The Weekly Roll September 12th 2025

Happy Friday!

Welcome back to The Weekly Roll. I hope everyone had a lovely week! Here is what’s happening this week in cannabis and art:

GOP Mucking Up Rescheduling : A GOP-controlled House committee approved spending legislation that would block the Justice Department from using funds to reschedule marijuana, potentially hampering Trump's campaign promises on cannabis policy. The bill maintains protections for state medical marijuana programs but adds enhanced penalties for distribution near schools and parks. Article

Reprieve in New York : New York cannabis dispensaries facing potential closure due to stricter buffer zone measurements between shops and schools have won a temporary reprieve until February 15, 2026. The state had changed how it measures the required 500-foot distance from schools, threatening over 150 dispensaries—mostly minority-owned businesses that received priority licensing due to past marijuana convictions. Article

Interesting Number : $250 million. How much pharmaceutical billionaire Clemens Fischer invested in developing Ver-01, a cannabis-based painkiller designed to replace opioids without causing addiction or getting patients high. His company Vertanical has completed Phase III trials in Europe, showing the drug is more effective than opioids with fewer side effects, and is awaiting regulatory approval in Germany and Austria. Fischer hopes to capture a significant share of the $20 billion opioid market as the medical industry seeks safer alternatives to address the overdose crisis that claimed over 80,000 lives last year. Article

The OG Calculator : Christie's will auction the only privately owned Pascaline—the world's first calculating machine invented by 19-year-old Blaise Pascal in 1642—with an estimate of €2-3 million. The functional 17th-century device, designed specifically for surveying calculations, is one of only nine original models that exist and will be the featured lot at their November 19 Paris sale. The machine was originally created to help Pascal's father with complex tax revenue calculations as president of Normandy's Board of Excise. Article

Have a great weekend! 

Aidan