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Happy Friday Pre Rollers! Welcome to another edition of The Pre Roll, the cannabis newsletter that keeps you up-to-date on the industry happenings you need to know.

Here’s what we’re rolling up this week:

• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) releases rescheduling recommendation docs

• Michigan’s massive cannabis market

• GrowerIQ grabs Ample Organics

…and more. Let’s get to it.

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🚨 Roll Call

Policy

Rescheduling docs release party. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) finally released the 252-page document outlining its recommendation to move cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act.

Per the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) website, the difference is as follows:

• Schedule I: Schedule I drugs, substances, or chemicals are defined as drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. Some examples of Schedule I drugs are: heroin, LSD, marijuana (cannabis), and ecstasy.

• Schedule III: Schedule III drugs, substances, or chemicals are defined as drugs with a moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence. Schedule III drugs abuse potential is less than Schedule I and Schedule II drugs but more than Schedule IV. Some examples of Schedule III drugs are: products containing less than 90 milligrams of codeine per dosage unit (Tylenol with codeine), ketamine, anabolic steroids, and testosterone.

The documents were distributed by lawyers Matt Zorn and Shane Pennington, co-authors the On Drugs blog, who also gave an in-depth breakdown of their reading of the information provided.

These updates validate reports from September when news originally broke suggesting HHS was going to recommend cannabis be moved from Schedule I to Schedule III.

Just last week, attorneys general from 12 states penned a letter urging the federal government to make this very move in the interest of public health and safety.

Last month, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) confirmed its in the process of conducting its review with regards to cannabis scheduling, and noted that the DEA has final say in any scheduling decisions, regardless of input from HHS.

The scheduling review process was initiated at the direction of President Joe Biden in October 2022.

Business

Massive Midwest cannabis market. Michigan is proving to be a behemoth of a cannabis market. Combined recreational and medical cannabis sales topped $3 billion in 2023, based on data from the state’s Cannabis Regulatory Agency.

Those numbers equate to an average of over $300 per resident, the highest per capita cannabis spend in the United States, according to Crain’s Detroit Business.

The only state to have higher total cannabis sales last year was California, though the per capita figures for the Golden State were lower.

Tech

GrowerIQ grabs Ample Organics. Cannabis production management platform GrowerIQ announced it has acquired of fellow cannabis software provider Ample Organics, previously owned by Akerna, in an all-cash deal. The agreement brings the two Toronto-based companies together and expands GrowerIQ’s footprint within Canada and internationally.

The acquisition gives GrowerIQ the largest share of the sector and makes it the market leader in both Canada and Europe.

🇺🇸 State of the Industry

California: More than $312 million in unlicensed cannabis was seized by the Unified Cannabis Enforcement Taskforce (UCETF) in its first year of operation.

Minnesota: Regulators signaled the state will need at least 381 dispensaries to meet state law requirements.

📊 Business

40 Tons sets eyes on the Empire State

The multi-state social impact brand that provides second chances to those with past cannabis convictions, is entering the New York market in partnership with HPI Canna.

💻 Tech

Nabis nabs new brand partners

The cannabis wholesale platform revealed new exclusive distribution partnerships in California with leading brands — Northern Emeralds, Tyson 2.0, Turn, Made, THC Design, Sauce, Wizard Trees, Micro Bar, and PRO Farms — to expand their reach using Nabis Marketplace, efficient logistics, data integration technology, and short-term financing.

🌏 Around the World

Czech Republic: A draft bill including rules for legal cultivation, operation of cannabis clubs, licensed sales and exports, and taxation, has been introduced.

💨 Quick Hitters

• Curio Wellness is opening a new cannabis manufacturing and cultivation facility near St. Louis.

• Florida-based The Flowery is bringing its dispensary brand and direct-to-consumer delivery program to Staten Island.

• 4Front Ventures released a new Wildberry Lavender edible sleep gummy.

• PharmaCann kicked off adult-use retail and wholesale in New York.

• Nightjar, a women and minority-owned cannabis dispensary in New Jersey, celebrated its grand opening.

📚 What We’re Reading

• How Israel became the world leader in medical marijuana (The Week)

• Mexico’s weed ‘nuns’ want to take the plant back from the narcos (Reuters)

• Can Mike Tyson Become a Heavyweight in the New York Marijuana Industry? (The New York Times)

• Weed Kills: How Investing In Cannabis Almost Took Down Scotts Miracle-Gro (Forbes)

• Tilray CEO: What a Biden reclassification of weed could mean (Yahoo! Finance)

• You Can Now Buy a Grateful Dead Bong, and Life Is Complete (Esquire)

• Struggling with oversaturation, Oregon’s cannabis industry calls for new restrictions (Oregon Public Broadcasting)

🎙️ Potcasts

• Lessons from ‘The Green Rush’ with the Denver Post’s first cannabis editor Ricardo Baca (In The NoCo)

• Overcoming Challenges and Building a Scrappy Culture: Insights from the CEO of Curaleaf (Proud to Work in Cannabis)

📼 Video of the Week

🔎 Job Board

• Senior Software Engineer

  • Nabis

  • $160,000—$180,000

• Cannabis Licensing Specialist

  • City of Boston

• Technical Data Implementation Specialist

  • Sweed

📨 Puff, Puff, Pass Reeferal Program

Stay tuned for more cannabis industry news next week!

💚,

The Pre Roll Team

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