For the Culture By The Culture
This week’s Reefer Report Card exposes a system under strain as federal hemp policy whiplashes, New York’s cannabis regulator unravels, and Massachusetts stirs panic over THC potency. Patients and workers absorb the fallout while international reform stalls under bureaucratic drag. Cannabis holds steady. Governance does not.
Congress shocked the country when it passed a shutdown bill that would eliminate 99% of hemp products by 2026. Public backlash forced lawmakers to respond, and a new Senate bill now aims to replace prohibition with regulation. The fight is far from over, but pressure is already reshaping the political landscape around hemp.
Federal lawmakers quietly inserted language into a budget bill that could criminalize countless cannabis seeds based solely on the THC profile of the parent plant. The move threatens growers, breeders, medical cultivators, and the genetic diversity that built modern cannabis culture. This seismic shift puts control of the plant’s future in the hands of federal agencies, not the people who preserved it.
This week’s Reefer Report Card exposes the scromiting panic, Washington’s latest hemp crackdown, and the Supreme Court inching toward a decision that could rewrite prohibition. Patients and veterans stayed stuck in outdated systems while global reform moved forward with hesitation. Panic got headlines. Weed got scapegoated. The world kept smoking anyway.
This week’s Reefer Report Card tracks rising tension across cannabis policy as the federal hemp derived THC crackdown threatens a multibillion dollar market, New York’s enforcement chaos drags on, and the Supreme Court prepares to weigh the future of prohibition. Veterans wait for real care, and global reform shows hesitation from Brazil to Germany and Thailand. Pressure is building everywhere.
Congress inserted language into the shutdown bill that threatens to eliminate a 28 billion market relied on by veterans, older adults, people living with chronic pain, and those avoiding alcohol. The Hemp Beverage Alliance and NORML warned that this crisis is the result of political maneuvering rather than safety concerns. The next 365 days will decide the future of these products.
