 1.3% FCF margin, and an 11.5% bond coupon. The real story is structural: a BDO auditor swap, DEA registration filings, the completed Four 20 Pharma consolidation, and a quiet domestic wholesale pivot. Curaleaf is methodically rebuilding its infrastructure for a major-exchange uplisting.
The MSOS Black Box: How a Cannabis ETF Actually Works
More than 60% of MSOS isn't stock — it's a stack of total return swaps written by five broker-dealers, collateralized by money-market cash, referencing securities listed in Canada and hedged through positions you can't see. A deep dive into the strangest ETF on the NYSE: who the five counterparties actually are, why your buy order at Schwab moves the price of CSE-listed shares, and what April's Schedule III order does (and doesn't) change about the structure.
The Company Nobody Knows That Just Handed Prohibitionists the Keys to Block Medicare Cannabis Access
On March 31, a federal judge all but killed SAM's lawsuit to block Medicare's new hemp CBD pilot — the advocacy-group plaintiffs couldn't show injury. Eight days later, an obscure Rhode Island biopharma called MMJ International Holdings filed to intervene, providing the economic-standing SAM couldn't generate on its own. A look at the company that has been promising clinical trials for six years, why its business model depends on killing the BEI, and how 65 million Medicare beneficiaries became collateral in a fight over who gets to control the FDA cannabinoid pathway.
The White House's Cannabis Contradiction: Rescheduling with One Hand, Criminalizing with the Other
On May 4, ONDCP released the 2026 National Drug Control Strategy — and lumped state-legal marijuana alongside fentanyl and gas station heroin, eleven days after DOJ moved medical cannabis to Schedule III. The contradiction is statutory, but it lands hard on hemp-derived THC operators staring down a November deadline and adult-use companies awaiting the June 29 DEA hearing.
Verano Q1 2026: The First MSO Read-Through Post Schedule III
Verano's $208M quarter looks flat on the surface — but it landed eight days after Acting AG Blanche moved state-licensed medical cannabis to Schedule III, structurally erasing 280E for ~60% of retail revenue. With the cheapest valuation in the Tier 1 group, a fresh $20M buyback, a $195M senior secured term loan, and a completed Nevada redomicile, Verano comes into the June 29 DEA hearing as the cleanest re-rate vehicle on the board.
Reading the Filings the Promoters Hope You'll Skip
Federal Schedule I status pushed legitimate cannabis operators off major exchanges, leaving the OTC market thick with shells, half-real wellness brands, and outright pumps. A CFA's five-question field guide to telling the real names from the share-issuance vehicles dressed up as them.
The Day the War on Weed Cracked: Inside the DOJ’s Historic Rescheduling Order
On April 23, Acting AG Todd Blanche invoked a 1961 treaty exception to move state-licensed medical cannabis to Schedule III overnight — and opened an expedited Phase Two hearing on adult-use. Here’s how he did it, why SAM and Bill Barr are suing, and the three scenarios that decide what happens next.
"Federal prohibition of psychedelic medicine in America is over" — Trump signs psychedelics EO, and the cannabis industry is watching
Trump's April 18 executive order ships $50M in ARPA-H funding, three FDA Priority Vouchers within a week, and the first-ever U.S. ibogaine IND clearance. Inside the order's five sections, the Oval Office cast, and why the cannabis industry — still waiting on the rescheduling order Trump signed four months ago — is measuring every word of this one.
The Sell-the-News Trap: MSOS and the Anatomy of Cannabis Catalysts
Since MSOS launched in 2020, ten major federal cannabis catalysts have hit the tape. Every single one sold off within weeks — even the HHS recommendation eventually round-tripped. Here is the complete catalyst-by-catalyst map, the three structural reasons the pattern repeats, and why this week's DOJ order may finally be the first catalyst worth buying after the selloff instead of before it.
The Senator Who Wouldn't Take Half a Win: Cory Booker, Cannabis, and the Cost of Purity
Cory Booker wrote the template for federal cannabis legalization — and then spent two years blocking the one reform bill that could actually pass. The story of a senator whose pursuit of the perfect bill became the enemy of the good one, and who paid the price for it.
The Psychedelic Gold Rush: Five Companies Positioned to Win Under Trump's Executive Order
Trump's April 18 executive order is a structural catalyst for psychedelic drug developers. Here are the five clinical-stage companies — Compass, AtaiBeckley, GH Research, Definium, and Helus — positioned to benefit most, and why.
The New Boss: Terry Cole, the DEA's Long War on Cannabis, and Why Rescheduling Still Isn't Moving
Nine months after being sworn in as DEA Administrator, Terry Cole has let the Schedule III rulemaking sit exactly where his predecessor left it: nowhere. His career, his public statements, and the agency's 50-year track record tell you everything about why.
The Thirteen-Year Fight to Let Weed Money Into a Bank: A Complete History of the SAFE and SAFER Banking Acts
From a quiet 2013 bill by a Colorado Democrat to seven House passages, a historic 2023 Senate committee vote, and a Trump-era rescheduling collision that pushed it off the agenda — the full story of how Congress has spent more than a decade trying, and failing, to let legal cannabis businesses open a checking account.
The CBD Hearing That Won't Go Away: SAM v. Kennedy Gets New Plaintiffs, New Date, and a Standing Problem
The federal lawsuit threatening Medicare's new CBD pilot just got more complicated. An amended complaint, new plaintiffs with concrete competitive-injury claims, and a new May 1 hearing reset the entire case.
Todd Blanche: The Man Who Could Move Cannabis to Schedule III
Six days after Trump fired Pam Bondi, acting AG Todd Blanche inherited a stalled rescheduling process — and a directive to finish it. Here's who he is, what he's said about cannabis, and what to watch next.
Medicare's CBD pilot is live — here's what the $500 benefit actually covers, and who's trying to stop it
The CMS Innovation Center launched its Substance Access Beneficiary Engagement Incentive on April 1, allowing select Medicare patients to receive up to $500 in physician-supervised, hemp-derived CBD products annually. But an April 20 court date could shut it down before it scales.
FDA finalizes total-THC framework for hemp products ahead of November 2026 deadline
The rule replaces the delta-9-only standard from the 2018 Farm Bill with a total-THC measurement, effectively banning most intoxicating hemp products at the federal level.
How Section 280E has cost cannabis companies billions — and why rescheduling would change everything
A deep dive into the tax provision that prevents marijuana businesses from deducting ordinary expenses, and the massive financial implications of a move to Schedule III.
Social equity cannabis licenses were supposed to repair drug war harms — most programs are falling short
A survey of state-level social equity programs reveals a pattern: ambitious promises at launch, followed by bureaucratic delays, underfunding, and capture by well-financed operators.
The $28 Billion Accident: How One Line in the 2018 Farm Bill Built America's Biggest Cannabis Loophole
Mitch McConnell's 2018 hemp language accidentally birthed a $28 billion unregulated THC market. On November 12, 2026, the loophole closes — and a seven-year experiment in chemical improvisation, gas-station gummies, and regulatory drift finally meets its deadline.