A clash between protesters and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents at two licensed cannabis greenhouse sites in Southern California made national headlines earlier this month, including here at Cannabis Business Times.
CBT’s coverage of the events—including “rubber bullets, smoke bombs and flash bangs” whizzing through the air—as they unfolded at Glass House Farms’ cultivation sites in Carpinteria (Santa Barbara County) and Camarillo (Ventura County) was our most-followed storyline in July.
A cannabis worker who fell roughly 30 feet from a Glass House facility roof during the raids broke his neck and died two days later in the hospital.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security later revealed that federal agents are now investigating potential child labor and human trafficking violations in connection with 14 migrant children they took into custody and 361 arrests they made during the raids. That follow-up story took the No. 3 spot in CBT’s Top 10 most-read articles this month.
Glass House released public statements on July 10 and July 11 to say that the company fully complied with federal search warrants, and that it “has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors.”
While Glass House also vowed to provide its detained workers with legal representation, the full details of the 361 arrests and 14 children taken into custody have yet to unfold.
Meanwhile, an infight among Texas Republicans on whether to ban or regulate intoxicating hemp products also remains an unfinished storyline following Gov. Greg Abbott’s veto last month of a bill that Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick spearheaded.
Specifically, Abbott clarified his stance as a special session kicked off July 21, saying that he wants to ensure adults 21 and older continue to have access to non-synthetic hemp cannabinoid products that don’t exceed 0.3% THC or 3 milligrams of THC. That story took the No. 2 spot this month.
Other stories that readers did not want to miss out on in July included U.S. Senate lawmakers advancing legislation to ban consumable hemp products with THC, U.S. House lawmakers advancing a bill to prevent the Department of Justice from rescheduling cannabis, and Trump’s recently confirmed Drug Enforcement Administration administrator omitting the rescheduling hearing process as one of his top strategic priorities.
Don’t miss out on our Top 10 stories from July 2025.
