News Briefs – July 29, 2019

By
HeadQuest

What Do Companies Think About Off-Duty Cannabis Use?

The tight job market and the rise of legal marijuana use is narrowing the list of qualified, drug-free candidates. In industries like hotel and hospitality, some have stopped testing for marijuana. Nevada recently passed a law banning employers from refusing to hire based on a cannabis test.

Read More

 

Cannabis Industry Lobbying On Track To Hit Record High

After shelling out $2.7 million to influence lawmakers and regulators in 2018, the industry has disclosed outlays of at least $1.6 million in 2019’s first half, putting it on pace for a new spending record by year’s end. This year’s total at the halfway mark already slightly beats 2017’s overall figure.

Read More

 

Michigan’s Adult-Use Rules Put Cannabis Pioneers Out in the Cold

Michigan’s first adult-use cannabis stores are expected to open near the end of 2019, but many of the state’s medical marijuana pioneers could find themselves shut out of the new retail industry.
The state has been in a scrambling-for-licenses stage since the passage of a statewide adult-use legalization initiative in Nov. 2018. Early indications are that those licenses are going predominantly to a few of the state’s biggest players—and not to the smaller caregivers who built the medical industry over the past ten years.

Read More

 

Curaleaf Scrubs CBD Health Claims After FDA Warning

The FDA told the cannabis company elast week that it was “illegally selling” CBD products with “unsubstantiated claims” that the products treat cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, opioid withdrawal, pain and pet anxiety. Curaleaf said upon receiving the agency’s letter, the company “immediately began an extensive review of its website and social media platforms to remove all statements that FDA identified as non-compliant.” The company said it removed its Curaleaf Hemp blog and third-party links in it, along with pulling statements and social media posts the FDA flagged.

Read More

 

80% Of Vape Products Could Be Fakes

A recent study by Solo Science, a leading consumer products intelligence company, found that 80% of all packaged cannabis products appearing within the cannabis market, both illicit and legal, are counterfeit. According to the report, the problem is made worse by online retailers that get their materials mostly from China.

Read More

 

State-led Regulatory System Proposed for US Cannabis Industry

The current issue of the nonprofit American Botanical Council’s (ABC’s) peer-reviewed journal HerbalGram features a proposed state-federal regulatory framework for the US cannabis (Cannabis sativa) industry. The proposal suggests the removal of cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), thus allowing US stakeholders entry into the global market.

Read More

 

UFC Fighters Team with Aurora Cannabis on CBD Study

Ultimate Fighting Championship athletes will serve as test subjects to find out if the cannabis compound CBD can treat the aches and pains that come hand in hand with their violent sport.

The research is part of a partnership between the professional mixed martial arts league and Canadian company Aurora Cannabis (ACB). Aurora and the UFC plan to conduct clinical trials on the use of cannabidiol, commonly known as CBD, in elite athletes and then employ the results to develop a line of hemp-derived CBD topical treatments targeting elite athletes.

Read More

Recent Stories

Recent Articles

2026-06-01_20-59-01
By
Emily Long
Women in Cannabis – Dr. Chanda Macias
Dr. Macias first fell in love with science while studying at Howard University, where she completed her undergraduate studies and later earned her PhD in cellular and molecular biology. While at Howard, she became especially interested in cancer research due to personal ties. Growing up in a Creole family and predominantly Black community in Louisiana, Dr. Macias watched many women around her battle breast cancer, so at Howard, she decided to focus her research on the BRCA1 gene.
2026-06-01_20-45-52
By
Matt Weeks
Cards Denied: Smoke Shops, Dispensaries, and the Paradox of Modern Banking
It’s almost amazing that the same institutions that brought us the 2008 financial crisis have a problem with selling glass pipes. Almost. The truth is that an industry's past sins are only held against it when the money isn’t right. Big banks were willing to risk cratering the U.S. housing market because the profits were too good to ignore. But the cannabis industry rolls a different kind of paper, so instead of a slap on the wrist, it gets a surcharge.
2026-06-01_20-34-44
By
Karen Maina
Print Lives! Why Flyers and Posters Still Work
Smokeshop and counterculture enthusiasts enjoy discovery as part of the experience. Customers enjoy browsing. When they walk into a shop, they don't simply grab a product and leave. They look for something new. This is the main reason flyers and posters still work. Smokeshops and dispensaries are highly visual environments. You want to see bold artwork, psychedelic graphics, and street-style posters that naturally capture attention.
2026-06-01_9-58-51
By
Joe Reefer
Cannabis in Sports: Exploring Famous Athletes’ Cannabis Usage
The use of cannabis in professional sports has always been a controversial subject. While some are firm believers that all substances should be banned from professional sports altogether, most people aren’t thinking about cannabis when they’re discussing performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs). In fact, there have been countless cannabis users in the world of professional sports throughout the years; some of whom are more open about their love for the plant than others.
NC Ban
By
Matt Weeks
Save Hemp, Save the World
North Carolina might save us all. A new state bill may be the industry’s best option to save itself from demise when new federal cannabinoid bans take effect in November. And it could use your support.
Tourism banner
By
Karen Maina
The Quiet Rise of Hemp Agritourism
Hemp is often considered for the things that it is not. It is not intoxicating, it is not illegal, and it is not marijuana. However, now we are seeing a focus back to what it can be. The plant is moving into the level of wine and chocolate and becoming a movement and a culture.
Schedule 3 1
By
Joe Reefer
What Does Schedule III Mean for the Industry?
It’s been several months since President Donald Trump signed an executive order to reschedule cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III within the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). On paper, the recent executive order, entitled “Increasing Medical Marijuana and Cannabidiol Research,” is a huge step in the right direction for cannabis smokers across the country.
Sate of 3
By
Matt Weeks
The State of the States
For years, we’ve been told that this industry is the Wild West: a place where the only law amounts to whatever the guy with the gun says. But over the last 12 months, state governments have passed a spate of new regulations that promise to swap the relative lawlessness of poor enforcement of vague rules with real law and order.