🌿 States look to add or expand cannabis markets, Nabis diversifies retail offerings, and opioid prescriptions drop with increased cannabis access

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:

• States look to add or expand cannabis markets

• Nabis diversifies retail offerings

• Opioid prescriptions drop with increased cannabis access

…and more. Let’s get to it.

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🚨 ROLL CALL

Policy

Up-to-state. With 2025 well underway, a number of states are making moves to add or expand cannabis markets. Find a full breakdown below:

• Florida: Smart and Safe Florida has filed paperwork to get recreational cannabis back on the ballot in 2026 with new language to address previous concerns.

• Hawaii: A bill to legalize recreational cannabis is being punted to next year despite recently receiving approval from multiple legislative committees.

• Indiana: A group of Republican lawmakers introduced a bill to legalize recreational cannabis.

• Pennsylvania: Governor Josh Shapiro included recreational cannabis legalization in his annual budget proposal with sales suggested to start on January 1, 2026; he projects $250 million in additional revenue for the state each year and $1.3 billion over the first five years.

• Tennessee: Bills to legalize recreational and medical cannabis have been introduced by legislators.

• Virginia: Both chambers of the legislature have passed measures to create an adult-use cannabis marketplace, but Governor Glenn Youngkin remains opposed and a veto is likely; growing and possessing cannabis for personal use is already legal.

Stay tuned for further updates on these markets and more as the year progresses.

Tech

Retail therapy. Cannabis wholesale platform Nabis diversified its offerings for retailers with the announcement of two new retail-facing partnerships: a technical integration with industry-leading point-of-sale platform Dutchie, and a centralized distribution solution being brought to market with Embarc, one of California’s fastest-growing cannabis retailers.

With Dutchie, the integration will inform product management and purchasing based on real-time inventory insights and demand forecasts. Features such as automated order suggestions, custom pricing insights, and market analysis tools will also be available.

The Nabis Centralized Distribution Hub — which is being launched with Embarc, but will eventually open to other operators — gives retailers with multiple locations in a given market access to a single centralized storage facility for all inventory to be housed for delivery.

Policy

Alternative medicine. A new federally funded study concluded that substitution of cannabis for prescribed opioids, NSAIDS, and other traditional pain medications increases as the availability of recreational cannabis increases. There is a small observed shift once recreational cannabis becomes legal, with stronger results as users can actually purchase cannabis at recreational dispensaries.

Researchers believe these changes can lead to decreases in the number of new opioid users, rates of opioid use disorder, and related harms.

The research used data from a national sample of privately insured adults.

🇺🇸 STATE OF THE INDUSTRY

Illinois: Total cannabis sales exceeded $2 billion in 2024, the fourth consecutive record-setting year.

Kentucky: The first two medical cannabis cards were handed out last week, with Governor Andy Beshear reporting that another 2,200 other cardholders were also approved.

Maine: A proposed bill would require medical cannabis to undergo the same testing for contaminants and potency as recreational cannabis.

Missouri: Courts have expunged over 140,000 cannabis convictions since recreational legalization in 2022.

💼 BUSINESS

CV Sciences unveils fast-acting fizzing tablets

The consumer wellness company specializing in hemp extracts released all-new, 2.5 mg THC lemon flavored tablets made from premium hemp extract that can be added to beverages such as water or seltzer.

💻 TECH

Metrc to take over track-and-trace in Illinois

The cannabis regulatory technology company signed a contract to support the regulation of the state’s medical and adult-use cannabis markets, replacing incumbent vendor BioTrack.

💨 QUICK HITTERS

• A group of health experts and industry producers in Maine is pushing for age limits on buying intoxicating hemp-derived products and caps on the amount of THC in beverages.

• Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates revealed he smoked weed “to try to look cool” because “maybe some girls would be impressed” in his new memoir Source Code.

• Curaleaf released a new nautical-inspired flower brand in Florida as a nod to the state’s coastline and coastal reefs.

• A dispensary owner in San Francisco that was shot seven times outside his shop is expected to recover.

• North America-based Village Farms commenced sales at its subsidiary in the Netherlands.

📚 WHAT WE’RE READING

• In the NHL, boozing is out. Edible cannabis and video games are in (The Athletic)

• That Art Piece on Your Coffee Table? It’ll Get You High. (New York Times)

• 'Weed Santa' made a special delivery to a band playing in San Francisco (SFGATE)

• Cannabis drinks are becoming more popular. Here’s why. (The Washington Post)

• U.S. cannabis shoppers face a market flush with illegal weed (NPR)

• Opinion: Strong social equity programs improve cannabis regulations (Crain’s Cleveland Business)

📽️ VIDEO OF THE WEEK

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• Implementation Project Manager

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Stay tuned for more cannabis industry news next week!

💚,

The Pre Roll Team

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