The fifth annual State of Cannabis report, published by Getting it Right from the Start, showed progress by California cities and counties with regards to promoting public health, protecting youths and advancing social equity — though those results still fall short of the organization’s expectations of what is necessary to prevent the cannabis industry from following in the footsteps of Big Tobacco.
Getting it Right from the Start is a cannabis-focused project of the Public Health Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to improving health, equity and wellness and advancing sound public health policies.
Municipalities were graded on a 100-point scale, with higher scores representing more robust public health protections enacted over the last five years, and measured across six categories: retailer requirements, taxes and prices, product limits, marketing, smoke-free air, and equity and conflicts of interest.
The city of San Luis Obispo scored the highest of all jurisdictions, with 51 points, in part due to actions such as limiting the number of cannabis retailers, distancing them from places that serve youths and prioritizing retail applicants that offer low-THC products. Contra Costa County was second, with 50 points, in part for prohibiting the sale of flavored products for inhalation, which are widely viewed as appealing to children.
Three cities scored 0 points: Arcata, Biggs and Eureka (Biggs only allows delivery services, not storefront retail).
The statewide average score was 22 across all jurisdictions allowing storefront retailers and 12 for those allowing sale only by delivery.
National City was the most improved jurisdiction that allows storefronts, rising from 16 points in 2022 to 28 points in 2023. National City passed a local tax, prioritized equity applicants and required equitable hiring. The city of Los Angeles was the second most improved jurisdiction, with an improvement from 30 points to 39 over the past year, by requiring in-store warnings, prohibiting temporary events, informing consumers and maintaining a commitment to smoke-free air protections.
Other report highlights include:
- 77% of jurisdictions allowing storefront retailers limited the number of outlets (a 6% increase from 2019).
• 74% of jurisdictions allowing storefronts established stronger buffers than the state to distance retailers from schools and youths.
• 175 jurisdictions enacted local cannabis taxes (a 9% increase from 2019), which remained low and stable at only 5%; yet only 21 spent these revenues on substance abuse prevention, youth programs or mitigating the impact of the War on Drugs.
• Only 36 jurisdictions had specific policies for equity in hiring or licensing, but this is up from six in 2019. - 63% of Californians live where they can legally buy cannabis (up from 56% in 2019). Only three of 58 counties had no location allowing legal sale, with 36% of jurisdictions allowing storefronts and an additional 19% allowing sales only by delivery.
- Only 10 of the 539 California municipalities enacted product restrictions, but those jurisdictions showed the kinds of robust action that can be possible, such as banning flavored inhalation products, banning cannabis-infused beverages or, in the case of Monterey County, authorizing its health officials to review products annually to ensure that packages are not attractive to children.
Public safety concerns come in light of several troubling trends related to cannabis consumption. In 2021 alone, California had 791 cannabis exposure calls to poison control centers for children 5 or younger, an increase of 140% since 2018. The number of high school seniors in the United States who have used cannabis vapes in the preceding month tripled from 2017 to 2022, reaching 14% nationally and 16.2% in California, according to a survey sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. California saw a near doubling of cannabis use during pregnancy over the past decade, and a 75% increase in cannabis-related emergency department visits in just four years.