Digging into the rescheduling hearing statements 🌿

RESCHEDULING
Statements filed ahead of Monday’s hearing

Driving the news: All of the cannabis industry’s eyes will be on the first rescheduling hearing on Monday. 

No testimony will be heard, but it’s the first step in the process to reclassify cannabis from the most restrictive Schedule I to the least restrictive Schedule III. 

For more background, read our November 21 newsletter on the fight over who can say what during the proceedings. 

What happened: On Tuesday, the 25 selected witnesses filed statements outlining their arguments and what they plan to say whenever testimony will be heard — likely in January or February of next year, per court filings. 

Of particular interest, are the Drug Enforcement Administration’s comments. According to the published statement, the DEA will call on two officials:

• The first, Heather Achbach, will discuss the rulemaking process that led to the hearing. 

• The second, Dr. Luli Akinfiresoye, a DEA pharmacologist, will discuss the agency’s data around the harms of cannabis use, including the potential for consumers to abuse cannabis, and broader public health risks. Akinfiresoye will also address the eight-factor analysis conducted by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to recommend reclassifying cannabis, and how the DEA conducts its own similar test. 

• The DEA also notes that HHS rejected a request to appear at the hearing, and reading through the statement, it’s clear that the DEA disagrees with the change. 

• Read the full statement, published by attorney Matt Zorn of On Drugs. 

And more: Also of interest are anti-legalization group Smart Approaches to Marijuana’s (SAM) comments. The organization will tap Dr. Bertha Madras, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard and a legalization skeptic. Madras will discuss her position that cannabis has a high potential for abuse, no accepted medical use, and lacks accepted safety characteristics for use under medical supervision. Read SAM’s statement. 

Both SAM and the DEA denied allegations that they conspired ahead of the hearing as well. 

As we previously reported, the hearing is set to air out opposition to rescheduling, so only one pro-cannabis organization, the National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA), is set to testify.

The NCIA will tap Dr. Shane Johnson, of medical cannabis firm InMed Pharmaceuticals to testify. You can read their statement here. 

Watch: You can view the hearing via livestream starting at 9:30 AM on Monday, December 2 at this link. 

-JB

“I indulged in marijuana, so just to know that there’s a positive outcome that’s going to come from it, I wanted to be involved because I was on the negative side, so why not be on the positive side and right the wrong of the war on drugs?” David Hooper Jr., who opened the Munchies dispensary in New York City’s Rockaway Beach neighborhood said. “I’m just trying to turn a negative into a positive.”

“I’m just trying to open people’s eyes and show that if you get kicked down, you don’t have to stay down.”

Hopper is the latest conditional adult use retail dispensary (CAURD) licenseholder to open in the city. The CAURD licenses are earmarked to those with prior convictions or close family members with cannabis-related convictions to get a head start in New York’s newly legal industry.

Nebraska dismisses legal challenges 🥊
A district judge in Nebraska dismissed legal challenges against the state’s two successful medical cannabis petitions, though appeals are expected, reports the Nebraska Examiner. Nebraska voters passed two ballot measures that would legalize medical cannabis and set up a regulatory framework on Election Day. 

New CDC director calls cannabis a ‘gateway drug’ 👀
President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Center for Disease Control, Florida Rep. Dave Weldon, has a long history of opposing cannabis reform, reports Marijuana Moment. In 2001, Weldon said it was “virtual lunacy” to believe cannabis has medicinal value, and later said it was “reasonable to conclude” that cannabis is a gateway drug.

Canopy Growth’s new CEO 
Canopy Growth named Luc Mongeau as new CEO. Mongeau joined the board earlier this year, and will take the top job after current CEO David Klein steps down in January.

Scotts shakes up C-suite
Scotts-Miracle Gro is shaking up its C-suite. CFO Matthew Garth will leave at the end of the year, and the company is looking to turnaround its cannabis-focused Hawthorne subsidiary which has struggled with profitability.

LeafLink acquires Leaf Trade 🌿
Cannabis marketplace LeafLink announced on Tuesday that it acquired Leaf Trade, a cannabis wholesale marketplace used by the industry’s biggest retailers. The newly combined company will facilitate nearly $9 billion in wholesale gross merchandise value, the companies said in a press release. 

Gold Flora faces receivership 👀
California cannabis company Gold Flora is facing receivership, as it owes more than $230,000 in unpaid invoices and the company has lost more than $37 million to-date, per a press release. The hearing is set for today. Gold Flora is the latest California cannabis to fall on hard times as the state’s industry suffers from high taxes, expensive regulation, and the persistent illicit market. 

Cansortium raises debt 💰
Cannabis firm Cansortium, which operates the Fluent brand, closed a new senior secured debt facility for up to $96,500,000 with Chicago Atlantic. The agreement bears an interest rate of 12% per year plus 1%, set to mature in 2028.

Cannabis legalization in Missouri was projected to deliver $79 million in tax revenue this year — it delivered $241 million, per state data. Read more.

Yesterday, Jason Tarasek of Vicente LLP joined Cultivated Live to talk about the latest updates from Minnesota’s social equity cannabis license lottery. The lottery is indefinitely on hold until future court rulings. Watch the latest from Tarasek:

Congress, Trump must reform marijuana laws | The Hill