The Week in Weed: November 13, 2026

Welcome back to The Week in Weed, your Friday look at what’s happening in the world of legalized marijuana. This week, we see some changes to cannabis law in New York. Final briefs are due in the federal rescheduling process. Some folks in Texas are prefiling cannabis legalization bills. And finally, it turns out cannabis has been around a *long* time.

NEW YORK

New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D) signed a bill late last month that repeals the requirement for labor peace agreements (LPAs) in the cannabis industry and eliminates a proposed Cannabis Industry Wage Board. Regulators could prioritize applicants that have LPAs, but those would be voluntary, rather than mandatory. The cannabis industry generally was happy with this development, citing good wages in the industry and the inevitability of rising costs leading to rising prices.

FEDERAL RESCHEDULING

Both the government and opponents of cannabis rescheduling filed what are likely to be their final briefs last week. Both sides mentioned the recently released Government Accountability Office (GAO) report that questioned the government’s process for evaluating controlled substances. The government opines that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) should give no weight to it, and the anti-rescheduling side argued the opposite. Stay tuned for a decision that will make headlines, one way or the other.

TEXAS

For years, pundits have been tossing around the idea of turning Texas blue. Well, it finally happened. Texas will have a Democratic governor, as well as a Democratic majority in the State House. What does this mean for cannabis? House Democrats think they have an opportunity to legalize and have filed a bill to do so. Others think this optimism is premature and caution against thinking there will be any immediate change. Only time will tell…

AND FINALLY

If you think that hippies started the smoking of cannabis in the 1960s, think again. Researchers believe that humans may have been using pot as long as 2,800 years ago. A tomb discovered in southern Siberia contained not only the remains of some high-status persons, but also hundreds of cannabis seeds.

Be well everyone – we’ll see you next week!