Edibles have become mainstream and this summer a a fresh flavor has burst on the scene!

Edibles have been become mainstream, from Gen Z using them to manage anxiety to boomers using them for pain management, they are now part of a majority of people’s lives.  Gummies make up over 85% of the edible market, but can you guess the new hot flavor for cannabis this summer?  Watermelon, blue raspberry, raspberry and strawberry have been key flavors in the edibles market.  But this summer, there is a most have new taste for your chill.

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Orange is taking center stage in the cannabis world, quickly becoming the must-try flavor of the season. From citrusy sativas to tangy vape cartridges and edibles, consumers are reaching for strains and products with bold orange notes that promise both flavor and effect.

Strains like Orange Creamsicle, Tangie, and Clementine are flying off dispensary shelves, praised for their uplifting, energetic highs and zesty terpene profiles. The dominant terpenes—like limonene and myrcene—not only offer mood-boosting benefits but also deliver that unmistakable sweet-tart aroma reminiscent of fresh oranges and summer sunshine.

“Orange is a popular flavor lately. Customers love a citrus strain, and the trend is shifting from lemons and limes to orange. Watermelon used to be the top flavor across all categories, but blue raspberry has taken its place. Watermelon is still a top 5 flavor though,” said Ryan Torchin, GM & Buyer Planet 13 Orange County.

Cannabis brands are leaning into the trend, launching orange-infused gummies, live resin concentrates, and pre-rolls designed to capture that bright, refreshing essence. With consumer preferences shifting toward flavorful, fruit-forward experiences, orange hits the perfect note between nostalgia and novelty.

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One of the new tasty strains flying off the shelf is Orange Push Pop. It is also known as Emergen-C, and is an exhilarating strain brought to you by the master breeders at Seed Junky Genetics. With its lineage rooted in Orange Push Pop crossed with the classic Sherbet strain, this variety sets the bar high for aromatic and flavorful experiences. Orange Push Pop is as visually appealing as it is flavorful. Orange Push Pop has this sweet, juicy orange smell which is hard to resist and a hint of creaminess.  It is similar to the orange creamsicle. 

Whether you’re a seasoned user or just exploring the scene, this citrus wave offers a delicious way to enjoy cannabis with a seasonal twist. Keep your eye on orange—it’s more than a flavor, it’s the summer’s statement strain.

A Florida campaign seeking to qualify a marijuana legalization initiative for the state’s 2026 ballot has now collected nearly 70 percent of the required signatures to put the measure before voters.

Almost six months after the campaign Smart & Safe Florida first filed the measure, the latest data from the state Division of Elections shows that advocates have gathered 613,214 of the needed 880,062 signatures to secure ballot placement.

This comes after the group made the 2024 ballot with a prior version of the legalization proposal that fell short of a steep 60 percent vote threshold to pass.

Last month, the state affirmed that the campaign collected enough for the 2026 initiative to trigger a fiscal and judicial review.

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said in February that the newest measure is in “big time trouble” with the state Supreme Court, predicting it will be blocked from going before voters next year.

“There’s a lot of different perspectives on on marijuana,” DeSantis said. “It should not be in our Constitution. If you feel strongly about it, you have elections for the legislature. Go back candidates that you believe will be able to deliver what your vision is on that.”

“But when you put these things in the Constitution—and I think, I mean, the way they wrote, there’s all kinds of things going on in here. I think it’s going to have big time trouble getting through the Florida Supreme Court,” he said.

In addition to collecting 880,062 valid signatures from registered voters, Smart & Safe Florida must gather them from a minimum of 8 percent of voters in at least half of the state’s congressional districts. The campaign has currently exceeded the needed threshold in just three of the 28 districts, but is close in several others.

Marijuana Moment reached out to the campaign for comment, but a representative was not immediately available.

At its current signature count, the campaign has already succeeded in reaching one of the first milestones. The state is now statutorily obligated to conduct a judicial and financial review of the measure that will determine its legal eligibility and inform the electorate about its potential economic impact.

The latest initiative was filed with the secretary of state’s office just months after the initial version failed during the November 2024 election—despite an endorsement from President Donald Trump.

Smart & Safe Florida is hoping the revised version will succeed in 2026. The campaign—which in the last election cycle received tens of millions of dollars from cannabis industry stakeholders, principally the multi-state operator Trulieve—incorporated certain changes into the new version that seem responsive to criticism opponents raised during the 2024 push.

For example, it now specifically states that the “smoking and vaping of marijuana in any public place is prohibited.”Another section asserts that the legislature would need to approve rules dealing with the “regulation of the time, place, and manner of the public consumption of marijuana.”

Last year, the governor accurately predicted that the 2024 cannabis measure from the campaign would survive a legal challenge from the state attorney general. It’s not entirely clear why he feels this version would face a different outcome.

While there’s uncertainty around how the state’s highest court will navigate the measure, a poll released in February showed overwhelming bipartisan voter support for the reform—with 67 percent of Florida voters backing legalization, including 82 percent of Democrats, 66 percent of independents and 55 percent of Republicans.

However, the results conflict with another recent poll from the Florida Chamber of Commerce, a proactive opponent of legalization, that found majority support for the reform among likely voter (53 percent) but not enough to be enacted under the 60 percent requirement.

In the background of the campaign’s signature development, DeSantis signed a GOP-led bill last month to impose significant restrictions on the ability to put initiatives on the ballot—a plan that could impair efforts to let voters decide on marijuana legalization next year.

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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.

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Separately, a Florida GOP senator claimed recently that the legalization campaign “tricked” Trump into supporting the 2024 measure by misleading him and the general public about key provisions.

Ahead of the election, Trump said in September that he felt Amendment 3 was “going to be very good” for the state.

Before making the comments, Trump met with the CEO of Trulieve, Kim Rivers, as well as with a GOP state senator who is in favor of the reform.

While Trump endorsed the Florida cannabis initiative—as well as federal rescheduling and industry banking access—he has since been silent on cannabis issues. And his cabinet choices have mixed records on marijuana policy.

Meanwhile in Florida, some medical marijuana patients and caregivers in Florida could see their state cannabis registrations revoked under a bill signed into law by DeSantis this week.

DeSantis on Monday signed SB 2514, a broad budget bill that touches on cancer, dentistry and other health-related matters. But it also contains a provision that directs the state Department of Health (DOH) to cancel registrations of medical marijuana patients and caregivers if they’re convicted of—or plead guilty or no contest to—criminal drug charges.

DeSantis Signs Bill To Strip Florida Medical Marijuana Cards From People With Drug Convictions

Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan.

On the heels of signaling a possible veto of a bill meant to expand access to medical marijuana in Hawaii, Gov. Josh Green (D) instead signed the measure into law over the weekend, regardless of a provision he recently described as “a grave violation of privacy.”

HB 302 will make two main reforms around patient access. First, it allows a patient’s primary treating medical provider to recommend marijuana for any malady they see fit, regardless of whether it’s a specified qualifying condition in Hawaii. It also allows patients to receive medical cannabis recommendations through telehealth visits rather than having to establish an in-person relationship with a provider.

Before lawmakers sent the bill to Green, a conference committee revised the plan, inserting a provision to allow the state Department of Health to access medical marijuana patient records held by doctors for any reason whatsoever.

The revised bill authorizes the Department of Health to “inspect a qualifying patient’s medical records held by the physician, advanced practice registered nurse, or hospice provider who issued a written certification for the qualifying patient.” Providers who don’t comply with a department request for a patient’s records could see their ability to issue medical cannabis revoked.

Advocates initially supported HB 302 as a means to expand access to patients with conditions beyond those specified under state law. But many withdrew support following the conference committee’s changes.

An additional provision establishes a new Class C felony for unlicensed operation of a dispensary, adding another major charge on top of the state’s existing laws against illegal distribution of marijuana.

In early June, Green himself put the cannabis measure on a list of bills he intended to veto—an indication, though not a commitment, that he was leaning towards rejecting it.

“Although this bill’s authorization of medical cannabis certifications via telehealth expands access to medical cannabis,” his office wrote at the time, “provisions authorizing the inspection of patients’ medical records without warrant constitute a grave violation of privacy.”

Green acknowledged patients might be especially concerned about removing privacy protections given that marijuana remains federally illegal, noting that those concerns could actually limit enrollment in the state-legal system.

“Given that the federal government classifies cannabis as a Schedule I substance,” his office said at the time, “patients’ reasonable fears of repercussions based upon information gained from inspection of their personal medical records may deter patients from participating in the medical cannabis program.”

The bill remained on the governor’s intent-to-veto list even after the office revised it a week ago.

In signing HB 302 into law on Sunday, Green did not indicate what led to his change of heart.

Nikos Leverenz, of the Drug Policy Forum of Hawai’i and the Hawai’i Health and Harm Reduction Center, told Marijuana Moment that he felt the state has “moved backward” protecting individual autonomy around cannabis in the past year, and “HB 302 is an exemplar of that regression.”

“Providing government attorneys with the authority to inspect doctor-patient records and funding more law enforcement positions will serve to further deteriorate an already anemic medical cannabis system in Hawaii,” he wrote in an email.

Leverenz called on Green to “take the lead and advance bills in the next legislative session that actually serve to expand access to medical cannabis.”

“Measures toward this end include statutory employment protections for registered medical cannabis patients, authorizing access to medical cannabis products for patients in hospice and long-term care settings (Ryan’s Law), and allowing certifying providers broad professional discretion to recommend its use,” he added.

Some lawmakers warned at the time of the conference committee changes to HB 302 that its new medical records provision would be a sticking points for would-be patients.

“The medical cannabis community has expressed its opposition to this breach of confidentiality,” Rep. Kim Coco Iwamoto (D) said last month, “especially since it is authorized without any suspicion of wrongdoing and without a warrant. This will further deter already low patient and provider participation.”

Iwamoto called the proposal “unprecedented given the degree of respect our state has previously demonstrated for patient–doctor privileges, and how often the state defers to the expertise of physicians and healthcare providers.”

Other measures recently sent to the governor’s desk include SB 1429, which would allow medical marijuana caregivers to grow marijuana on behalf of up to five patients rather than the current one. Green signed that bill late last month.

Lawmakers also recently sent a bill to the governor that would help speed the expungement process for people hoping to clear their records of past marijuana-related offenses—a proposal Green signed into law in April.

That measure, HB 132, from Rep. David Tarnas (D), is intended to expedite expungements happening through a pilot program signed into law last year by Gov. Josh Green (D). Specifically, it will remove a distinction between marijuana and other Schedule V drugs for the purposes of the expungement program.

The bill’s proponents said the current wording of the law forces state officials to comb through thousands of criminal records manually in order to identify which are eligible for expungement under the pilot program.

Hawaii’s Senate back in February narrowly defeated a separate proposal that would have increased fivefold the amount of cannabis that a person could possess without risk of criminal charges. The body voted 12–11 against the decriminalization measure, SB 319, from Sen. Joy San Buenaventura (D).

Had the measure become law, it would have increased the amount of cannabis decriminalized in Hawaii from the current 3 grams up to 15 grams. Possession of any amount of marijuana up to that 15-gram limit would have been classified as a civil violation, punishable by a fine of $130.

A Senate bill that would have legalized marijuana for adults, meanwhile, ultimately stalled for the session. That measure, SB 1613, failed to make it out of committee by a legislative deadline.

While advocates felt there was sufficient support for the legalization proposal in the Senate, it’s widely believed that House lawmakers would have ultimately scuttled the measure, as they did last month with a legalization companion bill, HB 1246.

Last session, a Senate-passed legalization bill also fizzled out in the House.

This year’s House vote to stall the bill came just days after approval from a pair of committees at a joint hearing. Ahead of that hearing, the panels received nearly 300 pages of testimony, including from state agencies, advocacy organizations and members of the public.

This past fall, regulators solicited proposals to assess the state’s current medical marijuana program—and also sought to estimate demand for recreational sales if the state eventually moves forward with adult-use legalization. Some read the move as a sign the regulatory agency saw a need to prepare to the potential reform.

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