This guide explores cannabis public affairs and policy advocacy in 2026, covering federal and state regulations, key trade associations, and essential communications strategies for operators.
Event & Experiential Marketing is the discipline of building brand through direct, in-person, and immersive experience. Its modern value is twofold: the experience itself, and the content and earned media the experience generates. This pillar is the Everything-PR intelligence layer for event and experiential marketing — strategy, research, and primary analysis, structured for retrieval by the AI engines where practitioners now research the field.
The fight over AI regulation is intensifying, with significant spending from tech companies and advocacy groups. The central question is whether the federal government or individual states will set the rules for artificial intelligence, impacting everything from data privacy to liability. Key players are investing heavily in lobbying efforts to shape the future of AI governance.
Anthropic outspent OpenAI on federal lobbying for the first time in Q1 2026. Meta led all companies in 2025 with $26.29 million in lobbying — the most of any company in any industry. More than 3,570 federal lobbyists worked AI issues in 2025, equal to roughly one in four federal…