💸 The Tape

Picture this: the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), clad in its stiff anti-pot armor, is caught red-handed rigging the game on marijuana rescheduling. A juicy Feb. 17 court filing by the plucky Doctors for Drug Policy Reform (DDPR) spills the tea—163 applicants whittled down to a cozy 25, with New York and Colorado’s pro-weed pleas rudely ghosted, while the DEA tossed lifelines to a dozen buzzkill opponents. It’s the juiciest peek yet into the agency’s shenanigans, and it’s got the cannabis crowd crying foul.

Dr. Bryon Adinoff, DDPR’s fearless leader and a Colorado shrink with a knack for sniffing out bias, isn’t shocked. “It’s the DEA’s worst-kept secret,” he smirks to MJBizDaily, spearheading a lawsuit to hit rewind on this clown show—or at least make the DEA spill its guts. Filed last November in the D.C. Circuit, the case is a live wire, with Adinoff betting a pause beats a rigged rejection. “Better to fight now than lose to their stacked deck,” he quips, eyeing the $32 billion cannabis biz dangling tax relief like a carrot on a stick.

The DEA’s been dodging rescheduling vibes since Biden kicked off this saga in 2022, calling it their “most consequential” move ever—per a posse of ex-administrators who’d know. The Department of Health and Human Services gave weed a medical thumbs-up in 2023, but the DEA’s been clutching its pearls, with April 2024 memos showing internal tantrums over the HHS’s chill stance. Hearings slated for March 6? Poof—delayed indefinitely by appeals and Trump’s new DEA pick, Terrance Cole, looming like a buzzkill at a 420 party.

The dirt? Nearly 1,700 pages of DEA docs reveal a “secret” selection process that’d make a reality TV producer blush. Rejecting legit state reps while cherry-picking a random Connecticut patient (who bailed) and sending “cure letters” to nine naysayers—while snubbing UC San Diego’s pro-weed crew—screams bias so loud it’s practically a siren. “This is the DEA’s sandbox,” sighs Cat Packer of the Drug Policy Alliance, another rejectee. “They make the rules, and fairness isn’t on the guest list.” With Trump’s crew in play, the rescheduling dream’s on ice—leaving the cannabis world wondering if the DEA’s just too high on power to pass the joint.

📈 Dog Walkers.

Cresco Lands In Kentucky

What’s Going On Here: Kentucky’s medical marijuana saga just got a juicy twist: Cresco Labs, the cannabis cool kid with Sunnyside swagger, snagged a rare Tier 3 Cultivation License. With 25,000 square feet of leafy canopy, they’re ready to sprinkle some high-ROIC magic on the Bluegrass State’s $135-million-and-climbing market. CEO Charlie Bachtell’s practically giddy, promising Kentuckians the crème de la crème of pot portfolios. After two years of cash-flow flexing, Cresco’s sowing seeds in this freshly legal weed patch—launched January 1, 2025—hoping to harvest a green gold rush by 2028!

Why Should You Care: Kentucky is a prime rust belt market that is set to have all systems firing on the implementation of their Medical Program. While there is plenty of hemp and its nowhere near the size of lets say Florida it is a great market for Cresco to have such an exclusive and sizeable cultivation license to have.

High Tide Expands In Ontario

Whats Going On: High Tide Inc., is planting its Canna Cabana flag in Ontario’s Collingwood and Cambridge, hitting stores 193 and 194 nationwide on March 13 and 17, 2025. Collingwood’s spot, nestled in tourist central with 400,000 annual gawkers, sits pretty by hardware and grocery giants, snagging Blue Mountain-bound stoners first. Cambridge, meanwhile, lords over a bustling intersection with fast-food neighbors and scant competition. CEO Raj Grover’s grinning ear-to-ear, promising cheap buds, Cabana Club perks, and a legal highs empire that’s nearing its 200-store swagger milestone!

Why You Should Care: The rich keep getting richer north of the border and High Tide continues to do a bang up job at expanding the porfolio in a strategic way.

🗞️ The News

📺 YouTube

DEA's Bias Confirmed: Marijuana Rescheduling Unveiled in Lawsuit | Trade to Black

What we will cover:

✅ On our latest Trade to Black podcast, hosts Shadd Dales and Anthony Varrell will be joined by Shane Pennington, Partner at Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP, to discuss the big news involving the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and its stance on marijuana rescheduling. Longstanding suspicions that the DEA is opposed to rescheduling marijuana from Schedule 1 to Schedule 3 under federal law have been confirmed by agency decisions made public during an ongoing lawsuit.

According to DEA documents made public as part of a lawsuit brought by Doctors for Drug Policy Reform (DDPR), the federal drug agency considered a total of 163 applicants but selected only 25 based on still-unknown criteria. The DEA rejected participation requests from New York and Colorado officials, who supported rescheduling, and attempted to aid almost a dozen opponents of marijuana rescheduling. This is the fullest disclosure to date of the DEA’s actions during the marijuana rescheduling process.