Month: October 2025

The Pennsylvania Senate Law and Justice Committee last week approved a measure to create a cannabis control board in the state that would create uniform safety standards for hemp-derived THC products in the state, which are currently unregulated. The legislation would also transfer regulatory control of the state’s medical cannabis program to the newly created board. 

In a statement, state Sen. Dan Laughlin (R) said that the state has seen “an explosion of unregulated hemp products being sold openly at gas stations, vape shops and convenience stores statewide.”

“The main priority of this board is to ensure accountability, consistency and public safety. While the Department of Health has worked hard within its authority, it was never designed to manage a rapidly growing industry, resulting in a program bogged down by slow responses, inconsistent oversight and a lack of clarity – frustrating patients and legitimate businesses.” — Laughlin in a press release  

Laughlin added that the proposal “is not about legalizing adult-use cannabis,” rather “cleaning up the system” already in place in the commonwealth, and giving officials “the structure and expertise to manage what’s already occurring” within Pennsylvania borders. 

The bill moves next to the full Senate for consideration. 

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Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) on Monday signed a cannabis compact with the Prairie Island Indian Community that allows cannabis products produced by the Tribe to be sold at state-licensed dispensaries.  

In a statement, Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) Executive Director Eric Taubel said the “compact provides state-licensed cannabis businesses the opportunity to partner with Prairie Island Indian Community and boost supply of product while maintaining the Tribe’s inherent sovereignty and right to self-govern.”  

Prairie Island Indian Community Tribal Council President Grant Johnson, in a statement, added that the Tribe is “grateful” to have the compact completed, and that the Tribe is “excited to continue meeting demand in Minnesota’s growing recreational cannabis market with the exceptional cannabis products” it is producing. 

“We’re very proud of the disciplined systems and processes we have created to ensure the safe, secure operation of our cannabis business on and off our reservation land. Those systems are modeled upon our more than 40 years of successful Tribal regulation of our gaming enterprise, and we are eager to continue applying that expertise to our cannabis operations.” — Johnson in a press release 

The agreement marks the third such cannabis compact between the state and Tribal Nations that share its territory. In May, the state finalized a cannabis compact with

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The U.S. Supreme Court next year will consider whether Americans who consume cannabis can legally possess firearms, the Associated Press reports.

The justices will hear an appeal by Trump Administration prosecutors challenging an appeals court decision to throw out felony charges against a Texas man for allegedly possessing a firearm and admitting to regular cannabis use. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had dismissed the charges as a violation of defendant Ali Daniel Hemani’s 2nd Amendment rights, citing a landmark 2022 Supreme Court ruling that broadly expanded citizens’ gun rights.

Hemani’s attorneys argued that with adult-use legalization in effect in about half the states — and with at least 20% of Americans having tried cannabis — the federal ban on cannabis consumers owning guns violates the spirit of the 2nd Amendment.

Arguments are expected in early 2026, according to the report. The court is likely to make a ruling by early summer.

While prosecutors in the case ultimately decided only to pursue the firearm-based charges, they said Hemani’s firearm violation was discovered because the FBI was investigating him for potential ties with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, a State Department-designated terrorist group. Hemani’s attorneys said the allegations are irrelevant

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A Connecticut hemp farmer has filed a federal lawsuit claiming that the state’s cannabis industry’s licensing rules are discriminatory and unconstitutional, CT Insider reports.

The lawsuit takes particular aim at provisions that prioritize social equity applicants for the state’s cannabis industry licenses. The plaintiff, Brant Smith, who owns and operates an 80,000-square-foot greenhouse in Cheshire that he dedicated to hemp cultivation after the crop was federally legalized in 2018, claims in the suit that federal law prohibits the state from excluding cannabis applicants based on their location or residence.

Attorney Genevieve Park Taylor, who represents Smith, suggested that Connecticut’s restrictions on cannabis licensing is “unequal and a little unbalanced.”

“Everybody gets a chance or nobody gets a chance, whether it’s cantaloupes, cannabis or cabbage,” Taylor said in the report.

“By favoring in-state social equity individual applicants and discriminating against all others, including out-of-state applicants, Connecticut’s marijuana licensing program amounts to economic protectionism, and improperly serves to benefit only in-state economic interests in general and social equity individuals specifically.” — Excerpt from the lawsuit

The suit references a federal appeals court ruling from August that found part of New York’s cannabis social equity rules to be unconstitutional. Specifically, the

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