The Weekly Roll - March 21st 2025

Happy Friday!

Welcome back to The Weekly Roll. I hope everyone is enjoying the first few days of Spring! Here are some of the big stories this week in cannabis and art:

North Carolina Introduces Legalization : Democratic lawmakers in North Carolina have filed the "Marijuana Legalization and Reinvestment Act," which create a legal adult-use cannabis market. The bill would direct half of tax revenue to specific programs including a Community Reinvestment and Repair Fund and a cannabis social equity fund and half to the General Fund. Despite 71% of North Carolina voters supporting medical cannabis according to a recent Meredith College poll, the state has yet to enact significant cannabis reforms.  Article

Texas Hemp Under Threat : Texas lawmakers have advanced Senate Bill 3, which would ban all hemp products containing THC beyond minimal CBD and CBG in the state, potentially devastating an $8 billion industry employing 50,000 workers. The bill, which passed the Senate 24-7 and now heads to the House, has been championed by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick who called such products "a poison in our public,". Opponents of the bill argue this won’t solve the public safety issue without setting up a regulated legal market. Article

Interesting Number : 7 out of 25. The number of New Jersey Pre-Rolls that tested over the limit for yeast, mold, and bacteria. According to a Safe Leaf Society study, these products had previously passed state-mandated testing but independent analysis revealed microbial levels exceeding legal limits, with two samples containing five times the permitted levels of contaminants. The New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission is now investigating these discrepancies, which mirror similar testing issues reported in several other states with legal cannabis markets. Article

Husain Shatters Auction Record : M. F. Husain's 1954 painting "Untitled (Gram Yatra)" sold for $13.8 million at Christie's New York, shattering the previous auction record for modern Indian art. The nearly 14-foot-long artwork, which depicts 13 separate vignettes of village life in post-independence India. The painting had been largely hidden from public view for seven decades in an Oslo hospital corridor after being acquired by Norwegian surgeon Leon Elias Volodarsky in 1954. Article

Have a great weekend! 

Aidan