Cannabis industry insiders may have grown weary of peering into their crystal balls to determine whether federal reform of any kind is on the horizon during the new Trump administration, but it doesn’t appear that the murkiness will lift anytime soon.

That’s in spite of the president nominating a cannabis champion as drug czar and marijuana-funded ads running on televisions at Mar-a-Lago. Trump hand-picked former journalist Sara Carter to lead his Office of National Drug Control Policy, and in a social media post praised her reporting on the “Fentanyl and Opioid Crisis.”

Carter has called medical marijuana “fantastic” and said she has no problem with federal cannabis legalization as long as the industry is “monitored,” Marijuana Moment reported this week.

However, Carter’s vocal support for cannabis in general comes in stark contrast to positions taken by other key Trump appointees, including Attorney General Pam Bondi, who opposed medical marijuana legalization in her home state of Florida, and Trump’s choice to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration, Terrance Cole.

One of the cabinet members with which Carter may somewhat align is Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has in the past also been vocally supportive of marijuana reform, but who has since backed away from that position somewhat since joining the Trump administration.

That said, Carter’s previous vocal support will likely have little impact, since it’s literally against federal law for her as drug czar to support either rescheduling or legalization of marijuana or any other Schedule I narcotic. So it’s still very unclear what, if anything, her appointment will signify for cannabis business interests.

The Trump administration in general stayed silent on the topic when he retook office in January, although the presidential transition team did try to quietly sneak a version of the SAFE Banking Act into an omnibus spending bill in December, according to CNN. That attempt followed a campaign promise by Trump last fall, in which he said he’d be voting in favor of the Florida ballot measure to legalize recreational marijuana (the ballot question failed anyway), and also asserted his support for federal marijuana rescheduling and other reforms that appeared to be gaining steam under President Joe Biden.

The rescheduling process – which would deliver billions in tax savings to the U.S. marijuana industry if it’s ever completed – has been stalled for months since Trump took office, and there’s not yet any signs it’ll be put back on track. A White House spokesperson recently told CNN that “no action is being considered at this time” on marijuana reform, and Trump’s own social media post about Carter didn’t mention cannabis.

Not content to rest on their laurels, however, a marijuana-backed political action committee called American Rights and Reform PAC has cobbled together a pair of TV ads that will be running in both Washington, D.C., and the West Palm Beach area, which includes Trump’s resort Mar-a-Lago, where he’s known to spend much of his free time.

The ads, first reported by Marijuana Moment last month, are seemingly written specifically with Trump in mind, and lambast both Biden and Canada, two of the president’s favorite targets. The PAC spent over $1 million on the ads, CNN reported, and apparently Curaleaf Holdings (CURA:CA) (TSX: CURA) (OTCQX: CURLF) helped pay for the effort. The ads both argue that Trump would benefit politically from enacting federal marijuana reform.

“This is an America First fight,” one of the ads intones, invoking a key political theme of Trump’s. “President Trump had the courage to sign Right to Try, healing American patients. Let’s do it again. Reschedule cannabis and put American first.”

Given how mercurial Trump can be depending on who’s bending his ear – and the variety of opinions in his administration on the topic of marijuana – the approach may just work. At this point, the industry has precious little left to lose.

The newest U.S. state recreational marijuana market appears to be on hold indefinitely.

Delaware legislators, after legalizing adult-use cannabis in 2023, are being forced to revisit the recreational marijuana law they approved following a denial by the FBI for help with background checks on business license holders due to a technicality.

The FBI said that Delaware state law “must contain language explicitly identifying the categories of persons required to obtain a background check” in order to avoid “overbreadth” in the background check process, according to a press release.

“The Office of the Marijuana Commissioner will work expeditiously with the General Assembly to develop proposed legislation containing criteria that is satisfactory to the FBI,” the state said in the release.

That, however, leaves stakeholders unclear on how long the new market launch may now be delayed, and one marijuana advocate told WBOC that the circumstances could “jeopardize the entire success of the legislation and the industry.”

“This entire process since day one has been one step forward, several steps back and has been met with nothing but delays and obstruction,” Zoe Patchell of the Delaware Cannabis Advocacy Network told WBOC.

And so far, the state Office of Marijuana has not even found a lawmaker willing to run an emergency bill, according to Delaware Online.

Meanwhile, the cannabis regulatory agency has been without a full-time permanent commissioner since Rob Coupe stepped down from the role in January. Deputy Commissioner Paul Hyland has been running the agency since then, Delaware Online reported, and Gov. Matt Meyer has yet to nominate a replacement. Whoever is nominated must be confirmed by the state Senate.

Delaware regulators awarded recreational 125 business permits over two lotteries last year, the first in October and the second in December. The market was intended to open this spring, but that plan is on hold until lawmakers can fix the statute to either satisfy the FBI and get background checks completed, or to eliminated the requirement for the checks entirely.

Filament Health Corp. (OTCQB: FLHLF) (Cboe CA: FH) reported a net loss of $4.97 million for 2024 while the botanical psychedelic drug developer expanded its clinical trial programs and intellectual property portfolio.

The Vancouver-based company announced in its year-end financial results that cash reserves stood at just $391,237 as of Dec. 31, 2024, down from $1.83 million at the end of 2023.

“Over the course of 2024, we continued to expand Filament’s position as a leading global supplier of cGMP botanical psilocybin,” Benjamin Lightburn, co-founder and CEO, said in a statement. “While this past year presented challenges, we remain steadfast in our mission to unlock the therapeutic potential of botanical psilocybin and our other botanical drug candidates.”

Lightburn pointed to the company’s focus on advancing its lead program, PEX010, through clinical trials globally. The emphasis on treating substance use disorders saw validation from positive trial results showing efficacy in severe alcohol use disorder patients, according to the company.

Last month, the company reported that a single dose of PEX010 reduced heavy drinking days by more than 50% over a 12-week observation period in an open-label Phase 2 clinical trial at Psychiatric Centre Copenhagen.

Financial results showed annual revenue of $616,678, down significantly from $2.13 million in 2023. The company used $4.9 million in cash for operating activities during 2024.

Filament’s financial statements included a going concern note from auditors, indicating “material uncertainties regarding the Company’s ability to execute its business plan and continue in the normal course of operations” due to negative cash flow and an accumulated deficit of $36.12 million.

During 2024, Filament boosted its intellectual property position with the acceptance of 12 patents by IP Australia, five patents by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office, and three patents by the United States Patent and Trademark Office related to the development of botanical psychedelic drugs.

The company also expanded its international reach by completing exports of botanical psilocybin to multiple countries. Filament in January announced shipments to the University of Wisconsin-Madison for FDA-approved clinical trials and previously reported first-ever exports of botanical psilocybin to Israel and Australia.

Filament operates with a Health Canada Dealer’s License, allowing it to possess, produce and transport psilocybin and other compounds found in natural fungi. The company manufactures standardized botanical psychedelic drug candidates including oral psilocybin (PEX010) as well as oral and sublingual psilocin (PEX020 and PEX030).

The company developed a joint venture called Magdalena Biosciences with Jaguar Health to develop natural psychedelic medicines. In December, Magdalena successfully completed an import of six kilograms of coca leaf from Peru to Filament’s Metro Vancouver research facility.