The governor of Kentucky says that he expects to see medical marijuana growers “putting seed in the ground really soon,” projecting that patients will have access to cannabis before the year’s end.

Speaking with reporters after his “Team Kentucky” update, Gov. Andy Beshear (D) was asked whether medical marijuana patients will have to wait until 2026 before dispensaries open and products are available.

“I hope not,” the governor said. “On medical marijuana, we’re getting really close—this fall and this winter, I think we are very close to doing our site visits to both growers and potentially even the first processor.”

“My sense is that it’s probably the processors—with the amount of equipment and the size of the investment there—that are going to drive that,” he said. “But the first set of growers are going to be putting seed in the ground really soon.”

Beshear added that he acknowledges “it’s taken longer than we would have liked” to stand up the industry since he signed medical marijuana legalization into law in 2023.

“But the law kind of set that up with how it had to be implemented,” he said.

The governor noted that, in recognition of the delayed implementation, he recently signed an executive order to waive renewal fees for patients who get their cards this year so that they don’t get charged again before retailers open. And another order he signed providing protections for qualified patients who obtain medical marijuana outside of Kentucky “will stay in place.”

“We’re making sure that that doesn’t hold us back from getting the other parts open, because we’re opening all these different parts at the same time,” he said. “So almost all of our dispensaries [that received licenses] now have their final counties. I think we will have all of them with the final counties here in about a month.”

Beshear separately announced this month that the state has launched a new online directory that lets people see where medical cannabis dispensaries will be opening near them.

He emphasized that the state has been working to deliver access to patients “at the earliest possible date,” and that involved expediting the licensing process. The governor in January also ceremonially awarded the commonwealth’s first medical marijuana cards.

—
Marijuana Moment is tracking hundreds of cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments.

Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to get access.
—

Meanwhile, the governor sent a letter to Kentucky’s congressional delegation in January, “urging them to take decisive action to protect the constitutional rights of our law abiding medical cannabis patients” by repealing the federal ban on gun possession by people who use marijuana.

That came after bipartisan Kentucky senators filed legislation that similarly called on the state’s federal representatives to take corrective action, which Beshear said he supports but would like to see even more sweeping change on the federal level.

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) warned Kentucky residents late last year that, if they choose to participate in the state’s medical marijuana program, they will be prohibited from buying or possessing firearms under federal law.

As far as the implementation of the state’s medical cannabis law goes, Beshear said in his State of the Commonwealth address in January that patients will have access to cannabis sometime “this year.” He also later shared tips for patients to find a doctor and get registered to participate in the cannabis program.

Health practitioners have been able to start assessing patients for recommendations since the beginning of December.

While there currently aren’t any up-and-running dispensaries available to patients, Beshear has further affirmed that an executive order he signed in 2023 will stay in effect in the interim, protecting patients who possess medical cannabis purchased at out-of-state licensed retailers.

During last year’s November election, Kentucky also saw more than 100 cities and counties approve local ordinances to allow medical cannabis businesses in their jurisdictions. The governor said the election results demonstrate that “the jury is no longer out” on the issue that is clearly supported by voters across partisan and geographical lines.

New Chicago Police Policy Discourages Searches Based On Marijuana Odor

Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.

“The odds are always against the Supreme Court hearing any particular case, but the cannabis industry’s approach in this one absolutely ensures it won’t happen.”

By James B. Mann, former U.S. Department of Justice Tax Division deputy assistant attorney general

A much-hyped lawsuit meant to challenge federal cannabis law has officially flamed out. The First Circuit Court of Appeals recently issued a unanimous opinion rejecting Canna Provisions v. Garland (also known as Canna Provisions v. Bondi), a case widely seen as the cannabis industry’s best shot at attacking federal prohibition through the courts.

The case was intended to strike down cannabis’s Schedule I classification under the Controlled Substances Act and eliminate the crushing tax burden imposed by Section 280E of the Internal Revenue Code. Instead, it ended in a resounding defeat—with precisely zero chance of being heard by the Supreme Court.

Section 280E is one of the most punishing burdens facing the legal cannabis industry. Originally enacted in the 1980s to prevent drug traffickers from deducting business expenses, 280E blocks cannabis operators—even fully legal ones under state law—from writing off ordinary costs like rent, payroll or equipment. The result is that cannabis businesses often pay two to three times more in federal income tax than they would if they sold any other legal product.

The cannabis industry’s battle against 280E is now being waged across all three branches of government. Congress is being lobbied for legislative relief. The executive branch is being pressured to reschedule cannabis so 280E no longer applies. And the judiciary has been pulled in through legal challenges like Canna Provisions.

The lawsuit was filed with much fanfare in October 2023—it was funded by many of the large cannabis companies and used a big-name law firm, Boies Schiller. The goal was to overturn a 2005 Supreme Court decision, Gonzales v. Raich. In Raich, the Court upheld the Controlled Substances Act as applied to cannabis grown solely for personal medical use within one state.

Boies Schiller essentially made two arguments—first, that the realities of the cannabis market had changed so much since 2005 that Raich was outdated and wrong, and second, that Congress had passed legislation proving cannabis no longer belongs in Schedule I. The First Circuit wasn’t having any of it. The 3-0 opinion pointed out that even though the facts had changed, they had not changed enough to make Congress’s classification irrational as part of a comprehensive regime of drug regulation (the relevant test).

The court also dismissed the claim that federal legislation proved cannabis should be removed from Schedule I. The opinion noted that the funding restrictions were limited in their effect and applied only to medical cannabis (Canna Provisions and the other plaintiffs are adult-use sellers).

Interestingly, the opinion repeatedly criticizes the lack of logical development of Canna Provisions’s arguments, going so far as to dismiss one of the most important arguments for “lack of development.”

Supreme Court justices vote on what cases to hear, and it takes four votes to put a matter on the docket. In a lawsuit like Canna Provisions, there is no split among the circuit courts for the Supreme Court to resolve. That means the only real path to a hearing was to convince the justices that the case presented an urgent federal legal question.

There is one justice still on the bench from Raich—Justice Clarence Thomas. His dissent in that case, and his opinions in other Commerce Clause cases, emphasize his belief that federal power has stretched far beyond the Framers’ intent. Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s dissent also argued that the federal law intruded on core state powers.

Bizarrely, Boies Schiller never raised the arguments made by either Thomas or O’Connor. It’s unclear who they thought would vote to hear the case based on the strategy they pursued.

And while oral argument isn’t usually a decisive factor in appellate decisions, it didn’t help that David Boies was completely shredded by the three-judge panel. (The First Circuit has publicly available recordings of oral arguments.) Boies was once one of the most prominent litigators of his generation—there’s even a chapter in a Malcolm Gladwell book about his mind and how he overcame dyslexia. But at 84, he was unprepared for basic questions and clearly no longer at his peak.

The odds are always against the Supreme Court hearing any particular case, but the cannabis industry’s approach in this one absolutely ensures it won’t happen. More broadly, Canna Provisions underscores the complexity of using litigation to advance federal cannabis reform. While carefully crafted legal challenges may still have a role, this case failed to present the type of arguments or posture that could realistically have drawn the Supreme Court’s interest.

James B. Mann is a tax attorney whose practice centers on cannabis taxation and complex business tax planning. A Harvard Law and Columbia MBA graduate, he previously served as deputy assistant attorney general in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Tax Division, led tax-debt advisory at Société Générale, and represented major cannabis clients—including arguing the Harborside case in the Ninth Circuit.

Matt Gaetz Pictured Reviewing Contract To Provide Top Marijuana Company With ‘Administration-Related’ Support Amid Rescheduling Push

Photo elements courtesy of rawpixel and Philip Steffan.

Retired boxer Mike Tyson has delivered his message to reschedule, and ultimately legalize, marijuana to President Donald Trump on one of his most-watched TV networks: Fox News.

Days after leading a letter alongside other professional athletes and celebrities promoting cannabis reform that was sent to Trump on Friday, Tyson joined FOX & Friends on Monday where he made made the case for rescheduling marijuana, expanding clemency and allowing licensed cannabis businesses to access the banking system.

“Cannabis is in the same category as heroin. How do you categorize it with heroin?” he said. “Anybody that ever smoked cannabis knows there’s no comparison and that it’s just ridiculous.”

Tyson reiterated his support for moving marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA)—a reform that was initiated under the Biden administration but has since stalled at the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). And he also stressed the economic opportunity of changing federal marijuana laws for state-licensed businesses.

“There’s over 500,000 people that can’t get loans in the cannabis business alone, and that’s just so ridiculous,” Tyson, who owns the marijuana company Tyson 2.0, said. “It’s such a great income for the country. And I just can’t see it. It’s ridiculous.”

He added that advocates are “also working on clemency, because there’s people that still in prison—been in there for 15 years, got enormous amount of time and ridiculous sentences—for cannabis.”

Tyson also argued that “the first mistake that we’re making is categorizing [marijuana] as a drug. It’s not a drug. It’s a medicine.” And he said his personal experience with cannabis is a testament to that, pointing out that he was “going crazy” as a young adult before he started consuming marijuana for its therapeutic benefits.

Asked whether he feels the plant should be fully legalized nationwide, Tyson said “100 percent yes,” in large part because “the time and the sentences” that people criminalized over cannabis have received are “just totally ridiculous.”

The boxer cited the criminal justice reform advocate and former federal cannabis prisoner Weldon Angelos as an example. Angelos helped organize the letter to Trump, who pardoned him over a cannabis-related offense during his first term.

Tyson, along with Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Alina Habba, also recently toured a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) lab. And during his Fox News interview, he echoed points from that tour, asserting that illicit operators from China and Mexico are “filling our cannabis with fentanyl and pesticides and all that stuff, and it’s just killing human beings.”

Throughout the talk, Tyson stressed that he feels “cannabis is not a drug.”

“No one’s ever [overdosed from cannabis,” he said. People drink. How many people die drinking? You put a bunch of people that don’t like each other in the room and give them alcohol and they kill each other. You give them some cannabis and they start taking selfies or whatever.”

The interview comes about a week after Trump’s first pick for attorney general in the current administration, former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), reiterated his own support for rescheduling cannabis—suggesting in an interview with a Florida Republican lawmaker that the GOP could win more of the youth vote by embracing marijuana reform.

On marijuana rescheduling, the president did endorse the policy change on the campaign trail. But he’s been publicly silent on the issue since taking office. Gaetz said last month that Trump’s endorsement of a Schedule III reclassification was essentially an attempt to shore up support among young voters rather than a sincere reflection of his personal views about cannabis.

A survey conducted by a GOP pollster affiliated with Trump that was released in April found that a majority of Republicans back a variety of cannabis reforms, including rescheduling. And, notably, they’re even more supportive of allowing states to legalize marijuana without federal interference compared to the average voter.

—
Marijuana Moment is tracking hundreds of cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments.

Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to get access.
—

Meanwhile, Trump picked former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi (R) to run DOJ, and the Senate confirmed that choice. During her confirmation hearings, Bondi declined to say how she planned to navigate key marijuana policy issues. And as state attorney general, she opposed efforts to legalize medical cannabis.

Adding to the uncertainty around the fate of the rescheduling proposal, Trump’s nominee to lead DEA, Terrance Cole, has previously voiced concerns about the dangers of marijuana and linked its use to higher suicide risk among youth.

During an in-person hearing before the Judiciary Committee in April, Cole said examining the rescheduling proposal will be “one of my first priorities” if he was confirmed for the role, saying it’s “time to move forward” on the stalled process—but again without clarifying what end result he would like to see.

DEA recently notified an agency judge that the proceedings are still on hold—with no future actions currently scheduled. The matter sat without action before an acting administrator, Derek Maltz, who has called cannabis a “gateway drug” and linked its use to psychosis. Maltz has since left the position.

Amid the stalled marijuana rescheduling process that’s carried over from the last presidential administration, congressional researchers recently reiterated that lawmakers could enact the reform themselves with “greater speed and flexibility” if they so choose, while potentially avoiding judicial challenges.

Marijuana Industry Lawsuit Has ‘Zero Chance’ Of Being Heard By Supreme Court, Former DOJ Lawyer Says (Op-Ed)

Image element courtesy of Super Festivals.