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August 22, 2025
Built by a former cannabis regulator, Policy, Decoded is your high-signal daily briefing for operators, investors, and policymakers navigating the collision of law, regulation, and business.
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Federal cannabis policy contradictions reached peak absurdity this week as Congressional Research Service delivered hemp definition frameworks to lawmakers while Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported 600 immigrants using decades-old cannabis convictions. The institutional schizophrenia exposes how different agencies pursue opposing cannabis policies simultaneously, with hemp regulatory clarity advancing in Congress while deportation enforcement mines prohibition's legacy database for arrest quotas. Google's Canada cannabis advertising pilot adds another layer of regulatory arbitrage, testing controlled substance marketing in jurisdictions with coherent legal frameworks rather than US federal-state conflicts.
⚖️ Watch Farm Bill battles.
🚨 Monitor deportation workforce impacts.
📧 Forward to policy teams.
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