🇺🇸 USA — DEA judge pauses cannabis rescheduling hearing as federal hemp-THC limit slips to 11 December

🔭 On the radar: The DEA must answer the judge’s stay order by 13 October. Massachusetts votes on the Question 8 adult-use repeal on 3 November. Missouri’s 0.4 mg hemp-THC limit applies from 12 November, a month before the federal redefinition on 11 December.

🏛️ Regulation — Schedule III move stalls as judge weighs federal audit of 208 drug-scheduling decisions

A DEA administrative law judge paused the Schedule III rescheduling hearing and reopened the record to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on federal scheduling policy. The DEA must respond by 13 October, so the process that survived its first court challenge this month now has no recommendation timetable.

• GAO reviewed 208 federal scheduling actions and found DEA matched HHS on all 84 final rules but has no written scheduling policies or procedures; DEA accepted three recommendations.
• The rescheduling order had cleared its first court test — the D.C. Circuit refused to stay the medical-rescheduling order, citing the “stringent requirements for a stay”.
  • Alabama’s health department withdrew its objection to Schedule III.
• Registration stalls on the ground — about two-thirds of Missouri operators opted out of DEA registration, and none of those who applied had yet been approved.
  • DEA told a Mississippi dispensary to dismiss two convicted staff to secure registration.
  • California’s cannabis regulator says DEA has given no guidance to help states prepare.
  • DEA denied JT Medical’s 2017 bulk-manufacturer application by default, citing no supply agreement and no secure storage; the order takes effect 29 October.

America First Agriculture Action, a Trump-linked PAC, is spending nearly US$1.8m backing 11 Republicans out of the US$11.5m that MSOs including Trulieve, Curaleaf and Verano gave it in June; several recipients have opposed legalisation.

• President Trump commuted two federal cannabis sentences of 30 and 10 years.
  • The State Department warned Americans against travelling abroad with cannabis or CBD.
• The House passed Tyler’s Law, requiring an HHS study of emergency-room drug testing, including for cannabis.
  • The bipartisan CLAIM Act was reintroduced to protect insurers of state-legal cannabis businesses.
    • A GAO report finds cannabis businesses still struggle to access banking.
  • The CURE Act would bar federal job denials and security-clearance refusals over past cannabis use.
    • The SAFE Platforms Act would class cannabis as high-risk for online advertising.
  • H.R. 10150 proposes 12-year exclusivity for botanical drugs, including cannabis-derived medicines.
    • NeuroThera seeks FDA orphan designation for SCI-110 in Tourette syndrome.
• Courts and prosecutors — a Supreme Court petition (docket 26-343) challenges licensing residency preferences under the dormant Commerce Clause.
  • The Congressional Research Service says a circuit split raises the odds of review.
    • Montana adopted a residency-disclosure rule citing the Ninth Circuit.
  • Federal prosecutors charged an Atlantic City official with soliciting bribes from a cannabis business.
    • They also charged the KindManage founder with defrauding cannabis-payments investors of US$8.8m.
  • Walmart was sued for firing a worker over a non-psychoactive metabolite test.

Congress moved the federal hemp-THC redefinition from 12 November to 11 December after a 370–48 House vote; the 0.4 mg total-THC-per-container limit is unchanged and synthetic cannabinoids keep the November date.

• Whitney Economics puts US$28.3bn of retail revenue at risk, with 225,000 jobs and US$8.9bn in wages.
  • Operators cut production despite the delay.
• CV Sciences welcomed the enacted delay and called for testing standards.

Nebraska’s Supreme Court upheld the voter-approved medical cannabis laws 7–0, rejecting fraud claims against the 2024 petitions brought by a former state senator, the secretary of state and the attorney general.

• The court dismissed a federal-preemption challenge for lack of standing.
  • The Medical Cannabis Commission says updated rules slip to 2027; next step: public hearing on 15 October, then attorney-general approval.
• Access widens — Illinois licensed 37 adult-use dispensaries to serve medical patients at the medical tax rate.
  • Florida’s health department proposed a permanent licensing rule for treatment centres with a US$146,000 application fee.
    • Florida issued all 22 licences from the 2023 round despite a judge’s rescoring proposal [unverified].
    • The Office of Medical Marijuana Use proposed a celebrity-endorsement ban and advertising limits.
  • Alaska proposed 24-month registry cards, up from 12; comments close 6 November.
    • Georgia’s commission adopted home-delivery rules allowing USPS and private carriers [unverified].
    • Massachusetts’s governor proposed veterans’ cards without a doctor’s recommendation.
• Oversight tightens — Michigan’s regulator revoked 20 GP Holdings grower licences and fined it US$2m after packages manifested as flower held material resembling “dirt and mulch”.
  • It also fined Michigan Investment 10 US$2m and revoked its processor licences.
    • It also recalled Fawn River live rosin containing a banned chemical.
  • Pennsylvania’s auditor general found weak inspection and enforcement controls in the medical programme.
    • The health secretary kept solvent-based extraction limited to topical products.
  • Safety incidents — Tulsa County’s district attorney urged tighter medical-cannabis oversight after the deadly Sand Springs processor explosion.
    • Maine warned on a caregiver concentrate with butane up to 10,500 ppm.
    • Social-equity grower Nonna Farms says regulator inaction destroyed its first outdoor medical crop in New York.

Massachusetts voters oppose the Question 8 adult-use repeal by 71% to 24% in the University of New Hampshire’s Bay State Poll (n=590), ahead of the 3 November vote.

• Adult-use sales passed US$10bn since 2018, the market the repeal would end.
  • Cambridge and Somerville retailers warn of a “doomsday scenario” if it passes.
• The SEIU Massachusetts Council urged a no vote.
  • No on 8 launched its first public-health ads.
• The Cannabis Control Commission launched a major regulatory overhaul under Chapter 65 of the Acts of 2026; next step: votes on draft rules in December, final vote in March 2027.
  • It seeks input on scrapping agent badges or making them portable; comments close 9 October.

Virginia’s Cannabis Control Authority drafted adult-use market rules with up to 350 retail licences, allocated by lottery if oversubscribed; applications open 1 February 2027 and sales start 1 July 2027.

• Pennsylvania Senate Democrats held a hearing on SB 120, the adult-use bill.
  • The House Speaker sees legalisation in 2027 if Democrats flip three seats.
• North Carolina’s advisory council weighed state-run dispensaries and a central warehouse.
  • An Elon University poll finds a majority backs legalisation for adults.
• Illinois bill HB 5815 proposes cash payments to people harmed by cannabis criminalisation.
  • Maryland seeks a non-profit incubator operator for social-equity licensees.

New York’s Cannabis Control Board approved 19 licences as licensed canopy reached 12m sq ft.

• A wage-board bill awaits Governor Hochul’s signature.
  • The Office of Cannabis Management launched a Metrc-powered data dashboard.
• San Diego County opened unincorporated areas to cannabis businesses by a 3–2 vote.
  • San Francisco drafted cannabis café rules with food and live music.
    • Los Angeles mayoral frontrunner Nithya Raman pledged cannabis tax relief and an illicit-shop crackdown.
  • California’s Department of Cannabis Control proposed group plant tagging.
    • It appealed a court order to build diversion flags into track-and-trace.
  • Drive-through bill AB 2697 was shelved for lack of votes in the Senate.
• Missouri drew its final microbusiness lottery from 888 applications; about 77 licences issue from December.
  • The Missouri Supreme Court heard the state’s bid to block 13 licences for Hippos.
  • New Mexico’s NMS2S tracking system went live amid retailer losses; operators vacated the injunction hearing to return with damages evidence.
  • New Jersey’s regulator fined Garden State Exotix US$10,000 and scheduled a social-equity fee review.
    • Bills A5474–A5477 target child exposure to edibles.

Colorado expanded residual-solvent testing from 28 September to target CBD-conversion solvents, after a run of product warnings.

• An investigation found seven-month warning delays on average at Colorado’s regulator.
  • An advisory flagged mould in Locol Love flower.
  • Another flagged excess butane in Stash House cartridges sold at 43 stores.
  • StayCon recalled vapes contaminated with methylene chloride.
• California suspended Joel Michaely Farms and recalled its products after a worker death.
  • The DCC recalled Mwah vapes over child-attractive packaging.
    • It also recalled Hi Pre-Roll products over Aspergillus contamination.
  • Missouri recalled GF Extraction products containing synthetic cannabinoids.
    • It also recalled infused pre-rolls after aspergillus testing.
  • In Ohio, Vext closed its Jackson dispensary at the regulator’s request after two serious adverse events.
    • It reopened the store and restructured US$6m of seller notes.
• Houston’s mayor blamed the district attorney for a ~1,200% rise in misdemeanour cannabis arrests.
  • Ohio troopers detailed impaired-driving enforcement as the legal market grows.
  • Nebraska’s attorney general subpoenaed a Colorado border dispensary, Peak North.
  • Vermont’s lieutenant governor was fined US$2,500 for an unlicensed cultivation site.

Missouri will treat hemp products above 0.4 mg THC per container as marijuana from 12 November, a month before the federal date; beverages may stay on shelves, 21+ only, until 11 December.

• Rhode Island’s regulator ordered above-limit hemp products off shelves.
  • New York promised a hemp-THC beverage crackdown as illegal sales continue.
    • Pennsylvania’s attorney general charged 12 over a US$18.7m ring selling high-potency THC products in stores.
  • A Pennsylvania senator circulated a 21+ hemp memo covering sales, testing and registration [unverified].
• The Sixth Circuit narrowed the injunction against Ohio’s stricter hemp-THC definition [unverified].
  • A federal judge dismissed Connecticut farmers’ challenge to state hemp laws for lack of standing.
• Alaska enacted hemp overhaul SB 208 with a micro-grower tier and risk-based testing.
  • Maryland vets may discuss cannabis products for pets from 1 October.

🇻🇮 US Virgin Islands — the Cannabis Advisory Board dropped the proposed hemp sales-hours cap, and the first commercial cultivator was cleared to operate on St Croix.

💼 Market — State cannabis excise receipts reach US$3.55bn a year, up 15.7% on fiscal 2022

States collected US$3.55bn in cannabis excise tax in the year to June 2026, up 15.7% on FY2022, across 30 states and the District of Columbia, according to the Census Bureau — tax receipts keep rising even as several mature markets soften.

• Quarterly Census data show US$986.8m collected in Q2, up 11% year on year [unverified].
• Mature markets hold — Illinois adult-use sales hit a post-Metrc high of US$126m in July.
  • Colorado collected US$19.0m in July in tax and fees; June sales were US$105.6m.
    • It set the Q4 bud rate at US$601/lb.
• Other markets soften — Michigan’s August adult-use sales fell 8.5% to US$258.8m, with ~896,600 lb of flower in inventory before harvest.
  • Massachusetts recorded US$144.9m in August as the average price hit a record-low US$3.81/g [unverified].
  • Ohio sales reached US$914m in 2026 to 5 September, ~86% adult use [unverified].
  • Newer markets trail — Delaware hit a record US$5.6m in July, still below projections.
    • Minnesota adult-use sales topped US$150m in year one (US$250m+ including medical).
      • Grown Rogue began cultivation in Fridley [unverified].
    • In New York, 87 retailers owe US$3.89m to suppliers [unverified].

Cresco Labs bought nine Pennsylvania dispensaries from PharmaCann for US$50m, becoming, in its words, “the #1 retailer providing medical marijuana to patients across the state”.

• It now seeks shareholder approval to redomicile its new parent company from British Columbia to Delaware, positioning for a senior US exchange listing; next step: shareholder meeting on 30 October.

Curaleaf’s US$4.00-a-share hostile bid for Canada’s Aurora moved to Alberta’s securities regulator: Aurora asked the regulator to intervene, seeking corrected disclosure, including pro forma financials, and a 105-day deposit period that starts only once the deficiencies are fixed.

• Aurora’s board had urged shareholders to reject the offer in its Directors’ Circular.
  • Curaleaf issued a fact sheet rebutting the board’s criticism.
    • It then asked the regulator to halt Aurora’s at-the-market share programme during the offer.
• Curaleaf joined the FTSE Canada All Cap Index.
• In Michigan, the Sixth Circuit reversed a US$31.8m award to grower Hello Farms against Curaleaf’s subsidiaries, holding state-legal supply contracts unenforceable in federal court.
  • In New York, Curaleaf ran a full-page ad urging Governor Hochul to sign the anti-inversion supply-chain bill.

Green Thumb renewed a US$50m share buyback for 12 months, while cannabis property and loan investors held their quarterly dividends.

• NewLake held its Q3 dividend at US$0.43 a share.
  • Advanced Flower Capital held its Q3 dividend at US$0.05 a share.
• TerrAscend closed the Aunt Mary’s acquisition, its fifth New Jersey store.
  • Vireo completed a US$500,000 Nevada dispensary purchase.
  • Greenlight’s Joplin workers unionised as 12 Springfield staff were fired.
• Metrc extended its Colorado track-and-trace contract, adding a consumer QR Retail ID.
  • A Metrc-published survey of 3,061 consumers links state QR codes to trust.
  • Story Cannabis will reject Kaycha and Level One results in Arizona from 1 October.
    • TruMo Analytics opened a Missouri testing lab.
  • Griffin Greenhouse was named stalking-horse bidder for BFG Supply’s assets [unverified].

Trulieve signed a perpetual brand licence for Alien Labs and Connected in Florida and Texas.

• Ayr opened the first dispensary in Virginia’s Health Service Area 1.

cbdMD agreed to buy the Twinlab brands through an assignment-for-creditors process, adding about US$30m of trailing revenue — a 40% uplift on its own — subject to court approval.

• Highlandia hemp-THC drinks now reach 11 states.
• Elixinol completed its US divestment.

InMed reported a US$12.9m FY2026 loss, up from US$8.2m, after winding down BayMedica; next step: its merger with Mentari Therapeutics, due to close by year-end.

• Endovia closed a first funding tranche to develop CannEpil, licensed from Argent BioPharma.

🔬 Science — Cannabis use disorder linked to 52% higher death risk in a 100,140-patient US cohort

Kaiser Permanente Colorado researchers linked cannabis use disorder to mortality: in a matched cohort of 100,140 people, it carried 52% higher all-cause mortality (HR 1.52) over a median 7.7 years, sharpening the evidence on harms.

• Higher daily THC milligram intake predicts cannabis use disorder independently of use frequency.
  • Adolescent use-disorder rates rose after California legalisation, reversing a prior decline.
• Older adults — NSDUH data show 8.9% of over-65s used cannabis, and 11.4% of them meet use-disorder criteria.
  • A New York survey finds 22% of over-65s used in the past year.
  • A NIDA analysis finds half of dual users combine alcohol and cannabis simultaneously [unverified].
• Prenatal exposure — the PRESTO cohort of 6,838 couples examines preconception use and birth outcomes.
  • A small neonatal MRI study links prenatal exposure to reduced occipitotemporal surface area.
  • A national analysis compares paediatric cannabis and opioid poisonings in hospital, 2016–22.

CDC’s 2025 Youth Risk Behavior Survey puts current high-school use at 12.9%, an “all-time low”, as more states legalise for adults.

• The CDC found cannabis in ~20% of overdose deaths but rarely as a cause.
• A McGill review of 176 studies finds mixed effects of legalisation on substance use.
  • A Victoria–Washington State cohort links rising use at 25–29 to suicidal behaviour.
• Retail environment — California retailer density is linked to cannabis-related hospital visits.
  • Sweet- and fruit-named products dominate California inhalable sales.
  • Only 51.7% of Colorado dispensary flower is accurately THC-labelled.

Minnesota’s Office of Cannabis Management reported outcomes for 6,621 cancer patients: 39.9% cut nausea and 29.9% cut pain by at least 30% within four months, but only 39% stayed in the programme beyond eight months.

• The CANPAN analysis identifies a 10 mg/day THC threshold for symptom relief in pancreatic cancer.
• Medical cannabis laws are linked to less opioid prescribing long-term among chronic-pain veterans.
• CBD-dominant edibles spared cognition versus THC in back-pain patients.
  • Frequent use is tied to greater severity in drug-resistant epilepsy.
  • A Harvard cohort of 341,199 surgical patients finds users need more anaesthetic, modestly.
  • Florida’s qualifying conditions diverge from national disease prevalence.

Kean University chemists reviewed cannabinoid metabolites in urban water: monitoring is largely limited to THC and THC-COOH (up to 14.7 ng/L in raw drinking water), leaving CBD, CBG and CBC metabolites unexamined.

• A review finds largely null clinical evidence for CBD in alcohol use disorder, despite strong preclinical data.
• PP-01 (nabilone plus gabapentin) cut cannabis withdrawal symptoms in a Phase 1b/2a trial.
  • Artelo’s ART27.13 matched semaglutide weight loss, at about 20%, in obese mice.

↑ Back to all 50 markets

🇨🇦 Canada — Ontario’s state cannabis wholesaler replaces lottery-based ordering with a five-day ordering window from 17 November

🔭 On the radar: Winkler holds a cannabis-store ban plebiscite on 28 Oct; Entourage Health’s creditor-protection stay expires 30 Oct; comments on Health Canada’s Cannabis Tracking System amendment close 10 Nov; BC vape producers must file recycling (EPR) plans by 15 Dec.

🏛️ Regulation — Ontario’s independent stores can order stock any weekday instead of one assigned day

The Ontario Cannabis Store moves retailers to five-day ordering from 17 November 2026 — 7:30 am–12:30 pm, Monday to Friday, replacing one order day per retailer. As the province’s sole wholesaler, the OCS is rewriting supply access for Ontario’s independent stores.

• OCS replaces lottery-based daily inventory allocation with first-come, first-served ordering.
  • Stocked-product orders are due by 12:30 pm on each retailer’s cutoff day; the separate flow-through order window is eliminated.
• Independent retailers welcome the change: Montrose Cannabis calls it “a game changer” because Monday-order stores no longer wait six days for Tuesday product drops; Highland Cannabis says about 95% of products are consistently in stock.

Health Canada proposes halving tracking-system reporting classes from 14 to 7 in a Cannabis Tracking System Order amendment published in Canada Gazette Part I, saving about 378 hours per licence holder a year and C$133.5m net over 10 years.

• In consultation: 45-day comment period closes 10 Nov; proposed in force 1 Jan 2028.
• Health Canada publishes an analytical method-validation guide for cannabis testing labs, supplementing the international ICH Q2(R2) validation guideline.
  • Olli Brands recalls 660 mislabelled edible units (StikiStix THC/CBG multipack sold in Alberta).

BC’s Liquor Distribution Branch sets a 15 December EPR deadline for cannabis vape producers, who must file an extended-producer-responsibility plan with the Ministry of Environment and Parks after BC’s Recycling Regulation was extended to battery-containing products.

• Manitoba towns split: Winkler sets a 28 October store-ban plebiscite; Steinbach rejects its petition with only 900 valid signatures, below the 20% threshold.
• Quebec’s cannabis industry demands a public apology from the Premier over criticism of the sector.
  • Hemp and cannabis producers urge support from the next government ahead of the provincial election, citing more than 8,200 jobs.
• Courts rule on search, zoning and drug-law powers — the Ontario Court of Appeal rules a THC-stickered vape pen within reach justifies a warrantless vehicle search under Ontario’s Cannabis Control Act; new trial ordered.
  • BC Supreme Court upholds Delta’s zoning bylaw against a home medical-cannabis grower and rejects his Charter challenge.
  • BC Supreme Court stays the compassion-club founders’ convictions of the Drug User Liberation Front (DULF), finding federal drug-law trafficking provisions unconstitutional; the ruling is suspended six months for Parliament to act (not cannabis-specific).

RCMP, Peel Police and CBSA seize 95 kg in export probe (export by air) and charge four men with possession for export and conspiracy, as Canadian-grown cannabis keeps surfacing in foreign seizures.

• Albania seizes 233.7 kg of Canadian cannabis in three shipments between 22 Aug and 9 Sep, at Durrës port and Rinas airport.
• Domestic grows: police seize ~5,560 plants and 34 kg in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory and charge eight.
  • Saskatchewan RCMP seize 1,928 lb of cannabis in a Maple Creek traffic stop.
  • Kahnawake Peacekeepers uproot 79 plants that activists called a hemp remediation project.
• Fraud and illicit networks: Sûreté du Québec raids target fraudulent medical production certificates and smuggling at five Montreal-area sites.
  • OPP and Windsor Police charge four over online distribution network in Windsor.
  • Unsealed Project South documents allege a Toronto officer planned illegal cannabis dispensaries.

💼 Market — Canada’s July cannabis retail sales slip 2.5% to C$503m while provincial government retailers keep growing

Statistics Canada puts July cannabis retail sales at C$503.2m, down 2.5% on a revised June (C$516.4m) and up 2.3% year on year. Monthly sales are flattening even as provincial crown distributors keep growing their own takings.

• January–July sales reach C$3.40bn (+5.9%); in July Ontario took C$181.5m (C$189.0m a year earlier), BC C$85.5m (+17% year on year), Alberta C$84.8m.
• Provincial authorities’ own results (corporation sales, not total provincial market sales) — Quebec’s state retailer SQDC Q1 sales rise 9% to C$197.3m for the quarter to 20 Jun; comprehensive income C$31.9m (+15%); 112 stores.
  • Nova Scotia’s NSLC Q1 cannabis sales reach C$36.8m (+11.2%) as beverage alcohol falls 1.7%.
    • Newfoundland and Labrador’s NLC Q1 cannabis sales fall 2.5% to C$29.2m (quarter to 4 Jul); recruiting up to 15 new Tier 4 rural retailers.
  • PEI Cannabis Management Corp FY2025–26 net sales rise 9% to C$28.8m (7,050 kg; net income C$2.6m).
    • Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries reports cannabis revenue up, liquor down, in 2025–26 (no figure reported).
  • Cannabis NB says the illicit market takes about half of New Brunswick sales.

Aurora Cannabis asks the Alberta Securities Commission (ASC) to order corrected Curaleaf bid disclosure from Curaleaf — pro forma financials, the 105-day deposit period, a French-language notice — escalating the US$4.00-a-share hostile bid launched in August into securities-regulator litigation.

• Earlier, Curaleaf had asked the ASC to halt Aurora’s at-the-market share sales: ~2.81m shares issued since June at an average US$3.04, adding more than US$11m to the offer’s cost.
• Aurora’s Directors’ Circular recommends shareholders reject the bid: $149m cash against Curaleaf’s >$1bn debt; Aurora holders would get ~7.7% ownership but ~3.2% of voting rights.
  • Curaleaf publishes a fact sheet rebutting Aurora.
• Curaleaf joins the FTSE Canada All Cap Index mid-bid.

Canadian producers urge Ottawa to back exports that Statistics Canada data put on track to pass C$1bn this year, with the industry expecting a doubling in 2027; they seek faster permits and removal of the 2.3% export fee.

• Health Canada received more than 4,700 export-permit applications in 2025–26, double the prior year; every shipment needs its own permit.
• Village Farms pivots to brands and European M&A, moving beyond wholesale exports into branded products and pharmacy partnerships, with a full-time M&A lead and Groningen capacity rising to about 10 tonnes by early 2027.
  • Wellford renews EU-GMP certification for the Aqualitas Nova Scotia export facility (three years).
  • Canadian LPs’ export record since 2013 gives an edge over US rivals after US rescheduling.
• In passing, Canadian-grown supply reaches new markets: Canopy Growth expands medical supply into the UK and its Australian range; Rubicon‘s 1964 Supply Co. vapes enter the UK.

High Tide confirms record Q3 revenue of C$198.8m (+33%) for the quarter to 31 July, in line with its August pre-announcement, and adds net income of C$12.7m and 232 Canna Cabana stores in Canada.

• Canna Cabana widens its retail-awareness lead: 36% national awareness against 25% for Fire & Flower (Rebel & Thorn survey).
• Brand moves: Vanquish Brands restates its BC craft-grower sourcing for Pistol and Paris [unverified].
  • Token Tuesday and the Budtenders Association partner on sell-through research at trade shows.

Cannara expands to a C$80m credit facility, syndicated with BMO and TD — a C$40m term loan plus a revolver raised to C$40m, maturing December 2029 — as bank lending returns to profitable producers.

• Auxly, Cannara and Cronos executives explain producers’ shift to profitability.
  • Cronos holds an investor day at its Kingsville site; no guidance given [unverified].
    • It also adds a live-resin gummy and vape flavours to its Spinach brand.
  • Nextleaf launches a strategic review as CEO Emma Andrews steps down.
• Creditor protection: Simply Solventless settles its CRA tax dispute and seeks a stay extension to 30 Nov.
  • Its CCAA exit plan settles vendor debt, revokes a cease-trade order and launches a private placement.
  • Entourage Health‘s stay is extended to 30 Oct — next decision point: stay expiry.
• Wind-downs: court-appointed monitor EY seeks a SuneRa/Sirona stay to 31 Dec as the wind-down nears.

Herbal Dispatch lifts medical direct-to-patient sales 144% to $901,518 in the quarter to 30 June, driven by its veterans channel, with exports up 45% to $705,502.

• Avicanna launches the MyMedi.ca healthcare programme.
• Medical Saints agrees to buy Galaxie Brands and its 30,000 sq ft licensed Ontario facility.
  • It also makes a ~C$18m offer for Christina Lake Cannabis.
• Pharmaceutical and hemp: InMed posts a US$12.9m FY2026 loss, winds down BayMedica and pursues the Mentari merger.
  • Zylotex wins a C$3.75m Alberta grant for a hemp-cellulose fibre project.

🔬 Science — Study of 419,887 students finds living near cannabis stores does not consistently raise youth use

A study of 419,887 secondary students in Alberta, BC, Ontario and Quebec finds retail proximity not consistently linked to adolescent cannabis use, as past-year use fell from 22.2% (2018) to 10.0% (2023) — weakening the case for store-density caps as a youth-protection tool.

• An Ontario student survey spanning 1999–2023 shows girls now outpace boys in cannabis use (106,815 students).

An Ontario cohort of 1,103 adults finds cannabis demand fell after legalisation while consumption stayed stable across 14 survey waves (2018–2025).

• Statistics Canada wastewater data show Moncton leads cannabis use at 889.63 mg per 1,000 people a day, nearly three times the national benchmark, with winter peaks.
• McGill reviews 176 studies on legalisation and finds mixed effects on substance use.

Toronto’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) finds Ontario’s weight-based excise lowers tax per mg THC on high-potency flower, in a simulation across 2,568 legal products.

• The PRESTO cohort of 6,838 couples examines preconception cannabis use and birth outcomes.
• Alberta childhood cancer survivors report lower medicinal cannabis use than population controls (312 survivors).

↑ Back to all 50 markets

🇩🇪 Germany — Health Minister Linnemann moves to end telemedicine cannabis prescriptions as imports head for 300 t

🔭 On the radar: The Bundestag Health Committee hears the coalition’s reimbursement amendment on 7 October, before committee and plenary votes. New doctors’ billing rules for initial extract, dronabinol and nabilone prescriptions apply from 1 October.

🏛️ Regulation — Coalition amendment narrows the reimbursement priority for finished cannabis medicines to approved indications

Health Minister Linnemann pushed to end telemedicine cannabis prescribing at the German Pharmacists’ Day — flower only after direct doctor contact, only from pharmacies — citing ~300 t of 2026 imports, tenfold in three years. Intent only: the cabinet’s bill amending the Medical Cannabis Act has sat in the Bundestag since late 2025.

• In the same address he called the import rise misuse of medical cannabis, pledged to tackle prescribing, and backed ABDA on stopping foreign mail-order pharmacies from waiving co-payments

A coalition amendment confines the priority to approved indications — the rule that finished cannabis medicines must be tried before insurers fund flower now applies only where they are licensed (in-label use) — and drops the six-month trial — a priority that favours Vertanical‘s Exilby, newly launched with Viatris (see 💼). Status: Health Committee hearing 7 Oct, then committee and plenary votes; not yet adopted.

• The Exilby link is contested: DAZ reports the Spiegel investigation alleging political pressure behind Exilby’s approval and the priority rule; BfArM denies any influence
  • Spiegel follow-up: the ministry allegedly concealed lobbying contacts with the manufacturer [unverified — paywalled]
• Flower patients were left in legal limbo: the federal government declined to say whether finished medicines must first be tried off-label, leaving it to the courts — the question the amendment now settles
  • Its answer to the Greens limits the six-month trial to new patients and gives no rationale for the priority
  • Social courts split: Dresden orders an insurer to keep funding a patient’s flower under an existing approval
    • Landshut orders funding for a dialysis patient covered since 2017
    • Leipzig rejects a long-term patient’s interim bid
  • Patient pressure: G-BA patient representatives demand grandfathering for flower patients
    • A CDU MP says that for chronic-pain patients ~76% of flower prescriptions lose cover
      • BR reports bills of up to €1,000 a month for affected patients [unverified]
    • ACM launches a Bundestag petition against the flower cut [unverified]
• The vape question: the G-BA has begun revising the drug guideline on extracts above 25% THC, which insurers refuse to reimburse (GKV-Spitzenverband: “an open legal question”). These extracts are inhaled through medical vaporisers — reimbursing them is what would let vapes (inhalable extracts, i.e. vape cartridges) be reimbursed
  • Canify‘s CEO argues inhalable extracts can close the gap the flower cut leaves
  • Düsseldorf Regional Court classes pre-filled THC vape cartridges as finished medicines needing authorisation (injunction, not final); AKNR notes the pending mail-order ban covers flower only
  • Doctors’ billing (EBM) for extract, dronabinol and nabilone prescriptions changes from 1 Oct: code 01626, billable up to three times per case

Tilray recalled a THC5:CBD20 extract batch (batch 260 006) over a THC deviation.

Cultivation associations: 474 club licence applications approved of at least 908 nationally (BCAv state survey), with 90 rejected and 131 withdrawn; NRW leads with 138, Bavaria trails with 11.

• The Greens table a 30-question inquiry into the licensing backlog
  • The federal government reports 82 research-project applications, four approved, and holds no club data
• Local resistance: the Würzburg Administrative Court rejects a club’s bid to grow in an industrial zone (appeal possible)
  • An earlier judgment by the same court (February 2026, reported only now) struck down Bavaria’s extra club conditions
  • Penig (Saxony) plans a deterrent playground to trigger the 200 m distance rule against an already-licensed club

The Bundesrat approved recording cannabis in accident statistics for road accidents with injuries.

• The German Hemp Association (DHV) takes a ‘cutting or plant’ conviction to the Federal Constitutional Court, after 117 cuttings were seized at its 2024 Halle giveaway

Bavarian Premier Söder called for a cannabis tax at the CSU retreat, calling it “absurd” that alcohol and tobacco are taxed while cannabis is not — a call, no proposal.

• The Bavarian finance ministry confirms it backs the call
• BvCW welcomes it but demands licensed-shop pilots before any tax
  • Its position paper models a ~400 t regulated market worth ~€4.7bn a year in fiscal and economic impact

The BKA’s 2025 drug-crime report shows marijuana seizures tripled year on year and 567 plantations of 20+ plants seized, up ~55% — illegal cultivation persists alongside legal home-grow and clubs.

• Over 100 officers raid 12 sites near Aachen (NRW) in a gang-cultivation probe, seizing several thousand plants
• The Spain route: a Giessen court jails a ~2 t smuggling gang whose cannabis was disguised as textiles, with sentences of up to eight years
  • Tübingen tries a man over eight lorry shipments from Spain (2020–21)
• Berlin drug-checking warns fake THC gummies may contain synthetic opioids

💼 Market — Canada’s Red White & Bloom takes indirect 50.1% control of online cannabis pharmacy Grünhorn

Red White & Bloom took indirect 50.1% control of Grünhorn — an online medical-cannabis pharmacy and distributor — through a 62.63% stake in HEAL Europe; Grünhorn filled ~290,000 prescriptions in the 12 months to July 2026 — foreign capital still buying into German supply despite the policy squeeze.

• RWB secured a C$25m credit facility at 12% alongside the deal

Viatris signed to distribute Vertanical’s Exilby, the newly launched finished cannabis medicine for chronic back pain — the product the coalition’s reimbursement priority favours (see 🏛️).

• Exilby was tested in two Phase 3 trials with more than 1,200 patients
• Export dynamics: Vertanical is preparing Exilby’s Austrian launch (covered in the Austria brief)

Becanex launched a Bedrocan-based 78% THC extract for German pharmacies, bringing Bedrocan genetics to pharmacy compounding — oral, topical or vaporised — well above the 25% THC line insurers refuse to reimburse.

• Blended with the Berlin extractor’s 62% CBD extract, it can reproduce the traditional ~22% THC flower profile

IM Cannabis closed the sale of IMC Holdings, owner of German importer Adjupharm, completing the CEO-linked deal agreed in August and taking Adjupharm out of the listed group.

Patients want normalisation: in MedCanOneStop‘s trend report 75.1% of adults back treating medical cannabis like any prescription medicine, while 74% of 7,033 patients feel stigmatised.

• GreenMedical‘s survey of 5,556 patients: 77.22% value online organisation of treatment, 71.65% free choice of pharmacy
• A Dr. Ansay-commissioned Appinio poll of 1,000 adults: 76.6% see medical cannabis as legitimate; 37.1% feel well informed

🔬 Science — National survey finds past-year cannabis use flat at 6.4% two years after legalisation

Kotz et al. (International Journal of Drug Policy) find no change in cannabis use after the April 2024 Cannabis Act: across 23 repeated surveys of 35,957 people aged 14–64, past-year use stood at 6.4% and neither prevalence nor heavy use shifted — no measurable surge two years in.

• Charité smartphone study of 49 users: frequency unchanged, but younger users consume more per use day; outdoor use rose, public use fell
• Mecklenburg-Vorpommern hospitals record 486 cannabis-related diagnoses in 2025, up from 421 [unverified]
• A survey of 20,461 adolescents in the Dutch–Belgian–German border region maps cannabis-use drivers

A Charité pilot found oral THC:CBD extracts cut endometriosis pain and analgesic use over three months; 27 of 30 women completed.

The University of Hohenheim shows moderate deficit irrigation saves water without cutting indoor CBD yield; severe drought brought no benefit.

• Cannaflos and the Julius Kühn-Institut launch a landrace genetics project drawing on ~140 varieties

↑ Back to all 50 markets

🇦🇺 Australia — Health-practitioner regulator’s conflicts guidance targets firms that advertise, prescribe and dispense one medicine, with fines up to A$120,000

🔭 On the radar: TGA v Montu advertising hearing opens in the Federal Court on 22 Oct; Queensland’s doubled drug-driving penalties start 1 Dec; NSW’s medicinal-cannabis driving regime rolls out late 2026–early 2027, with an ACT committee report on its own bill next; Promethean expects a TGA provisional-registration decision within about six months.

🏛️ Regulation — Federal regulators tighten oversight of cannabis prescribing as New South Wales enacts medicinal-cannabis driving reform

Ahpra issued interim conflicts-of-interest guidance aimed at businesses that advertise, prescribe and dispense a single medicine, with fines of up to A$120,000 — cannabis is not named, but the model is the one run by vertically integrated cannabis clinic groups.

• Dr Laurence Kemp, an independent clinical adviser to Ahpra, urges inexperienced prescribers to reflect on their capability before taking on complex cannabis patients.
• TGA enforcement: the Federal Court orders Montu’s former marketing head to disclose over two years of WhatsApp messages with founder Christopher Strauch; next step: hearing from 22 Oct (up to seven days).
  • MCCA objects to a bear-shaped gummy illustration in TGA guidance.
• ODC warns 2026 import and production forecasts are tracking at more than double the national estimate, after an earlier quota cut to 88 tonnes.

NSW passes its medicinal-cannabis driving reform: the Legislative Council approved the bill with amendments and it received assent, completing the passage begun with August’s Assembly vote — covering an estimated 300,000+ residents with a prescription.

• Mechanism: no further action below the 50 ng/mL oral-fluid THC threshold disclosed in August; first and second detections within two years bring warnings, a third an A$722 fine and a minimum three-month suspension.
• Other states split: the ACT Assembly committee hears Braddock’s driving-reform bill on 30 Sep; next step: committee report.
  • Queensland passes laws doubling drug-driving penalties from 1 Dec 2026, citing THC in more than 60% of drug-driving deaths.
• Trigger case: veteran advocate Derek Pyrah fails an NSW roadside THC test while taking prescribed medication; not charged pending laboratory analysis.

DVA ends medicinal-cannabis grandfathering: from 1 Sep veterans’ funding covers only specialist-issued prescriptions, up to three products and flower at ≤25% THC, with mental-health indications including PTSD excluded — following August’s new clinical guidance.

• MCCA re-evaluates a national compassionate-access scheme after the Compass programme’s collapse, prioritising long-term chronic-condition patients.
  • MCCA chair Fiona Patten warns reform could take 18 months ahead of the first Regulatory Working Group meeting [unverified]

A Victorian court jails two men for 12.5 years each over the state’s largest reported cannabis seizure by weight — 8,805 plants and 5.1 t at Toolamba (raided in 2022).

• Trans-Tasman week of action: 560 search warrants executed across Australia and New Zealand.

💼 Market — Chinese-owned Yongji Health pays A$31m for control of licensed cultivator Tasmanian Botanics

Yongji Health completes A$31m Tasmanian Botanics takeover, buying the remaining 53% of Pijen, the holding company that owns 96.5% of the cultivator — putting a domestic licensed grower under Chinese ownership.

• Domestic cultivation: The People’s Plant opens a fourth crowdfunding round seeking A$1.5m to finish its Queensland facility fit-out.
  • The start-up reports early operational progress at the site.
• Skills pipeline: Federation TAFE trains its first cultivation cohort of nine on the accredited Certificate III course [unverified]
• Export dynamics: Cannabis Poland signs a joint-venture term sheet with an Australian partner holding 66%, to market at least three medical strains.

Pastilles overtake flower as most-prescribed form for Australian women: 21,094 vs 21,069 successful SAS-B applications in the eight months to August 2026.

• Canopy Growth broadens its Australian medical range with four pastille SKUs, two live-resin all-in-one vapes, CBG/CBN oils and new softgels.
• Epsilon Healthcare, NZ’s Puro and US Helix develop a B2B nano-cannabinoid product.

Vitura Health flags about A$6m FY27 revenue loss as Bupa moves international members — 77% of Doctors on Demand’s Bupa patients — to Hola Health from 9 Sep.

• Distress spreads: Haven Q, operator of Better Leaf Brunswick (sued by the TGA in August), enters administration, with creditor claims above A$1m [unverified]
  • Wholesaler Cannabis Warehouse runs at limited capacity amid a co-founder dispute and unpaid suppliers.
• Listed growers reset: Cann Group interim executive chair Mike Ryan calls the turnaround “progress, not success” at its AGM, naming exports as key
  • Little Green Pharma replaces auditor BDO with Pitcher Partners from 28 Sep after BDO’s resignation.

HempPet launches an A$2m Series A round and targets an ASX listing in 2027 or 2028, after a Senate inquiry made 14 recommendations for a national hemp framework starting at 1% THC; government response pending.

• Elixinol Wellness completes its US divestment, alongside H1 FY26 revenue up 5.8% to A$7.2m.
• Prefabricated hempcrete and straw wall panels are planned for Brewarrina’s sports centre in outback NSW.

🔬 Science — Neurotech doses first patients in pivotal Phase 3 trial of cannabinoid drug for children with autism

Neurotech doses first Phase 3 Beyond Harmony patient: NTI164 in children with autism, up to 200 patients across six Australian sites, following FDA IND clearance — the pivotal stage for a registration filing.

• CEO Anthony Filippis departs as the board is reshaped, two weeks before dosing began.
• Promethean BioPharma seeks TGA provisional registration for its CBD pain tablet although its Phase 3 (155 adults, eight weeks) missed statistically significant efficacy across the full cohort.
  • Safety endpoint met; about 10% of active-arm patients were “high responders” with 2–4-point pain reductions.
  • An A$3.2m equity crowdfunding round is under way; a TGA decision is expected in about six months.
• Licensing: US-based Endovia closes first CannEpil funding tranche — the epilepsy formulation licensed from Australia’s Argent BioPharma.

Victoria–Washington cohort data link rising use to suicidal behaviour between ages 25 and 29 (n=1,470, International Youth Development Study), though Washington, where adult use is legal, reported more use and lower self-harm.

• Monash psychiatrists document iatrogenic harms in three men aged 20–24 prescribed medicinal cannabis.
• MED-FED survey of 5,383 adults with eating disorders finds 56% used cannabis in the past year; 42% of users used daily.
• Project Twenty21 sub-study: high-CBD oil lowers pain scores and anxiety scores in 31 patients (uncontrolled; 3 of 22 pain patients reached 12-month follow-up).

↑ Back to all 50 markets

🇧🇷 Brazil — A second patient association secures a final court right to cultivate as courts outpace Anvisa

🔭 On the radar: STF rapporteur Luiz Fux to rule on ADI 8011 against roadside THC testing; October general elections, with 44 cannabis candidacies on the ballot; UNILA psoriasis trial primary completion (est. October 2026); APMC anxiety-trial recruitment from November, primary evaluation by March 2027.

🏛️ Regulation — Only 47 of 315 patient associations hold court rights to grow as judges split on home cultivation

AbraRio secured a final cultivation right when its federal appeals court (TRF2) authorisation became unappealable — the second Brazilian association, and the first in Rio de Janeiro state, to do so, serving more than 4,500 patients; courts, not Anvisa, are deciding who may grow.

• The TRF2 sixth specialised panel confirmed the ruling unanimously in March 2025; finality lets AbraRio, active in 17 states and the Federal District, research, cultivate, extract and distribute to members with prescriptions only.
• Patient associations at their national meeting in Fortaleza (II Enac) say Anvisa’s 2026 rules leave gaps: only 47 of 315 active associations hold court authorisation to cultivate; cultivation models, grower criteria and THC limits remain undefined, with a five-year adaptation period.
• Federal circuits split on individual home-grow: TRF-1 grants preventive home-grow habeas corpus to a Bahia patient covering home cultivation and artisanal extraction — case-specific and non-transferable.
  • Contrast: TRF6 refused a 55-plant request in late August, holding that habeas corpus cannot replace administrative authorisation.

Éden Jardim de Cura challenges roadside THC testing at the Supreme Court (STF) in ADI 8011, targeting CONTRAN Resolution 1.031/2026 approved in August; next step: a ruling by rapporteur Luiz Fux.

• The association argues the devices show only whether a substance is present, not the quantity, so patients can be penalised without proof of impaired driving.

Anvisa halted one seller’s cannabis sales and advertising under RE 3.717 — the CBD Medicina Natural site’s unregistered “Diversos de Cannabis” range — after August’s Acanne ban; rules for authorised products are unchanged.

Kaya Mind maps 44 cannabis candidacies across 10 parties for the October general elections: 22 for the Chamber of Deputies, 15 for state legislatures, three for the Senate and two each for president and governor.

• About 200 marchers at the 18th Marcha da Maconha in Brasília call for legalisation and home cultivation.
• The Federal Police influence-peddling probe into Lula’s son, linked to World Cannabis, reaches four government members [unverified].

A Mato Grosso court ordered SUS supply of cannabidiol by the state and Primavera do Leste to a six-year-old child within 15 working days; the state pharmacy served 184 patients in August.

• Uberaba‘s health council takes up a technical note almost a year after the municipal cannabis law; implementation is still pending.

Amazonas police seized 4.5 tonnes of skunk and war-grade weapons from a boat in Codajás, including three AK-47 rifles and two M60 machine guns.

• Santa Catarina police find two tonnes in cabbage freight on the BR-280 (2,739 blocks).

💼 Market — Cellera Farma and Endogen take medical cannabis into pharmacy chains as pharmacies reach 34% of access

Cellera Farma and Endogen took medical cannabis into pharmacy chains, with first deliveries in September after June’s first sales and R$1.9m for training, medical education and patient support; the pharmacy share of access rose from 23% to 34% over three years.

• Four presentations — two full-spectrum, two CBD isolate — for epilepsy, chronic pain and neurobehavioural symptoms, sold through large chains and distributors.
  • Pharmacy chains report persistent supply and pricing bottlenecks in medical cannabis retail.
• FarmaUSA wins São Paulo’s SUS cannabidiol tender for 40,000 vials (value undisclosed).
  • Export dynamics: FarmaUSA plans a CPHI Milan trip in October to find European buyers for its pharmaceutical-grade CBD API [unverified].
• Abrace Esperança launches CBD, THC and mixed gummies as an alternative format for children and older patients.

blis chief executive Toninho Corrêa projects the market at R$1–1.2bn for 2026, up from about R$950m in 2025 (after an R$470m first half reported in August); imports and pharmacies each take 40% of consumption, hospitals, clinics and associations 20%.

• Import supply faces US hemp rules: Latam and American Airlines stop carrying US cannabis products to Brazil [unverified].
  • New Zealand pitches itself as an alternative supplier as the US 0.4 mg-per-container hemp limit approaches: medicinal-flower exports rose from 49 kg (2021) to 2,310.3 kg (2025), per NAATIVV Bioscience.
    • New Zealand export licences now take 6.4 business days, down from 22.5 in 2022/23.
• Thronus Medical, a Vancouver biotech co-founded by Brazilian physician Mariana Maciel, imports nanoencapsulated cannabinoids into Brazil and awaits Anvisa approval for pharmacy sales; a Brazilian plant would follow clearance.

🔬 Science — A Brazilian federal university registers a Phase 2 cannabis trial in psoriasis with 37 patients

UNILA registered a Phase 2 psoriasis trial of oral and topical phytocannabinoids with 37 patients enrolled and the ABCM as collaborator, widening Brazil’s clinical pipeline beyond psychiatry.

• Randomised and open-label; started November 2025, primary completion estimated October 2026.

APMC will test broad-spectrum CBD oil in 60 adults with generalised anxiety disorder in a single-arm, open-label trial: recruitment from November, eight weeks of treatment, primary evaluation by March 2027.

• Canabinote and APMC plan a six-month real-world cohort of adults starting prescribed cannabis therapy; the study awaits ethics approval.

A meta-analysis led by Brazilian federal universities finds no cannabinoid benefit in dementia across nine RCTs (334 participants): no improvement in agitation, neuropsychiatric symptoms or cognition, and somnolence roughly doubled (RR 2.03).

• A systematic review of five RCTs (1,072 participants) finds 400 mg CBD no better than placebo in acute low back pain, with low-certainty evidence in migraine.

USP pharmaceutical scientists’ survey of 333 doctors finds cannabis-specific training — held by 76% of prescribers — the strongest predictor of prescribing (data September 2024–March 2025).

• A review argues policy and stigma, not science, now delay the translation of cannabinoid medicines.

↑ Back to all 50 markets