Month: February 2025

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In this episode of The Ganjapreneur Podcast, host TG Branfalt is joined by Regina Smith, founder and co-owner of The Plant, a licensed dispensary in Yonkers, New York. Regina shares her journey from a background in retail and baking to navigating the challenges of the cannabis industry. She discusses the complex social equity licensing process in New York, how The Plant is building trust and community in a competitive market, and the importance of education and customer service in the evolving cannabis landscape. Regina also touches on the role of legal dispensaries in the community, and how creative partnerships with local businesses are key to success. Tune in below to hear her inspiring story and insights on the future of cannabis retail, or scroll down for the full transcript!

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Editor’s note: this transcript is auto-generated and may contain errors.

TG Branfalt:

Hey there, I’m your host, TG Branfalt, and this is the Ganjapreneur.com podcast where we try to bring you actionable information and normalized cannabis through the stories of ganjapreneurs, activists and

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The Ohio Senate this week passed a bill to override parts of the state’s voter-backed cannabis legalization law, The Columbus Dispatch reports.

The bill — which was passed Wednesday by Senate Republicans in a 23-9 party-line vote — would implement many changes to the state’s cannabis law, including:

Limiting cannabis home grows from 12 plants to 6 plants, Removing the industry’s social equity and jobs program, Implementing stricter THC potency caps on adult-use products, including a 35% cap on flower and 70% cap on concentrates, Creating a mandatory 3-day jail sentence for anyone who smokes or vapes cannabis while riding in a vehicle, Reducing cultivation space for the state’s largest licensed cultivators, Capping cannabis dispensaries in the state at 350, And giving new powers to the CDC to regulate cannabis advertisements.

Republican lawmakers said the provisions would help prevent illicit cannabis activities without affecting consumers’ legal right to access cannabis. Meanwhile, Senate Democrats argue that the proposal amounts to legislative overreach on an issue that was already decided by voters.

“We’re now trying to take away the rights of people by making lots of things that are legal today illegal, should this bill become law.” — State Sen.

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Florida state Sen. Tracie Davis (D) introduced legislation this week containing regulations on hemp-derived cannabinoid products after Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) vetoed a similar bill last year, the Florida Phoenix reports.

The proposal would ban hemp-derived delta-8 THC products outright, and would restrict the levels of delta-9 THC in hemp products to two milligrams per serving and 20 milligrams per container. The bill would also ban smokable hemp concentrates, ban the sale of hemp products in gas stations, ban hemp stores from being located within 500 feet of a school, and heavily restrict hemp product advertising.

Kerry Hinkle, director of membership and public affairs for the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, told the Florida Phoenix the proposal would cripple the state’s budding hemp industry.

“This bill would ban the vast majority of hemp products on the market and implement excessively burdensome marketing and packaging rules that harm legitimate hemp businesses.” — Hinkle, in the report

Florida lawmakers delivered a bill to ban intoxicating hemp products to Gov. DeSantis last year but the governor ultimately vetoed the bill. With the veto, however, the governor won support from hemp companies in his fight against the state’s adult-use cannabis legalization bid last year, which proved

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“An hour of planning can save ten hours of doing.” Apparently, Dale Carnegie said that. Mr. Carnegie was a 20th century influencer, who, as far as I can tell, never sold any weed. He did make a pile of money selling books and talks on how to be confident, charming, etc. That’s not my cup of tea (the “telling people” part), but I do like his quote. I would add that, as applied to legal matters, an hour of planning can save ten hours of doing, as well as undoing. Sometimes, it’s more than ten hours too.

For the past decade, I’ve taken several calls a week from individuals making a play in the cannabis industry. Some of these callers haven’t yet taken any formal steps; others are partway down the road, amid some episode with legal atmospherics; and a third group is similar to the second group, but dealing with self-inflicted wounds. We’re talking about the third group today.

In many cases, the third group is suffering because they failed to map out a course of action prior to someone doing something “material,” to use a lawyerly term. Or they mapped out a course of action without good advice.

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Combined medical and adult-use cannabis sales in Arizona totaled $1.1 billion last year – a decline from the nearly $1.3 billion in sales in both 2022 and 2023, according to state Department of Health Services data outlined by KGUN 9. The average price of cannabis products in the state also fell from $19.92 in January 2024 to $18.37 in January 2025, according to data from cannabis intelligence firm Headset.

Last year, the state collected $245.3 million from cannabis taxes, including $151.2 million from excise taxes – applied at 16% in the state – and $75.7 million from adult-use sales taxes.

Michael Shew, Operations Director at Tucson dispensary Earth’s Healing told KGUN that the drop in revenue is due to changing consumer behavior, increased market competition, and the rise of unregulated sales. 

Headset notes that the price drop “reflects a competitive market environment where price adjustments are likely in response to consumer demand and market saturation.” According to Headset data, total cannabis sales in Arizona last month reached about $86.85 million, with a total of 4,727,509 units sold, which the company said “indicates a robust market size with significant consumer engagement.”   

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A bill proposed in Washington state would allow public use of cannabis in regulated environments, NBC Right Now reports. The legislation would allow licensed organizers to host up to one event per month, each lasting a maximum of three days at locations approved by the Washington Liquor and Cannabis Board (LCB) which would regulate the events under strict guidelines.   

The proposal would also create a budtender permit for employees working at these events. The permit would cover training for responsible selling, avoiding over-serving, and best practices for dealing with impaired customers.

During a hearing in the House Committee on Consumer Protection and Business, James McMahan, policy director with the Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, said his organization is concerned that, if approved, the law “would be the first in yet another slew of bills that further expand the opportunities for those to drive intoxicated.”

State Rep. Brandy Donaghy (D), a co-sponsor on the legislation, responded that the same argument could be made “about anywhere that sells alcohol.” 

“You’re being trusted to be an adult, take responsibility and get home safely in a way that also doesn’t put others at risk.” —

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Nevada County, California is set to receive $500,000 from the state for cannabis social equity programs, The Union reports. The Cannabis Equity Grants Program for Local Jurisdictions is funded through the California Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz). 

Diana Gamzon, executive director of Nevada County Cannabis Alliance, told the Union the purpose of the grants “is to advance economic justice for populations and communities impacted by cannabis prohibition and the War on Drugs by providing support to local jurisdictions as they promote equity in California and eliminate barriers to enter the newly regulated cannabis industry for equity program applicants and licensees.”  

According to the Nevada County Cannabis Local Equity Program Manual, social equity applicants must be able to show “a nonviolent conviction history related to cannabis,” that “their annual income is below the median income” in the county,” trauma history while participating in the illicit cannabis industry “including sexual assault, exploitation, domestic violence, and/or human trafficking,” and homelessness or lost housing as a result of cannabis enforcement. 

The award is designed to help applicants with state and local cannabis fees, licenses, regulatory costs and capital improvements. The county also

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The New Jersey Home Grow Coalition, which includes dozens of small cannabis businesses and advocacy groups, is calling on lawmakers in the state to legalize cannabis home grows, Marijuana Moment reports.

The companies wrote in an open letter to New Jersey Senate President Nicholas Scutari (D) that “[legalizing] medical home cultivation will not negatively impact the legal state cannabis industry,” and that the group also supports “personal use” home grow provisions. The coalition’s position contradicts an argument by Gov. Phil Murphy (D) and some lawmakers that allowing home grows would undermine state-licensed cannabis licensees, and that it would serve the industry better to delay personal cultivation rules.

“We firmly support the immediate legalization of medical home cultivation for patients and caregivers. We also endorse additional legislation to be introduced that allows for the legalization of personal use home cultivation safely and equitably.” — Excerpt from the letter

The group also called for amendments to the companion legislation S1393/A846, which seek to legalize medical cannabis home grows, to change the wording so that it limits home grows by canopy size, not plant count. The coalition argues the change would “allow patients and caretakers to have the ability to properly pheno-hunt and

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Officials from the Nevada Cannabis Compliance Board (CCB) said Tuesday during a presentation to state lawmakers that illicit cannabis sales in Nevada have grown to a $242 million industry, KLAS 8 News Now reports. The officials also noted that because more cannabis consumers are opting for the illicit market, typically for convenience or pricing-related reasons — and also due to a downtrend in cannabis use after nationwide spikes during the COVID-19 pandemic — cannabis tax revenue in the state has dropped.

Cannabis industry sales fell from $965 million in fiscal year 2022 to $829 million in fiscal year 2024, and cannabis tax revenue dropped by $32 million during the same period, the report said.

When pressed by lawmakers about why the illicit market is growing despite the state having legalized adult-use cannabis in 2017, CCB officials including Executive Director James Humm noted that enforcement duties are split between the Department of Agriculture, which oversees cannabis cultivation, and the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees cannabis consumable products.

“We have also heard complaints of delivery to the Strip properties, to the hotels and casinos where licensees are not able to deliver. I feel like that is a big

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The Illinois Senate is considering a bill to prevent police from searching a vehicle based on the odor of raw or burnt cannabis if the driver is at least 21 years old, WREX 13 reports. The bill would also remove provisions of the state’s adult-use cannabis law that require cannabis to be transported in an odor-proof container when in a vehicle.  

The proposal comes almost three months after the state Supreme Court ruled that the odor of raw cannabis is legal grounds for a vehicle search – a decision which runs counter to a decision in September of last year by the court that the odor of burnt cannabis is not legal grounds for a search. 

State Sen. Rachel Ventura (D), one of the bill sponsors, told WREX that those two rulings would create confusion for police and the courts.  

“… The smell of hemp smells the same as raw cannabis and so they’re now asking law enforcement the difference between hemp and raw cannabis in order to not violate someone’s fourth amendment right.” — Ventura to WREX 

The legislation has

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