This Week in Cannabis News: September 2, 2022

Here’s what you need to know this week

U.S. Cannabis Council appoints interim CEO

The U.S. Cannabis Council has a new/interim CEO. It was announced last week that Khadijah Tribble is the new interim head taking over from Steven Hawkins. Tribble is well-known in the cannabis industry and has a must-watch TED Talk that should be mandatory viewing for all cannabis professionals. We've included the embed so you can check it out below!

Is cannabis more popular than tobacco?

The answer is yes, according to a recent poll conducted by Gallop. For the first time ever, more Americans (16%) reported smoking cannabis than tobacco (11%) in the past week.

U.S. cannabis market updates

Republican South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem stated she'll implement a cannabis voter initiative if one is passed this November. While this sounds like good news, Governor Kristi Noem has fought against successful cannabis voter initiatives in the past.

In Pennsylvania last week, President Biden attended a Labor Day rally, which was the perfect opportunity for Democratic Lt. Governor and U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman to bring up federal cannabis reform—which Fetterman said he did and would do again.

A voter initiative to legalize adult-use cannabis in Missouri is in the courts right now, and there's a September 13th deadline for the court to rule yea or nay on moving it to the November ballot. Interestingly enough, a Democratic lawmaker has already established up a group to oppose the measure, but not for the reasons you might think. Instead, Impactful Canna Reform Coalition is calling out the lack of social equity provisions and advocates for the inclusion of smoking cannabis in public, among other provisions.

Alabama regulators have set timelines, fees, and other measures for their medical cannabis program, according to MJBizDaily. The first step is applying to receive an application—and that window opened on September 1st.