Happy New Year to all our cannabis colleagues and supporters! Here’s hoping 2025 will bring loads of fun, good fortune and peace. We’d love to see some substantial cannabis reform this year, too. 

In today's issue:

• As We Closed Out 2024, The Prospect Of Reform Was Not Too Positive

• Though We’d Still Like To Give Legal Weed Its Due

• The Surgeon General Weighs In With Some Positive News

• DEA Gets Sanctioned By The…DEA! Let Us Explain

• RIP Jimmy Carter: Cannabis Gets A Mention At His Funeral 

• Weekend Weed Reads

As We Closed Out 2024, The Prospect Of Reform Was Not Too Positive

In 2024, the cannabis landscape in the United States experienced some developments, though federal legalization or removal from the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) did not occur under the Biden administration, though that was promised to voters on a regular basis.

Though We’d Still Like To Give Legal Weed Its Due

Here’s to the cultural revolution spreading across the U.S. as cannabis emerges as a transformative force among all sectors of society. Once relegated to the shadows of illegality and stigma, cannabis now enjoys a prominent role in healthcare, industry and social life.

For the first time ever, the number of Americans who consume cannabis on a nearly daily basis surpassed the number of people who drink that often, a shift some 40 years in the making as marijuana is now legal in some form in nearly half of all U.S. states.

The Surgeon General Weighs In With Some Positive News

Dr. Vivek Murthy, US Surgeon General warned about cancer risks associated with alcohol consumption and called for health warning labels. Dr. Benjamin Caplan, chief medical officer at the CED Clinic in Massachusetts where he focuses on cannabis medicine, said the move was “long overdue.” Cannabis stocks jumped on the news while alcohol stocks dipped.

DEA Gets Sanctioned By The…DEA! Let Us Explain

In an unexpected twist this past week, a DEA judge ordered the agency to respond to allegations that the agency in fact opposes President Joe Biden's directive of August 2023 to reschedule marijuana, which it is meant to be carrying out. A DEA judge also determined that the agency is improperly conferring with cannabis opponents on a regular basis.

This perceived conflict of interest on the part of the DEA added to the already laborious and slow-moving process, which in turn drove cannabis stocks down. As it is, ETFs as well as US and Canadian stocks ended 2024 mostly on a very sad note.

RIP Jimmy Carter: Cannabis Gets A Mention At His Funeral 

For those who may not know this, President Carter was a proponent of cannabis legalization. His grandson Jason Carter reminded those in attendance at Thursday’s funeral service in Washington DC’s National Cathedral. 

Weekend Weed Reads

• Trump And Mexican President Sheinbaum's Spirited Clash Over Territorial Renaming, Tariffs And Cartels

• Amplify To Liquidate Cannabis-Focused MJUS ETF As Regulatory Uncertainty Weighs On Sector

• From Prison To Profits: Here's How This Entrepreneur's Cannabis Business Makes $800,000 Monthly

• Guns And Cannabis Don't Mix In Kentucky: Medical Marijuana Law Takes Effect On New Year's Day

• Cannabis Use Among Teens Plummets To 30-Year Low, Study Finds

• Trump Is First 'Republican President' With A Pathway To Cannabis Reform, Says Former Adviser

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