Kangaroo Court

Will the DEA pull a Trump Card?

Daily Recap

Dissatisfied with what they say is an opaque and biased process that violates federal law, a group of pro-cannabis rescheduling doctors and researchers is asking a federal court to intervene and compel the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to redo key steps in the process. The petition represents what may be the strongest effort yet to wrest some control of the still-paused rescheduling saga away from the DEA.

USCR Senior VP David Culver has an even better idea: President Trump can keep his campaign pledge and announce his intention to move cannabis to Schedule III, and the DEA could pull the notice of hearing and go directly to a final rule. This way, HHS Secretary RFK Jr. will be able to better study the plant to inform his future decisions.

“That is the ideal situation. The hearing, which is currently stalled, becomes null and void and they go right to final rule. That’s my hope and like I said earlier, we do have legal opinions on this that we spent a lot of time preparing with outside council that we’re passing along to the White House team.”

Pardon Us

President Donald Trump is reportedly planning to appoint a person whose sentence for a drug-related conviction he commuted to a new role as the nation’s “pardon czar” responsible for facilitating future clemency actions.

According to reports, Trump intends to create a role for Alice Marie Johnson to serve as a designated pardon official at the White House. Johnson received a presidential commutation from Trump during his last term in 2018 while serving a life sentence related to cocaine trafficking charges. Trump later issued Johnson a pardon in 2020.

PA PA Don’t Preach

A top Pennsylvania Republican senator says he doesn’t “see any path whatsoever” to pass cannabis legalization as requested under the governor’s latest budget—but a Democratic House colleague is pushing for the reform, saying he can’t understand why Pennsylvania would forgo the tax dollars currently going to other states.

Meanwhile, a new poll found that nearly 7 in 10 voters in the state support the reform, including a majority of Republicans. Most voters also want to see the legislature enact the policy change this year, rather than delaying it—again.

Stop the Madness

California levies a 1-cent tax on a glass of wine, 2 cents on a can of beer, 8 cents on a shot of liquor and roughly 14 cents on a single cigarette—while one cannabis pre-roll is taxed at $1.24 under the current 15% excise tax.

California is now set to increase its excise tax to 19% starting on July 1, as a result of a compromise that elected officials made three years ago; however, Assemblymember Matt Haney (D-SF) has filed a bill in an attempt to stop the increase from happening.

Stocks & Stuff

It was another thin day in Cannaland as the space bides time ahead of earnings, which will begin with Green Thumb on Wednesday. U.S. cannabis ETF MSOS finished +3%, although it is still -12% thus far in this young year.

Below, we’ll top-line today, weigh the snapshot (earnings) v. the movie (forward path), check the odds on rescheduling in 2025, map the U.S. canna employment trajectory, dive deeper into New Jersey, and explore the most popular Canadian form factors.

All that and more, just scroll down.

Note: there likely will be no Cannabis Confidential tomorrow; enjoy the weekend.

SPY 0.00%↑ QQQ 0.00%↑ IWM 0.00%↑ MSOS 0.00%↑ ETF Notional: $12M

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