| One of my more memorable assignments in journalism school was to visit any local police station in Northeast Ohio and collect a public record without providing my identity or the reasoning behind my request. My professor’s intentions were clear: Sunshine Laws in Ohio require that public records be open and available, and my classmates and I should know our rights in accessing them. Those rights aren’t always recognized throughout the U.S. My colleague, CBT Associate Editor Andriana Ruscitto, recently attempted to fact-check a hemp cultivator’s license in Tennessee was active only to be told she had to submit a public records request. After doing so, the state’s Department of Agriculture denied her request because she is “not a Tennessee citizen.” Earlier this month in Massachusetts, the Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) denied a public records request made by NBCUniversal Media, which inquired about employee complaints, employee injuries and inspection reports in connection to multistate cannabis operator Trulieve (specifically in the commonwealth). CCC officials denied the request, withholding the documents on the basis that they are “investigatory records” relating to Lorna McMurrey’s January 2022 death at Trulieve’s Holyoke, Mass., cultivation facility. In my own pursuit of a public record this month, I reached out to officials at Chicago-based multistate operator Verano Holdings, a publicly traded company, inquiring about the company’s $5-million acquisition agreement with PharmaCann Virginia LLC from July. I was met with the “no comment” treatment. And, in one of the more drawn out inquires, CBT Digital Editor Eric Sandy submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in 2018, asking for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s policy on those participating in the legal Canadian cannabis industry who seek entrance into the United States. More than four years later—and after numerous Canadian citizens had previously been barred entry—that request was finally (partially) fulfilled this year. While public records are, by definition, owned by the public, government officials often act as the gatekeepers of those records rather than the stewards. -Tony Lange, Associate Editor | 