California Wildfires, Cannabis Rescheduling, Wisconsin Legalization Lead CBT’s Top Stories in January

As if California cannabis operators weren’t already dealing with enough obstacles entering 2025, the wildfires that consumed much of Los Angeles County earlier this month only complicated the matter.

From smoke damage to power outages, supply chain disruptions and confusion over disaster relief, the details of the wildfires’ impact on cannabis operators took the No. 1 spot in Cannabis Business Times’ most-read articles this month.

“I’ve lived in LA for 39 years, and I’ve seen my share of natural disasters, but this is as close to Armageddon as I’ve ever seen,” Ian Rassman, executive director of Los Angeles NORML, told CBT contributor David Silverberg.

Taking the No. 2 spot among articles readers did not want to miss out on this month was the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) response to new ex parte communication claims by pro-rescheduling advocates that led to an interlocutory appeal and stay order delaying the hearing for at least 90 days.

And in the No. 3 spot was a piece on Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ proposal to allow a citizen-initiated ballot measure to legalize cannabis amid a GOP stronghold in the state’s Legislature that has failed to act on medical cannabis reform as one of the nation’s last holdouts.

Also landing in the Top 10 this month were articles on a federal court ruling allowing Virginia’s total THC hemp regulations to supersede the 2018 Farm Bill, Trump’s appointment of an acting DEA administrator, and a Michigan operator facing more sanctions in connection to possessing hemp-derived THCA isolate.