Filed Under: Weekly Burn
The week dragged reform through red tape and new taxes. Michigan mugged its own market. New York held a line in court. Massachusetts tried to get its act together. Pennsylvania remembered compassion. Germany rewound progress.
STATEHOUSE HEADLINER
Michigan slaps a 24 percent wholesale tax on weed
Governor Gretchen Whitmer called it a “fix for the roads.” Growers called it a stickup. Michigan’s new wholesale tax piles 24 percent on top of the state’s 10 percent excise and 6 percent sales taxes, making legal cannabis one of the most over-taxed products in America. The Michigan Cannabis Industry Association fired back with a lawsuit, arguing the tax violates the state’s voter-approved legalization law. Small dispensaries warn they will close before the asphalt gets a dime.
Grade: F
GOVERNMENT CLOWN CAR AWARD
New York buffer-zone blunder ends up in court
After state regulators mis-measured school distances, more than 150 licensed dispensaries faced forced relocation. A state judge granted an injunction letting them stay open while Albany cleans up its mess. The regulators who could not use a map now get homework from the court.
Grade: C
REGULATOR ROULETTE
Massachusetts brings its watchdog back from limbo
The Cannabis Control Commission chair returned after a year of courtroom drama. Lawmakers are pushing a modernization bill to simplify testing, licensing, and agency structure. If they deliver, the market finally gets adult supervision. If not, it stays the same clown show.
Grade: C+
PATIENT RIGHTS WATCH
Pennsylvania moves to allow medical cannabis in hospitals
A bipartisan group of state senators advanced a bill to let terminal patients use their prescribed cannabis in hospital care. For once, politics got out of the way of compassion. Real people will feel this one.
Grade: B
INTERNATIONAL HEAT CHECK
Germany tightens the leash on online cannabis sales
The German cabinet approved new rules banning mail-order cannabis and requiring in-person doctor visits after a surge in imports and prescriptions. The move aims to curb abuse, but it slams patients who rely on telehealth. Progress slows, bureaucracy wins.
Grade: D+
FINAL GRADE: C-
The Midwest taxed progress into retreat. The East Coast stumbled into court. The Northeast tried reform by committee. The Mid-Atlantic showed a little heart. Europe reminded everyone how to complicate a good idea. It was a week of motion without momentum.
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The Drug Test Lie Finally Cracks in New Mexico
New Mexico’s Senate Bill 129 challenges the long standing assumption that a positive cannabis test equals impairment. By separating outdated drug testing from actual workplace safety, the bill aims to protect medical cannabis patients from job discrimination while preserving employer authority over real on the job risk and misconduct.
How Cannabis Can Cost You Your Gun
Federal law still allows cannabis use to strip Americans of firearm rights without proof of danger or misuse. As the Supreme Court weighs United States v. Hemani, courts are confronting whether the government can continue punishing people based on status rather than conduct in a country where cannabis is legal in most states.
Reefer Report Card Vol. 32: Kicking the Can Again
This week’s Reefer Report Card tracks a familiar pattern in cannabis policy: delay dressed as progress. Federal lawmakers punted again on hemp regulation, states flirted with dismantling legal markets, and patients were left waiting. Oversight weakened, accountability faded, and reform stalled. Another week in weed, graded.
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