In today’s Trade To Black podcast presented by Flowhub, Shadd Dales and Anthony Varrell welcome back Wisconsin hemp farmer Alexander Mootz to react to a new push for federal hemp rules and budget reconciliation. We also look at this week’s NuggMD Check-In Poll on who cannabis consumers trust, and Dr. Paul Shields of Vantage returns to discuss what evidence comes next after the DEA judge’s latest ruling.
Off the top, the DEA is launching a webpage listing state-licensed medical marijuana businesses that applied on time for registration under April’s rescheduling. Timely applicants get expedited review and can keep operating under their state licenses while their applications are pending.
Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA) told Roll Call he’d like his hemp regulation bill passed before the December 11 deadline, possibly through a budget reconciliation bill during the lame-duck session. His HEMP Act, filed with Rep. Marc Veasey, would keep hemp products legal under new rules. He suggested pairing it with a tax measure like Rep. Beth Van Duyne’s beverage bill. Reconciliation avoids the Senate filibuster, but provisions that don’t directly affect spending or revenue can be challenged and removed.
Mootz argues the bill regulates the conversion pipeline instead of closing the conversion loophole. It leaves the Section 781 definition of hemp untouched and treats “source material” as any chemical, regardless of origin, so it could even be imported. He says no grower organization backs the bill and that it leaves farmers out of the downstream market. He proposes three fixes: define hemp products by their plant origin, explicitly ban chemical conversion and isomerization, and let growers sell into medical and adult-use markets. Mootz plans to take those arguments to Washington this month.
NuggMD’s poll asked 654 cannabis consumers how much they trust different sources for accurate information on products, dosing and effects. Dispensary staff lead with 62.6% rating them high or very high trust, followed by friends and family at 52.5% and doctors at 45.1%. Google got 13.5% and AI chatbots just 6.9%, with 61.9% saying they have low trust in chatbots.
Jushi’s results also landed during the show. Revenue rose 7% year over year to $70.5 million, and wholesale revenue climbed 40% to a record $9.7 million.
Dr. Shields says rescheduling doesn’t require eliminating every risk, only managing it. Psychosis risk belongs in screening and informed consent, and cannabis shouldn’t be used during pregnancy. He calls Minnesota’s autism program data a strong signal but notes it had no control group. He says the next step is controlled trials measuring outcomes like pill burden, sleep and falls in seniors. He doesn’t expect rescheduling alone to change how doctors prescribe; a trusted commercial product will.
Tune in for the full conversation.
