Federal Policy
Federal legislation, DEA rulemaking, FDA actions, and White House policy on cannabis.
Trump's April 18 executive order ships $50M in ARPA-H funding, three FDA Priority Vouchers within a week, and the first-ever U.S. ibogaine IND clearance. Inside the order's five sections, the Oval Office cast, and why the cannabis industry — still waiting on the rescheduling order Trump signed four months ago — is measuring every word of this one.
Nine months after being sworn in as DEA Administrator, Terry Cole has let the Schedule III rulemaking sit exactly where his predecessor left it: nowhere. His career, his public statements, and the agency's 50-year track record tell you everything about why.
From a quiet 2013 bill by a Colorado Democrat to seven House passages, a historic 2023 Senate committee vote, and a Trump-era rescheduling collision that pushed it off the agenda — the full story of how Congress has spent more than a decade trying, and failing, to let legal cannabis businesses open a checking account.
The federal lawsuit threatening Medicare's new CBD pilot just got more complicated. An amended complaint, new plaintiffs with concrete competitive-injury claims, and a new May 1 hearing reset the entire case.
Six days after Trump fired Pam Bondi, acting AG Todd Blanche inherited a stalled rescheduling process — and a directive to finish it. Here's who he is, what he's said about cannabis, and what to watch next.
The CMS Innovation Center launched its Substance Access Beneficiary Engagement Incentive on April 1, allowing select Medicare patients to receive up to $500 in physician-supervised, hemp-derived CBD products annually. But an April 20 court date could shut it down before it scales.
The rule replaces the delta-9-only standard from the 2018 Farm Bill with a total-THC measurement, effectively banning most intoxicating hemp products at the federal level.
A deep dive into the tax provision that prevents marijuana businesses from deducting ordinary expenses, and the massive financial implications of a move to Schedule III.
A survey of state-level social equity programs reveals a pattern: ambitious promises at launch, followed by bureaucratic delays, underfunding, and capture by well-financed operators.
Mitch McConnell's 2018 hemp language accidentally birthed a $28 billion unregulated THC market. On November 12, 2026, the loophole closes — and a seven-year experiment in chemical improvisation, gas-station gummies, and regulatory drift finally meets its deadline.