Author: buddigest

An exciting collaboration has emerged in the cannabis breeding sector: globally-established Barney’s Farm is excited to announce that they have joined forces with American cannabis innovator Backpackboyz. This cross-continental alliance aims to revolutionize cannabis genetics by combining complementary expertise and genetic resources from both organizations.

Long recognized as a pioneer in cannabis genetics, Barney’s Farm is leveraging strategic partnerships to establish a wider presence in the United States. This venture is just the first step in its ambitious U.S. strategy: the company is pursuing ongoing negotiations with American cultivators and breeders, signalling plans to penetrate diverse market segments.

A New Chapter of in the World of Cannabis Genetics

“We’re witnessing the globalization of cannabis breeding in real time,” a representative explained. “These partnerships bring together genetic material that would have remained isolated just a few years ago, creating novel expressions that benefit from diverse breeding philosophies.”

Collaboration Release No 1 – Barneys Farm x Backpack Boyz – Black Cherry Gushers

The development of the Black Cherry Gushers strain demonstrates how such complementary approaches can enhance genetic outcomes: Barney’s Farm contributes decades of breeding expertise and a vast genetic library developed across multiple continents, and meanwhile, Backpackboyz offers a cutting-edge

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The Nebraska legislature’s General Affairs Committee earlier this month voted 5-3 against advancing a bill to implement and regulate medical cannabis in the state, the Nebraska Examiner reports. The disapproval by the committee leaves the state’s patients in limbo, despite the reforms being approved by 67% of voters last November.  

State Sen. Ben Hansen (R), who introduced the legislation, told the Independent that the legislation is “a must” for the 2025 session to prevent the “Wild West.” Without a regulatory bill, the commission created by voters to regulate medical cannabis has no power or funding.   

“I don’t want to shut all the doors right now, but some doors are closing, and they’re closing fast, and so we have to act.” — Hansen to the Independent  

The committee had tried to negotiate an amendment with Hansen that would have regulated cannabis through the state’s prescription drug monitoring system in addition to seed-to-sale tracking systems, and would have limited the medical cannabis qualifying conditions list to just 15 ailments. The amendment was not agreed to.

Crista Eggers, executive director of Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana, told the Independent

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The first licensed cannabis lounge in Nevada – Smoke and Mirrors, operated by Thrive – closed earlier this month, about 14 months after first opening its doors, KLAS reports. Just one state-licensed cannabis lounge – and one operated by the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe, which doesn’t require state licensing – remains operational in Nevada. 

Another 21 consumption lounges have been given conditional approval by the state Cannabis Control Board (CCB) but have not opened due to several issues, mostly financing and locations, according to a Nevada Independent report. An additional 10 lounge licenses are reserved for social equity applicants, but none have been utilized. 

The closure of Smoke and Mirrors comes as cannabis sales in the state declined in 2024. According to CCB data, taxable cannabis sales from state-licensed retail dispensaries during the 2024 fiscal year — $829 million — was down 17% from 2021.

Cost to open a cannabis consumption lounge may also be a factor, specifically that state law requires lounge operators to have $200,000 in “operational liquidity” before opening their doors. State law also prohibits the lounges from serving cannabis-infused food, allowing only smoking and infused beverages, which

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A federal judge last week dismissed the lawsuit against Flavorade Extracts founder Nick Coburn, filed by his former company, that accuses Coburn and his partners of misappropriating trade secrets and interfering with business relationships, among other claims. The lawsuit by Greenmount LLC, which does business as ColdFire Extracts, was dismissed with prejudice and cannot be refiled. 

In the ruling, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California Judge Mónica Ramírez Almadani found Greenmount’s claims “without merit,” noting that “in the 15 months that this action has been pending, Plaintiff has not served a single discovery request, subpoena, or deposition notice.” 

In a statement, Coburn said the ruling “validates” what he’s “maintained from day one.” 

“After months of defending against baseless accusations, I can finally focus on my counterclaims and building Flavorade’s future. Greenmount tried to silence me about my role in creating a successful cannabis brand, but the court has now dismissed every one of Greenmount’s claims.” — Coburn in a press release 

Coburn split with Greenmount in August 2023 and launched the Flavorade brand with Cleanline Management. Greenmount filed the lawsuit against Coburn and Cleanline in December 2024, accusing Coburn

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A recent meta-analysis published last week in Frontiers of Oncology found that medical cannabis has the potential to help treat symptoms of cancer. The study, which pulled from prior cannabis research, was the largest-ever analysis to investigate the interplay of cannabis and cancer, and researchers found a “significant majority” of the relevant studies fell predominantly in favor of medical cannabis use, The Guardian reports.

Funded by the group Cancer Playbook, researchers utilized an AI-powered processing technique called “sentiment analysis” to conduct the meta-analysis, which surveyed over 10,000 studies into medical cannabis and cancer.

Ryan Castle, research director at Whole Health Oncology Institute and the study’s lead author, said the goal was to push for a consensus on medical cannabis as a potential cancer treatment.

“Our goal was to determine the scientific consensus on the topic of medical cannabis, a field that has long been dominated by a war between cherrypicked studies.” — Castle, via The Guardian

Castle said the team was expecting “a moderate consensus” about the potential of cannabis as a cancer treatment, but that the actual results were closer to three-to-one in favor of cannabis as an effective medical treatment for cancer-related inflammation, appetite loss, and nausea, according

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Lawmakers in the Tennessee Senate voted last Thursday to approve legislation banning the sale of hemp-derived intoxicating products, The Tennessean reports.

The bill, which passed the House earlier in the week, restricts the amount of total and potential THC in consumable hemp products, a move that’s expected to upend the state’s hemp consumables industry. Sponsored by state Sen. Richard Briggs (R), the bill was opposed by Democrats and some Republicans, but lawmakers ultimately approved the proposal, sending it to Republican Gov. Bill Lee’s desk for his consideration.

Briggs called the hemp industry in Tennessee “essentially dealing with unregulated recreational marijuana,” saying “It’s the wild west out there.”

Republican state Sen. Kerry Roberts, however, argued that because the proposal restricts hemp derivatives even more than federal law, it could confuse and create legal troubles for hemp farmers and entrepreneurs.

“I’ve got farmers that have come to me and said ‘this is going to hurt us.’ We’ve got retailers that have come to us and said ‘this is going to hurt us.’ Everybody keeps coming back to the same thing: if they would just make it so that it’s defined with what the federal code says, then they can live with it.” —

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A bipartisan proposal filed Thursday by U.S. Reps. Dave Joyce (R-OH), Max Miller (R-OH), and Dina Titus (D-NV) seeks to federally legalize cannabis in states, territories, and tribal nations that have already passed adult-use reforms.

The bill, named the Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States (STATES) 2.0 Act, would protect people who are in compliance with local cannabis reforms from federal prosecution. Additionally, the legislation would legalize interstate commerce of cannabis products and reform the industry’s tax structure so state-legal businesses would no longer run afoul of the IRS’s Section 280E tax code.

“Whether a state is pro-legalization or anti-legalization, we can all agree that the current federal approach to cannabis policy is not working,” Rep. Joyce, a co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, said in a press release.

“The STATES 2.0 Act ensures the federal government does not interfere with states or tribes that have chosen to legalize cannabis. This common-sense proposal is exactly the type of legislation I hope to advance as Co-Chair of the Cannabis Caucus. It’s time for national policy to catch up with the states or at least get out of the way.” — Rep. Titus, in a statement

Meanwhile, Rep. Miller said the

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The Kentucky medical cannabis program is being investigated by state Auditor Allison Ball, the Associated Press reports.

Ball said will be looking specifically into the medical cannabis business license lotteries held by the Office of Medical Cannabis after several companies that were not selected for licenses lodged complaints against the licensing process.

“My office has continued to receive complaints about how the Office of Medical Cannabis administered the lottery process for awarding medical cannabis business licenses. Kentuckians should have confidence that state offices operate with transparency and integrity, and my office is committed to ensuring those standards.” — Ball, in a statement, via the AP

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) signed the state’s medical cannabis program into law in 2023, and officials awarded the program’s first cannabis business licenses throughout a series of lotteries in late 2024. Nearly 5,000 applicants applied for licenses but in the end, only several dozen were selected.

The governor had touted the lotteries as a fair licensing method for the program. However, according to a Kentucky Public Radio report, the lotteries were flooded with applications from out-of-state companies, and many of the medical cannabis licenses were ultimately awarded to out-of-state applicants. Several Kentucky-based hemp farmers and

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A New York City-based cannabis company is suing the state in federal court over the constitutionality of a requirement in New York’s adult cannabis use law requiring all industry licensees to have labor peace agreements, the Times Union reports. The lawsuit was filed this week in U.S. District Court in Manhattan by Hybrid NYC, a limited liability company that operates a dispensary in Brooklyn under the name Gotham. 

Under the legalization law, labor peace agreements are designed to protect “the state’s proprietary interests by prohibiting labor organizations and members from engaging in picketing, work stoppages, boycotts, and any other economic interference with the entity.” In the lawsuit, Hybrid contends that the “proprietary interests” provision makes the state an industry stakeholder which would violate federal law. Additionally, the lawsuit argues the agreements requirement violate the National Labor Relations Act, which “entrusts the federal government with exclusive and preemptive authority over labor relations in general and over the organizing process for all private sector employers in particular.”   

In the lawsuit, Hybrid argues that the labor peace agreement provision has led to a monopoly by Local 338, which represents grocery, pharmaceutical, health care, transportation, and cannabis workers.

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A majority (57%) of Canadians view cannabis as important to the country’s economy, and another 62% believe it could play a more significant role in the future economy, according to a survey conducted by Abacus Data commissioned by Organigram Global. The highest levels of support for cannabis as part of the national economy were found in regions with deep cannabis industry ties, including Atlantic Canada (65%), the Prairies (64%), Ontario (62%), and British Columbia (61%). 

In a statement, Beena Goldenberg, CEO of Organigram, said “Canadians want their country to thrive through innovative, homegrown industries – and cannabis is firmly on that list.”  

“The message from Canadians is clear: Canada’s next Prime Minister must remove barriers and support sectors that deliver jobs, growth, and economic resilience.” — Goldenberg in a press release    

The survey found that nearly two-thirds of Canadians surveyed – 64% – indicated they are open to the federal government doing more to help the legal cannabis sector grow.  

According to a 2021 report from Deloitte, the Canadian cannabis industry has contributed more than $43 billion to the nation’s gross domestic product and supports over 80,000

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