💸 The Tape

After decades of federal foot-dragging, false starts, and enough political hedging to fill a dispensary's display case, the Department of Justice on April 23 did the thing everyone in the cannabis industry has been waiting on: it formally rescheduled state-licensed medical marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche signed the final order the day prior, making April 22, 2026 the effective date of the most consequential federal cannabis action in more than half a century.

It is historic. It is also considerably narrower than the industry's most optimistic readers had hoped. Before anyone orders the "280E is Dead" sheet cake, here is what the order actually does, what it carefully does not do, and what it means for companies currently holding a state medical license and a rapidly ticking clock.

The Two Categories That Move

Blanche's order reschedules two — and only two — buckets of product to Schedule III: FDA-approved drug products containing marijuana, and marijuana subject to a qualifying state medical marijuana license. That second category is the one that matters for most operators, and it covers marijuana as defined in the CSA, marijuana extracts, and naturally derived delta-9 THC, but only when attached to a valid state medical license.

Everything else stays exactly where it was. Adult-use cannabis remains Schedule I, even when sold under a perfectly legal state recreational program. Bulk inputs, extracts bound for FDA-approved products, and synthetically derived THC (including the gray-market delta-10 that has kept compliance officers awake at night) also stay put. Hemp is unaffected. Marinol and Syndros keep their existing schedules. The order is surgical, and the administration chose the surgical instrument on purpose.

The Clever Legal Vehicle

Rather than completing the Biden-era notice-and-comment rulemaking — which the DEA has now formally withdrawn — Blanche invoked the Attorney General's authority to implement U.S. obligations under the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. Translation: the administration bypassed the administrative traffic jam by taking a treaty-compliance side street. The trade-off for speed is scope. Because the Single Convention limits cannabis to medical and scientific purposes, the pathway Blanche chose could only legally reach, well, medical and scientific uses. Adult-use operators who expected this order to rain down on them will need to keep watching the skies. A separate expedited DEA administrative hearing on broader rescheduling begins June 29, 2026, with the process required to conclude by July 15.

The Expedited DEA Registration Pathway

This is the operational core for state medical operators, and the timeline is short. State medical marijuana licensees may file for DEA registration using their existing state credentials as conclusive evidence of state-law authorization. The DEA is required to grant registration unless doing so conflicts with the public interest or the Single Convention.

Operators who apply within 60 days of publication — by Monday, June 22, 2026 — may continue operating under their state licenses while DEA review is pending. DEA has committed to processing those early applications within six months. Miss the window and the safe harbor is gone. This is the date to circle, underline, and tape to the CFO's monitor.

The federalism concessions are genuinely favorable. State-required records, certifications, labeling, packaging, disposal, and physical-security standards will be accepted "to the maximum extent permissible," meaning most operators will not have to rebuild compliance infrastructure from scratch. One important wrinkle: a DEA registration automatically suspends if the underlying state license lapses. Federal and state status are now joined at the hip.

The Single Convention's Weirdest Plot Twist

In what will surely become the industry's favorite cocktail-party anecdote, registered manufacturers must establish a nominal purchase price for their marijuana crops and then sell those crops to the DEA at that price, plus an administrative fee, with the DEA immediately reselling them back. The maneuver exists solely to satisfy the Single Convention's requirement that a government agency serve as the exclusive purchaser of cannabis production. Until the paper transaction closes, crops must sit in a DEA-accessible facility. Expect first-mover manufacturers to set the industry template on documentation, timing, and accounting treatment — and expect further sub-regulatory guidance from DEA to follow.

The Tax Headline: 280E, Largely Vanquished

The commercial prize is IRC Section 280E, which has for years disallowed ordinary business-expense deductions for entities trafficking in Schedule I or II substances. Because qualifying medical operations are now Schedule III, state-licensed medical operators are out from under 280E's shadow, effective with the 2026 tax year.

Blanche went further, expressly encouraging the Treasury Secretary to consider retrospective relief for prior years in which an operator held a qualifying state medical license. That encouragement is not a guarantee — Treasury will need to act, and any retrospective relief will almost certainly attract IRS rulemaking and possibly litigation — but for medical operators who have been effectively taxed at punitive federal rates, it is the most meaningful signal in a generation. Hybrid operators (holding both medical and adult-use licenses at the same dispensary) face a genuinely unresolved question about how to allocate revenue and deductions between the two regimes, and should assume the IRS will take its time answering.

What This Means for Cannabis Companies Right Now

Three things. First, file the DEA registration now, or at least start the paperwork this week. Sixty days is not a lot of time for multi-state operators with complicated entity structures, and the safe harbor is too valuable to fumble. Second, call your tax advisor before your next quarterly close. The 280E treatment shift is immediate for medical operators and will change effective tax rates materially; the retrospective question is worth modeling both ways. Third, do not confuse this order with legalization. Adult-use operators remain Schedule I, hybrid operators remain complicated, and the upstream supply chain for FDA-approved products stays in Schedule I limbo. The capital-markets narrative will likely bifurcate accordingly — medical-only operators look relatively more attractive overnight, and expect some creative corporate restructuring as the year progresses.

The June 29 hearing is the next inflection. Whatever comes of it, today's order is a real, durable, and long-overdue shift. It is not the finish line. It is, at long last, a starting gun.

📈 Dog Walkers

$GTBIF ( ▼ 14.77% ) Sizes Up The Share Buyback Program

Green Thumb Industries isn't just talking about its stock being undervalued — it's buying it back at an accelerating pace.

The leading U.S. cannabis operator and owner of RISE Dispensaries announced a $100 million expansion of its existing share repurchase program, bringing the total authorization to $150 million. Since the program launched on September 23, 2025, Green Thumb has already repurchased approximately 7.5 million shares for roughly $43.4 million — with $33 million of that deployed in Q1 2026 alone.

That acceleration tells you something about management's conviction. When a company triples its buyback pace and then adds another $100 million in capacity, it's not a passive signal — it's a statement.

CEO Ben Kovler made it explicit: "We have built a strong business, and we do not believe our current share price fully reflects that value." The additional authorization gives the company "greater flexibility to continue deploying capital opportunistically."

The mechanics are straightforward. Purchases can be made through the Canadian Securities Exchange, the OTCQX, or alternative trading systems, with all acquired shares returned to treasury and cancelled. The program runs through September 22, 2026, and Green Thumb says it does not expect to incur debt to fund the buybacks — meaning this is coming straight from operating cash flow.

The company retains full discretion on timing and volume, and can suspend or terminate purchases if management identifies better uses of capital. But the trajectory so far suggests the opposite: Green Thumb views its own stock as one of the best investments available.

In a cannabis sector where most operators are still managing balance sheet stress, a company with the cash flow to fund a $150 million buyback without leverage stands in a category of its own.

$HITI ( ▼ 6.98% ) Launches Stock Manipulation Investigation

The Canadian cannabis retailer issued an unusually direct statement addressing what it believes may be manipulative trading activity in its common shares — and announced plans to bring in forensic investigators to prove it.

The company says it has observed a recurring pattern over more than ten consecutive quarters: High Tide delivers strong earnings that beat analyst expectations, the stock reacts positively in after-hours trading, and then the closing price the following regular session ends up lower than the prior day's close. Every time. For over two years.

Management and the board have been monitoring trading data, position reports, and related activity alongside the company's market maker, and have concluded they have "reasonable grounds to believe that certain trading activity may not reflect normal market forces" and could be "contrary to applicable securities laws in Canada and the United States."

The response is aggressive. High Tide intends to retain forensic investigators and securities market specialists to conduct an independent review focused on trading around earnings releases and other material disclosure events. The findings will be delivered to regulatory authorities in both countries, including securities commissions and self-regulatory organizations.

The company also invited shareholders and market participants with relevant information to reach out at [email protected].

It's rare for a public cannabis company to publicly accuse unnamed parties of potential market manipulation and announce an investigation. Whether the probe yields regulatory action or simply puts bad actors on notice, High Tide is making clear it won't absorb the pattern silently any longer.

🗞️ The News

📺 YouTube

Schedule III Is Official — What Comes Next? | TTB Presented by Flowhub

What we will cover:

✅ In our latest Trade To Black podcast, hosts Shadd Dales and Anthony Varrell break down what could be the biggest moment the U.S. cannabis industry has ever seen.

The Department of Justice has officially finalized the move to reschedule medical cannabis to Schedule III—and if you’ve been following this space, you already know… this changes everything.

We get into what this actually means right now. Not the hype—the real impact. Taxes, 280E, capital, valuations, and how operators should be thinking about the next 6–12 months.

We’ve got a strong lineup on this one. Boris Jordan (CURLF), George Archos and Aaron Miles (VRNOF), Anthony Coniglio (NLCP), Adam Stettner, and Michael Bronstein all weighing in.

You’ll hear different perspectives on what happens next—from how fast 280E relief actually kicks in, to whether this finally opens the door to institutional capital and banking.

Bottom line: this isn’t the finish line. But it’s a major step—and probably the clearest signal yet that federal reform is actually moving.

If you’re following cannabis stocks, policy, or the business side of this industry, this is one to watch closely.