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The cannabis industry faces an existential crisis as political developments threaten businesses across multiple fronts despite growing public acceptance. State and federal politics are creating contradictory and often hostile environments for cannabis operators while simultaneously claiming to support legalization.

• Texas Governor Abbott vetoed SB3, preserving the hemp industry with a special session starting soon to determine the regulatory framework
• North Carolina scaled back hemp restrictions to focus on age limits and synthetic cannabinoid prohibitions
• Federal appropriations bills contain language that could redefine hemp and effectively ban all intoxicating products
• Senate bill provisions could strip protections preventing federal enforcement against state-legal cannabis programs
• California implemented a 25% excise tax increase on cannabis while Governor Newsom made performative promises to stop it
• California's cannabis tax collections are down 11% year-over-year as the industry contracts under regulatory pressure
• Stanley Brothers (Charlotte's Web founders) are pursuing FDA approval for THC medicines, potentially creating billion-dollar pharmaceutical applications
• Epidiolex, a CBD-based FDA-approved medicine, generated $972 million in sales last year 
• Potential cannabis rescheduling to Schedule III could open doors for medical applications while providing tax relief
• Connected Cannabis filed a lawsuit challenging California's punitive testing requirements for aspergillus

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