Federal marijuana reform is on the horizon — how operators are preparing

George Archos’ Christmas list this year is the same it was the year before, and the year before that.

All the CEO of marijuana multistate operator Verano Holdings wants is for his company to be treated like a normal business, by Meta and by the Internal Revenue Service and by everyone in between.

Figuring out how to get there – and how to get there as quickly as possible, with the minimum amount of stress and fuss – is the tricky part, and the subject of a discussion with other industry leaders today at MJBizCon.

The wish list at Chicago-based Verano, which operates in 12 states, is similar to other C-suites in the cannabis industry.

Possibly top of the list is long-awaited relief from Internal Revenue Code section 280E – which will arrive as soon as President Donald Trump decides to follow through with downgrading cannabis’ status under federal law.

It’s old news, but it’s also very hard to overstate marijuana rescheduling’s importance to plant-touching companies. Verano estimates it’s spent as much as $100 million in excess taxes — cash that could have funded expansion, product development or other costs.

However, marijuana rescheduling by itself won’t solve the puzzle, as other industry leaders participating in the panel discussion “Federal Reform on the Horizon: Preparing for the Next Era of Cannabis” will note.

Joining Archos are Shanita Penny, executive director of the Coalition for Cannabis Policy, Education and Regulation (CPEAR), and Charlie Bachtell, CEO of Chicago-based cannabis multistate operator Cresco Labs.

All the cannabis industry wants for Christmas – and every other holiday

Congress and Trump gave the $32 billion legal cannabis industry its biggest-ever win — and one that lobbyists in Washington have demanded for years — when it redefined hemp to exclude intoxicating THC and other cannabinoids.

But closing the loophole in the 2018 Farm Bill that saw the rise of a $28.3 billion hemp industry based almost entirely on hemp-derived THC doesn’t change much for operators in regulated cannabis.

For the likes of Verano, Cresco and small businesses like marijuana social-equity permit holders to feel “normal,” the “next era” of cannabis policy reform will deliver:

• Banking protections, such as the SAFER Banking Act, which are still needed even if rescheduling happens.
• Access to institutional capital and major market exchanges that could ease many operators’ debt crunches.
• An end to advertising restrictions and punitive policies at third-party platforms like Meta’s Instagram, where cannabis accounts are routinely restricted or banned.
• Research and development opportunities that could see cannabis firms discover proprietary medical formulations.
• And, of course, 280E tax relief.

Moving cannabis to Schedule 3 of the Controlled Substances Act – as former President Joe Biden’s administration proposed, and as Trump promised to consider over the summer – would only tick the final bullet point off the list.

That means cannabis operators big and small must continue presenting their case to members of Congress.

And in in the meantime, they still need to make moves.

What savvy cannabis operators can do in the meantime

Savvy operators know too well the risk of basing a business plan on external forces over which they exert no control, such as federal reform.

Still, Verano is taking concrete steps toward the legal future most operators still believe is inevitable.

“We’ve leaned into launching new product innovation in the fastest-growing categories including pre-rolls and vapes to meet consumers where they are,” a company spokesperson told MJBizDaily.

For example, last month, Verano completed relocating its corporate headquarters from British Columbia to Nevada – a small and subtle move  that reflects a desire to prepare for the next stage of legal cannabis in America.

The company’s also been innovating, introducing proprietary oil vaporizer platform called Hyphen that includes preset temperature settings specific to various extracts.

And there are still opportunities to be had in the U.S. market regardless of progress in Washington.

State lawmakers in Virginia recently announced plans to launch adult-use sales in that state by November 2026 – the first legal recreational market in the South, where Verano and other MSOs have existing medical marijuana licenses.

Added Archos: “Looking ahead, we will continue monitoring potential adult-use developments in Pennsylvania and Florida, large medical markets where we have significant vertical operations and 100 dispensaries combined.”

Chris Roberts can be reached at chris.roberts@mjbizdaily.com.