Shawn Collins | THC Group | Policy, Decoded

Shawn Collins | THC Group

Shawn Collins was the inaugural Executive Director of the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission. Before that: the State Senate and the Treasurer's office. Now he advises operators, investors, and regulators on cannabis, alcohol, health care, and AI policy. He writes Policy, Decoded — weekday mornings plus a Sunday editorial.

Jun 12, 2026

🧃 North Carolina falls back to age gates

North Carolina falls back to a hemp and kratom age limit after broader regulation stalled. Plus New York restores OCM's search power, Rhode Island staffs its commission, and SAM's repeal gets caught.

Jun 11, 2026

🏛️ The Cannabis Control Board, revived and wounded

Laughlin's Cannabis Control Board died 27-23 when co-sponsors crossed, then revived on a reconsider. Plus a rescheduling freeze bid, three New York wins, and a study on personalized cannabis dosing.

Jun 10, 2026

🧨 Beshear's order, now a prosecution threat

Kentucky's House whip wants cannabis licensees prosecuted for following Beshear's medical-marijuana order. Plus Texas hemp back by court order, Ohio's veto fight, and psychedelics at the Pentagon.

Jun 9, 2026

🗳️ Idaho asks voters to lock their own door

Idaho's legislature put a constitutional amendment on the November ballot asking voters to give up their own power to legalize cannabis, while Massachusetts fights a push to repeal the market its voters passed. Plus Cresco's $50M bank line and who it leaves out, federal marijuana cases at a record low, and Vireo buying up the supply chain.

Jun 8, 2026

🏦 Trulieve didn't wait for June 29

Trulieve carved out its adult-use business to list a medical-only company on the NYSE, the first U.S. operator on a major exchange. Plus the DEA's June 22 roster, Texas hemp back in court, and what a Michigan license is really worth.

Jun 5, 2026

🏛️ The White House reopens the hemp definition

The White House asked Congress to update the hemp definition and left the key line undefined, reopening the fight before November. Plus New York's anti-inversion law, Michigan's tax shortfall, and the 280E fight.

Jun 4, 2026

🍹 Logan's puts THC on the menu

Logan's Roadhouse pours 5-milligram THC cocktails in Texas while the FDA fast-tracks a cannabis pain drug, and Wyoming says rescheduling doesn't bind its statutes.

Jun 3, 2026

🚪 Hemp's easy exits close

The Rules Committee blocks the hemp delay amendments, but the coalition isn't done. Plus Landry jails public smoking, an HHC suit hits DEA, and AYR hands three more states to its lenders.

Jun 2, 2026

⚖️ Louisiana's quiet exit

Murrill withdraws days after Trump ends a Louisiana Senate career, a third challenge hits the D.C. Circuit, Illinois operators move SB 3222, Sherrill signs the hemp-drink law, and Japan bans CBN.

Jun 1, 2026

🌿 "None of us can advise our licensees"

Six weeks after Schedule III, state regulators say they can't advise their own licensees, with the DEA hearing two weeks out. Plus three Republican plays to stop November's hemp ban and Robinhood's open door.

May 31, 2026

🎓 To the Class of Schedule III

Rescheduling handed the industry a diploma in April. A former regulator on the lenders, customers, and missing memory waiting on the other side of the stage.

May 29, 2026

🏛️ Virginia's end-run around Spanberger

Surovell and Lucas float folding cannabis sales into the July 1 budget to box the governor in. Plus: Congress leans on the IRS over 280E, ATACH lawyers up for the DEA hearing, and Tennessee's THCA ban hits July 1.

May 28, 2026

⚖️ Indiana, Nebraska, Louisiana, and Bill Barr

Indiana, Nebraska, and Louisiana AGs went to the D.C. Circuit on Tuesday, and by Wednesday the court had consolidated their case with SAM and NDASA's. Cruz, newly the senior Texas senator after Cornyn's blowout loss, says hemp reversal is uphill. New Jersey courts split on cannabis hiring. Minnesota's omnibus hits Walz's desk. Maryland arms ATCC with seizure power.

May 27, 2026

🪙 Curaleaf moves first

Curaleaf moves toward a U.S. uplisting with a 1-for-3 reverse split. Rhode Island writes its cannabis fix and picks a chair to run it. Delaware lawmakers can't agree which channel sells the same molecule. VA puts MDMA back in a randomized trial. Illinois routes hemp through the cannabis system.

May 26, 2026

🧪 The label test in Massachusetts

Massachusetts puts a 75 to 125 percent band on THC labels. A federal judge tosses the Medicare hemp suit. Spanberger gets a poll she did not want. Scutari moves a 200-milligram hemp bottle.

May 22, 2026

🏦 Maryland's side door

A bankruptcy court hands Maryland a permit transfer the state was not planning to allow. Federal labor law settles against cannabis exceptionalism. Colorado cultivators sue over the excise tax math. Minnesota loses a lab.

May 21, 2026

⚖️ The Towns owed a paper trail

A Worcester Superior Court judge says Massachusetts municipalities had to document Community Impact Fees costs under the prior statute too. Curaleaf can sue to find out if they did.

May 20, 2026

🏛️ Healey owns it now.

DeLobato, Wilson, and Harding take the rebuilt Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission, and the executive director now reports to the chair. DOJ moves to claw back TerrAscend's $8 million refund. California writes a Schedule III workaround. Vermont keeps the 30% cap. Spanberger vetoes Virginia retail.

May 19, 2026

🏛️ Congress Built This Middle

Forty-one groups tell Congress Schedule III doesn't finish the job. Plus: Connecticut's mold files show what oversight actually costs, Minnesota merges its supply chains, and Colorado still can't open a door past retail.

May 18, 2026

🩺 95%, including the kids

A Fort Lee doctor wrote cannabis authorizations for 95% of his patients, kids included, and prohibitionists now have their rescheduling exhibit. Plus Barr names who really doesn't want a hemp lane, House of Saka's Chapter 7, and Colorado can't measure its own inversion problem.

May 17, 2026

🌿 They Want You to Vote No on Weed

The most sophisticated repeal campaign prohibition has run, the money behind it, and what its own evidence actually argues for.

May 15, 2026

🧪 NJ comes for the labs

The Cannabis Regulatory Commission is using public commission discussion to do enforcement statute alone could not. Collins pulls Patel onto Maine grow houses. The House sends Veterans back to a conference room that has stripped it every year since 2015. Healey will post the deadbeats. Good Day Farm faces a second antitrust suit. The hemp clock keeps ticking.

May 14, 2026

🗳️ Stop counting bills. Count votes.

The 2026 midterms will matter more for cannabis than the next bill filed in Congress, because bills only move when the political environment supplies a path. Plus: Cannabis Caucus co-chairs speak past a Republican wall, Nevada quantifies its $80 million gaming barrier, five MSOs file DEA registrations, Stitt holds an ibogaine trials bill, and Bonta files 66 felony counts against an $80 million unlicensed operation.

May 13, 2026

🌿 Schedule III does not touch hemp

DOJ's Schedule III order leaves hemp's November cliff fully intact, and Congress just told DEA to start enforcing. A Florida ALJ reopened the MMTC scoring. Ohio puts $20M into messaging while its regulator runs on a $9M budget. Inside today.

May 12, 2026

🔫 ATF gives. DOJ takes.

ATF rewrites the gun form while DOJ defends the underlying ban at SCOTUS. Texas admits the medical cannabis scoring methodology was contested internally. Connecticut positions for federal psychedelic matching funds. Massachusetts repeal moves from Beacon Hill to clipboards. Plus DEA's supply-chain forms, EPA on the pesticide clock, and a hat tip to Paul Urbish.