It Trade to black The podcast, hosted by Shad Dales and Anthony Varrell and presented by FlowHub, opened its Thursday episode with a look at the latest news from the hemp industry, including analysis of the SAM lawsuit challenging redistricting. Episode #1 features LEEF Brands (OTCQB: LEEEF ) Board Member Jamie Mendola, who explains why scale in California can still be a strategic advantage despite the state’s well-known challenges. Plus in segment #2, FundCanna CEO Adam Stettner returns with the big news the company announced this morning: FundCanna integrates ReadyPaid BNPL directly into Apex Trading’s $150M monthly market.

In a news delay, the legal challenge filed by the National Drug Testing Association (NDASA) and MMJ International Holdings is aimed at Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s procedural path to move cannabis to Schedule III, specifically his use of the contract clause to bypass the standard DEA hearing process.

The first segment of guests welcomed Jamie Mendola, a board member and investor at LEEF Brands, for his debut appearance on the program. Speaking from San Francisco, Mendola offered a broad assessment of cannabis valuations in the current environment, arguing that while listings and rescheduling are significant catalysts, the industry’s next challenge is to demonstrate revenue growth after several years of solid performance. He explained why liquidity is the most important factor for institutional investors. funds with hundreds of millions of dollars under management won’t get into positions they can’t get out of cleanly, making Trulieve’s growing trading volume a really positive signal for the industry.

Mendola then elaborated on what drew him to LEEF Brands. The company operates primarily as a behind-the-scenes ingredient supplier, providing high-quality distillate, live resin and insoluble oil to leading California brands, rather than competing directly with them at retail. A key development has been the company’s 1,900-acre farm in Santa Barbara County, where LEEF grows hemp biomass for about eight dollars per pound, compared to the roughly twenty to thirty dollars it would otherwise pay to outsource.

The final segment featured FundCanna CEO Adam Stettner, who discussed the two latest announcements. The first was a benchmarking tool that allows cannabis retailers to compare their inventory performance and capital allocation against top operators in FundCanna’s database of over 6,000 cryptos; The second and more significant announcement was the introduction of FundCanna’s ReadyPaid buy-now-pay-ater product directly to the Apex Trading marketplace, which processes approximately $150 million in wholesale cannabis transactions per month. The integration allows buyers to engage in approximately seven minutes, receive inventory immediately, and pay over time as they generate revenue, while sellers get paid on day zero.

This and more when you join.

Avicanna is hosting its sixth annual Clinical Symposium in Toronto’s Mars Discovery District, and CEO Aras Azatyan joined the program to discuss the cannabis event and the broader moment in pharma. Azatyan noted in this episode of the Trade To Black Podcast that the US realignment has dramatically elevated the conversation with his pharmaceutical companies. institutional investors and pointed to the FDA’s recent breakthrough therapy designation for a THC-based drug candidate as a meaningful regulatory signal that cannabinoid-based medicine is being taken seriously at the highest levels.

Azatyan described the two-day symposium, which will take place on Thursday and Friday, as the leading academic and clinical forum in the field of cannabinoid research. Speakers include Dr. Hans Clarke, president of the Canadian Pain Society, neurologist Dr. Edmund Lewis, and a retired Canadian general, presenting sessions covering PTSD and veterans care, chronic pain, epilepsy, women’s health, and brain injury. Major industry players including Canopy, Curaleaf and Verdea are sponsoring the event.

When asked where the medical cannabis market is going, Azatyan outlined a three-level vision. A federally integrated medical marketplace modeled after Canada’s, including formularies, insurance coverage and compounding; and a pharmaceutical channel that pursues FDA-approved drug designations for specific clinical indications, with orphan disease exclusivity and co-development partnerships with existing pharmaceutical companies. He emphasized that Avicanna’s decade of Canadian clinical work, including nearly 15 government grants secured by principal investigators, allows the company to bring its MyMedi and Rolfito platforms, formulations and intellectual property across the border as US partnerships develop.

Azatyan closed by reflecting on what distinguishes Avicanna’s credibility in the clinical community. Unlike many Canadian licensed manufacturers that abandoned medical research when adult use opened up, Avicanna continued to fund and support physicians during that time, earning a level of trust that is now paying dividends as the realignment makes the medical opportunity a reality. He expressed hope that next year’s symposium could be hosted in a major US city, which shows how quickly he expects the landscape to change. Tune in for the full interview.

On today’s Trade To Black Podcast presented by Flowhub, hosts Shadd Dales and Anthony Varrell celebrate Trulieve’s (NYSE: TCNNF ) first full trading day since its IPO. We summarize how the stock is trading, where the volume is concentrated and the main advantage of the first day’s price action. In the first segment, Michael DeGiglio, CEO of Village Farms (NASDAQ: VFF ; TSX: VFF ), joins us to discuss last week’s $15 million direct investment, valued at about $2. In part two, we continue our weekly Vantage Standard series with Vantage Hemp CEO Rusty Kuchta and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Paul Shields. This episode outlines the full operational process of the CMS CBD pilot;

It Trade to black The podcast, hosted by Shadd Dales and Anthony Varrell and presented by FlowHub, opened its Wednesday episode with a look at Trulieve’s debut on the New York Stock Exchange. On its first day, approximately 712,000 shares were traded, worth approximately $7 to $8 million.

Village Farms CEO Michael DeGiglio is addressing investor concerns about the company’s recent $15 million capital raise, which was structured at a price that raised questions from retail shareholders. DeGiglio was clear that the growth was not due to the need for cash. Village Farms has been profitable on a sequential basis and has self-funded major expansions, including a 33 percent increase in its cultivation in Vancouver and a €30 million facility in the Netherlands.

In part two, we return to the ongoing CMS CBD pilot program with Vantage Hemp CEO Rusty Kuchta and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Paul Shields. Dr. Shields highlighted what real readiness looks like for an accountable care organization entering the pilot; Adding benefits to the CMS system, submitting an implementation plan, waiting up to 60 days for CMS approval, and then identifying eligible patients, especially peripheral neuropathy patients, using EHR data, navigation history, and. He noted that the four-month notice before the April start was, in his estimation, an almost impossible implementation window for lean organizations.

Both Kuchta and Dr. Shields emphasized that the broader industry underestimates the complexity of integrating cannabinoid therapies into care pathways consistent with Medicare. Awareness of ACO conferences has been low, with many attendees unaware that cannabis use has changed or that the pilot program exists. Kuchta argued that the CBD trial ramp is not just for CBD, but also for cannabis entering the pharmaceutical mainstream; when payers accept CBD, it flows to drugstore shelves, big-box retailers, and ultimately to the 69 million Americans on Medicare. Dr. Shields added that while broad-spectrum therapies in combination will ultimately yield better clinical outcomes, the pilot’s mandate is isolated to CBD, and the generation of clean real-world data now using Vantage’s 99 percent pharmaceutical-grade pure product is what will validate the next phase of value-based care for cannabinoids.

This and more when you join