Welcome to Senior Cannabis Digest. This week we look at how the Trump administration plans to implement rescheduling, the rise of pre-rolled joints, a new way to measure cannabis use and more. Enjoy.
Cannabis Policy
Top takeaway: The reclassification of marijuana as a Schedule III drug is finally taking place. Rescheduling won’t federally legalize cannabis, but it does remove certain research and tax barriers, while acknowledging cannabis has medicinal uses.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has announced that rescheduling is finally happening. Said Blanche, “The Department of Justice (DOJ) is delivering on President Trump’s promise to expand Americans’ access to medical treatment options.This rescheduling action allows for research on the safety and efficacy of this substance, ultimately providing patients with better care and doctors with more reliable information.”
According to Tom Angell, reporting for Marijuana Moment, under an order signed by Blanche, marijuana products regulated by a state medical cannabis license will immediately move to Schedule III, as will any marijuana products that are approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The DOJ also stated that beginning on June 29, 2026, it will implement a new expedited administrative hearing process to consider the broader rescheduling of marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III.
In his article, Angell noted that while rescheduling doesn’t federally legalize cannabis, it does remove certain Schedule I research barriers, and can benefit state-licensed marijuana businesses by allowing them to take federal tax deductions they’re currently barred from using under an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) code known as 280E.
The removal of this particular tax burden is likely to be good news for investors.
While the DOJ ruling will remove a number of restrictions on cannabis, a few things may become more complicated.
For example, Angell reported that in order to fulfill an international drug control treaty requirement that a government agency serve as the exclusive purchaser of cannabis production, DOJ is rolling out a process by which the federal government will technically purchase marijuana from producers and then sell it back to them or related entities.
More news as more news develops.
To learn more, we urge you to read Tom Angell’s excellent reporting in the April 23, 2026 issue of Marijuana Moment.net.
Consumer Trends
Top takeaway: In 2025 the U.S. cannabis industry sold more pre-rolled joints than any other product category.
As with most consumer products, when it comes to cannabis, convenience is king. Case in point, the sales of pre-rolled joints – called pre-rolls in the industry – grew in 2025 to become the most-sold product category in the U.S.
So says Graham Abbott in an article he penned for Ganjapreneur. According to Abbott, survey insights and sales data from cannabis analytics firm Headset revealed that cannabis pre-roll sales generated $3.6 billion in revenue last year, with more than 383 million units sold. That’s a 15.9 percent market share for the U.S. industry.
Prior to 2025, cannabis flower consistently outperformed the industry’s other product categories.
Said Harrison Bard, CEO of Custom Cones USA, in a press release, “Pre-rolls are no longer an afterthought. What started as a trim byproduct, pre-rolls have matured into a highly competitive, innovation-driven category where brands are winning through quality, scale, and smart branding.”
CustomConesUSA.com is described as the industry leader for bulk pre-rolled cones and is now expanding into the consumer sector with products such as pre-rolled cones and blunts marketed as DaySavers, Smoke Temple, and Fill-a Blunts.
The report also revealed the following:
* Single-pack, 1-gram pre-rolls remain the category’s top-performing format, earning $1.44 billion in 2025.
* Most pre-roll manufacturers predict that infused pre-rolls will be the industry’s next big product trend.
* Millennials are the most frequent consumers of pre-rolls, accounting for nearly 44 percent of total sales.
As always, Graham Abbott’s reporting is clear and on point. To learn more, we suggest reading his article in the April 17, 2026 issue of Ganjapreneur.com.
https://ganjapreneur.com/report-pre-rolls-become-largest-annabis-industry-product-category/?
Cannabis Corner
Top takeaway: A new approach to cannabis use may provide mature consumers with a way to measure its effectiveness and offer increased safety.
Kenny Rogers once sang that gamblers have to know when to hold ’em and when to fold ’em. Now, a new study suggests that consuming more than 40 mg of THC a week can be a losing hand for some consumers.
Researchers at the University of Bath, in England contend that individuals should not consume more than eight THC units per week. That’s about 40 mg of THC or one-third of a gram of herbal cannabis. Each unit corresponds to five milligrams of THC.
Their suggestion stems from a study which followed 150 cannabis users over the course of a year to measure their weekly THC intake and assess the prevalence of cannabis use disorder (CUD). The study was recently published in the journal Addiction.
Said Tom Freeman, senior researcher on the Bath team who worked on the paper, “Safer use thresholds based on standard THC units could help people better understand their level of use and make informed choices about their health.”
Freeman added, “As cannabis becomes increasingly available in legal markets around the world it is more important than ever to help consumers make informed choices about their (cannabis) use.”
CUD occurs when cannabis use causes significant distress or problems in daily life. The Bath research team found that for adults, the risk of CUD increases when they consume more than eight THC units per week – with severe cases increasing above 13 THC units per week.
While these suggestions are not written in stone, they do offer mature consumers a way to reflect on whether or not cannabis is providing the benefits they are seeking, how much they have to consume to achieve those benefits and determine if the reward outweighs any risk presented by cannabis use.
It should be noted that the sample’s size is relatively small – 150 subjects – and did not contain anyone older than 29. Plus, there are a number of intervening factors that may mitigate the suggested dosage levels, such as level of cognitive development and how long someone has been using cannabis. Still, the study does offer a place to start a conversation about cannabis use and how much is enough.
To learn more, we suggest reading the article by Marta Iraola Iribarren that appeared in the January 12, 2026 issue of the publication EuroNews.com.
https://www.dw.com/en/cannabis-now-you-can-measure-how-much-is-too-much
To read an abstract of the study, which appeared in the January 12, 2026 issue of the journal Addiction, click on the link that follows.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/add.70263
Your Tax Dollars at Work
Top takeaway: A Michigan city is using tax revenue from cannabis to repair city streets.
The city of Jackson, Michigan is using tax revenue collected from cannabis sales to repair potholes in the city’s streets.
The initiative, called – you guessed it – “Pot for Potholes,” will invest $250,000 to repair potholes and improve road conditions across the city. The funds will supplement existing street maintenance efforts and support critical infrastructure improvements.
According to Jade Chaparro and Bobby Cushing, reporting for WILX/Channel 10, the funding comes from the Michigan Transportation Fund, which allocated a portion of fiscal year 2025 adult-use marijuana tax revenue to local communities for road and bridge projects.
Said Mayor Daniel Mahoney, “Jackson is turning a growing industry (adult use cannabis) into real results. This is about better roads, safer neighborhoods, and making sure we’re using every available resource to improve quality of life for our residents.”
To learn more, we suggest reading the article by Chaparro and Cushing that appeared on the station’s website on April 17, 2026. Just click on the following link.
https://www.wilx.com/2026/04/17/jackson-launches-pot-potholes-road-repair-initiative/
Senior Cannabis Digest is compiled and edited by Joe Kohut and John Kohut. You can reach them at joe.kohut@gmail.com and at 347-528-8753.