Marijuana Moments (Newsletter)

1 day ago | marijuanamoment.net | Ben Adlin

President Donald Trump has shaken up his Department of Justice (DOJ) staff, naming Ed Martin—the former federal prosecutor for Washington, D.C.—as the new U.S. pardon attorney. The appointment of Martin, a critic of cannabis legalization who last month as acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia threatened a locally licensed medical marijuana dispensary with criminal prosecution, raises questions about how he’ll handle ongoing drug-related pardon activity at the federal level.

1 day ago | marijuanamoment.net | Tom Angell

DOGE-cancelled marijuana project head speaks; PA legalization dispute; Cannabis jobs declined amid record sales; Fentanyl-laced marijuana op-edSubscribe to receive Marijuana Moment’s newsletter in your inbox every weekday morning. It’s the best way to make sure you know which cannabis stories are shaping the day. Get our daily newsletter.

2 days ago | marijuanamoment.net | Ben Adlin

Massachusetts marijuana regulators have launched an online platform aimed at helping people find jobs, workplace training and networking opportunities in the state’s legal cannabis industry. The new EquityWorks Career Hub is initially open only to individuals who are part of a Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) equity program, part of the state’s effort to prioritize those most harmed by the war on drugs. The hub set to open to the general public on June 19.

2 days ago | marijuanamoment.net | Ben Adlin

The head of a longtime program to track the potency of marijuana seized by law enforcement—the federal contract for which was cut earlier this month by the federal Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)—says it’s still possible his work could limp along until funding resumes. But if samples stop flowing to his Mississippi lab, a decades-long history of THC levels in the illicit U.S. cannabis supply will soon come to an end, he says.

2 days ago | marijuanamoment.net | Ben Adlin

Jobs in the U.S. legal marijuana industry fell roughly 3.4 percent percent between 2023 and 2024, according to the latest annual industry report on employment in the cannabis sector. That marks the largest nationwide downturn in cannabis employment since the project began tracking full-time equivalent jobs in the sector in 2017. At the same time, the amount of legal marijuana sold in 2024 grew to a new record high of $30.1 billion, a 4.5 percent annual increase.