Getting it Right from the Start

02/06/2026

Another strong example of how our California Cannabis Policy Scorecards are meant to function — and why independent journalism plays such a critical role in advancing public health.

In a deeply reported column for the Orange County Register, Teri Sforza examines how multiple Orange County cities stack up on protecting youth and communities as legal cannabis continues to expand. The piece does exactly what the scorecards are designed to enable: it names scores city by city, explains what each locality has done, and just as importantly, what it has not — making local policy choices visible and comparable.

Just as importantly, the article situates those scores within the broader public-health context driving this work. It walks readers through the growing body of evidence around today’s hyper-commercialized cannabis market — including rising potency, youth-appealing flavors and packaging, declining risk perception among adolescents, increased emergency-room visits, mental-health harms, and the particular risks to youth and young adults. The message is clear: legalization has moved faster than the guardrails needed to protect public health.

Against that backdrop, the reporting highlights why local policy matters so much. The article explains why Pomona leads the state (60 points), and then details how Orange County cities such as Santa Ana (40), Laguna Woods (25), Costa Mesa (21), La Habra (21), and Stanton (18) earned their scores — connecting specific policies (or gaps) around retailer limits, buffers from schools, health warnings, delivery rules, event bans, marketing, and use of cannabis tax revenue to real health implications.

That transparency is the point. The scorecards are not just a grading exercise. They are a tool to show that state law is a floor, not a ceiling — and that as cannabis becomes more potent, more aggressively marketed, and more widely available, local governments have both the authority and responsibility to do more.

Read the full article here: https://www.ocregister.com/2026/02/06/cannabis-report-card-do-o-c-cities-make-the-grade/

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Columnist Teri Sforza writes: In the few O.C. cities that allow cannabis businesses, the industry generates tax revenue — up to $10 million for youth and safety programs. But public health ty…

02/05/2026

We’re incredibly grateful for the in-depth, public-service reporting by Michele Chandler and the Redding Record Searchlight (USA Today Network) on our newly released 2025 California Cannabis Policy Scorecards.

This story takes a close look at how Redding, Anderson, and Shasta Lake are doing when it comes to protecting youth and public health as legal cannabis expands — and, importantly, why those local policy choices matter. It doesn’t just report the scores; it explains where communities are making progress and where key protections are still missing.

That’s exactly how we hope these scorecards will function.

They are meant to do two things at once:

- Recognize leadership, by highlighting communities that go beyond state minimums to protect health and advance equity.
-Create accountability, by clearly showing where local governments are leaving proven public-health protections on the table.

As the article underscores, simply following state law isn’t enough. Local governments have real authority to shape safer cannabis markets — and the scorecards provide both transparency and a roadmap for how to do better.

We’re especially thankful for the care and depth of this reporting, and for the opportunity to contribute data and analysis that can help inform local conversations and drive smarter, science-based policy.

Read the full story here: https://www.redding.com/story/news/2026/02/05/california-cities-cannabis-policies-fail-to-protect-youth/88476560007/?gnt-cfr=1&gca-cat=p&gca-uir=true&gca-epti=z11xx81p002750c002750v11xx81d--66--b--66--&gca-ft=140&gca-ds=sophi

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Current California rules on legal cannabis aren't tough enough, according to an Oakland-based research group.

02/03/2026

Yesterday, in partnership with Kaiser Permanente Research NorCal and the Sierra Health Foundaiton, we released the 2025 California Cannabis Policy Scorecards, a statewide assessment of how well cities and counties are protecting youth, public health, and communities as legal cannabis access continues to expand.

While most jurisdictions still fall short of basic public-health and equity protections, this year’s scorecards also highlight what strong local leadership looks like.
🏆 City of Pomona earned the highest overall score (60 points), setting a strong example for protecting health and advancing equity. Pomona capped the number of retail licenses, banned temporary cannabis events and on-site consumption, required a 1,000-foot buffer from schools and other youth-sensitive sites, mandated in-store health warnings, prioritized equity in hiring with fee deferrals, and dedicated local cannabis tax revenue to youth programs and prevention.
🚚 San Benito County scored highest among delivery-only jurisdictions (39 points), demonstrating how strong protections are possible even without storefront sales. Its policies include a temporary event ban, billboard ban, a local cannabis tax on deliveries, permit requirements for outside delivery businesses, and delivery-location restrictions.

These communities show that local governments have both the authority and the tools to reduce harms, protect youth, and shape a safer legal cannabis marketplace — even as state policy has lagged.

“As more Californians live in communities that allow cannabis sales, local policy decisions increasingly shape who is exposed to risk and who is protected. These scorecards show how uneven protections remain across the state, and the science shows how much those choices matter.”
— Alisa Padon, PhD, Getting it Right from the Start

📊 Explore the scorecards and see how communities across California compare: bit.ly/3NSzMkG
🗺️ Read our press release: https://bit.ly/3Zfy2o4

02/02/2026

Today, in partnership with Kaiser Permanente Research NorCal and the Sierra Health Foundaiton, we released the 2025 State of Cannabis Policy in California Scorecards — a statewide assessment of how well cities and counties are protecting youth, public health, and communities in the era of legal cannabis.

The findings are clear: while a handful of jurisdictions are leading, most communities are still leaving critical public-health protections on the table, even as cannabis use, potency, and related harms continue to rise.

Amid these growing concerns, the scorecards provide a clear roadmap for local action to better protect health and advance equity. Local governments remain the primary line of defense where state policy has not kept pace.

Our scorecards evaluate local policies across six areas — retailer requirements, taxation, product and marketing rules, smoke-free air, and equity — and highlight both promising models and persistent gaps. With more Californians than ever living in areas where cannabis is legally available, local decisions matter.

📄 Read the press release: https://lnkd.in/ev-DXPX4
🗺️ Explore the scorecards and best-practices map: https://lnkd.in/eJe8c6-T
📊 See full scorecard: https://lnkd.in/eki2VV42

01/20/2026

Congress is quietly moving to delay a federal ban on intoxicating h**p products—and the public health stakes are high.

This fall, Congress finally made progress by embedding a ban on intoxicating h**p and synthetic cannabinoids in budget legislation (with a one-year delay) made possible by a farm bill loophole (we warned about in 2018). That window gave the h**p industry time to push back.

According to Roll Call, Rep. James Baird (R-IN) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) are now backing legislation to delay the ban by three years, potentially inserting it into must-pass spending bills. The Trump administration has also signaled support for reversing h**p restrictions, urging agencies and Congress to act.

These products—often sold as “legal CBD”—frequently contain dangerous levels of intoxicating and synthetic cannabinoids, harming kids, families, and communities.

States like New Jersey are stepping up. The question is whether Congress will too? We urge our friends, allies, and public-health experts to educate their members of Congress about the public-health risks posed by highly intoxicating h**p products—often containing large amounts of untested, synthetic cannabinoids—that are widely marketed and readily accessible to children across the country.

Read article in comments!

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01/16/2026

Worth reading: In a thoughtful new op-ed for the Los Angeles Times, Susan Shapiro shares her personal journey of quitting cannabis—and why legality doesn’t equal harmlessness.

She clearly lays out what the research is telling us: as cannabis has become easier to access and more heavily marketed, rates of dependence have risen, along with links to psychosis, cardiovascular risks, and su***de. Nearly 1 in 3 users, she notes, may be genetically predisposed to developing cannabis use disorder.

Importantly, Shapiro doesn’t just warn—she offers practical, compassionate guidance: how to assess whether use is becoming a problem, what withdrawal can signal, and concrete strategies for cutting back or quitting, from tapering and therapy to peer support.

This is exactly why California—and the rest of the country—needs smarter public-health guardrails: policies that reduce harm, curb aggressive commercialization, and put health ahead of profit. Right now, the market is largely designed to do the opposite.

Read this candid, humane piece that adds much-needed nuance to the conversation about cannabis, health, and prevention: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2026-01-13/cannabis-addiction-signs-recovery-strategy

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Pot is quickly becoming America's drug of choice, on track to replace alcohol, but its harms are becoming clear as well.

01/12/2026

Even “light” cannabis use can harm teens — new national study

A major new study our of Columbia and published in Pediatrics analyzed data from more than 160,000 U.S. middle and high school students and found that even teens who use cannabis just once or twice a month already show worse mental health and school outcomes.

The study was led by child and adolescent psychiatrist , who explains:

“While previous studies have focused on the effects of frequent cannabis use among teens, our study found that any amount of cannabis use at all may put kids at risk of falling behind in school, and the kids using most often may have the greatest risk. A few ‘harmless’ joints can snowball into real academic consequences. Teens using it regularly often struggle to focus, miss school, and may lose interest in their future plans.”

Why is this happening now? Today’s cannabis products are two to three times more potent than in the past — and adolescent brains are still developing the systems that control learning, mood, and self-regulation. Even casual use can interfere with that development.

This is why public-health-based cannabis policy matters:

- Limits on THC potency
- Youth protections
- Honest education about risks
- Prevention and early-intervention resources

At Getting it Right from the Start, this is exactly what we’ve been warning about: We can respect adult choice while still protecting adolescent brain health. The science is clear — and policy needs to catch up.

Read more: https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/news/teens-any-cannabis-use-may-have-impact-emotional-health-academic-performance

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Even occasional cannabis use is linked to worse school performance and emotional distress for teens, finds a new study led by Columbia University.

12/30/2025

This new Washington Post commentary is a must-read for anyone who cares about public safety — and it confirms exactly what we’ve been saying at Getting it Right from the Start.

Two leading experts — Beau Kilmer (RAND) and Keith Humphreys (Stanford) — explain why cannabis-impaired driving has quietly become a major problem since legalization:

- There’s still no reliable roadside test for ma*****na
- THC stays in the body long after someone stops being high
- Products today are far more potent than in the past
- Ultra-cheap, high-THC products encourage heavy use
- States failed to educate the public about real risks

Today’s legal cannabis market is not your parents’ pot. Flower averages 20% THC, and concentrates run 60–90% — levels that absolutely impair driving.

Yet legalization moved faster than regulation, and the result is predictable: Nearly 12 million Americans now drive after using cannabis each year.

This isn’t about going backwards. It’s about finally getting legalization right — with potency limits, pricing floors, strong education, and rules designed around health and safety, not industry profits.

Read article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/12/29/ma*****na-driving-legal-state-cannabis/

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There’s no breathalyzer test for driving under the influence of cannabis. But there are other options.

12/23/2025

An important new op-ed in The New York Times by Dr. Aaron E. Carroll of AcademyHealth is a must-read for anyone who cares about cannabis policy and public health.

Carroll makes an essential point that too many leaders avoid:
legalization moved faster than the evidence — and commercialization has outpaced our ability to monitor, educate, and protect public health.

He is clear about what legalization got right: Fewer arrests and less incarceration! Those are real gains — and they matter.

But he also names what comes next. As he writes, legalization created a commercial market “faster than we built the systems needed to monitor health effects, educate consumers or manage risk.”

Today’s market includes:
• Ultra-high-potency products far stronger than those studied in earlier research
• Aggressive marketing and wellness claims that downplay risk
• Rising emergency-room visits and cannabis use disorder
• Disproportionate harms among youth, heavy users, and vulnerable people
• An evidence base that still lags behind policy and industry growth

Carroll rejects both scare tactics and denial. He calls for honest science communication, stronger guardrails around potency and marketing, better data, and reinvesting cannabis tax revenue into prevention, treatment, and mental health services.

And he makes the point we’ve long emphasized: the answer is not to go back to prohibition — it’s to improve legalization so it actually protects public health.

This is what getting cannabis policy right looks like: protecting the gains of reform while confronting the real-world harms with evidence, humility, and smart regulation.

Read The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/opinion/trump-ma*****na-policy.html

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All policy decisions have trade-offs, and cannabis legalization is no exception.

12/22/2025

Thoughtful take from the Los Angeles Times’ Robin Abcarian — and one that resonates deeply with our work at Getting it Right from the Start. Abcarian reflects on nearly a decade of legal cannabis in California and lands in a place we’ve long argued for: the truth sits between two extremes.

For decades, cannabis policy was driven by Re**er Madness, criminalization, and racialized enforcement. Today, the pendulum has swung hard in the opposite direction — toward mass commercialization, ultra-high-potency products, aggressive marketing, and sweeping wellness claims that far outpace the science.

As the author notes, "The ensuing decade has been a mixed bag for many who believed that legalization would bring an end to the many woes caused by prohibition: a lack of access to banking and capital, the disproportionate prosecutions of people of color despite usage rates that are uniform across races, no reliable way of knowing whether a product was tainted, unfettered access by minors."

We don’t need to return to prohibition. But we also can’t ignore mounting evidence about high-potency products, youth exposure, dependency risks, and the consequences of treating cannabis like just another consumer good.

Public health isn’t about demonization or denial. It’s about getting the balance right — protecting youth, grounding policy in evidence, and resisting a commercial free-for-all that puts profit ahead of health.

Read: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2025-12-21/federal-government-cannabis-reform

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Weirdly, Trump's executive order to reschedule cannabis coincides with an analysis casting doubt on whether pot actually helps with pain, insomnia and stress.

12/19/2025

The Trump administration has signed an executive order to fast-track the reclassification of cannabis—an approach also pursued under the Biden administration. While this move could reduce barriers to medical research, it would also give the legal cannabis industry a major tax break and does not legalize cannabis outside the FDA’s standard drug approval process.

This is a consequential moment for public health—and one that demands precision, not politics.

Last year, Getting it Right from the Start submitted detailed public comments to the DEA outlining both the potential benefits and serious risks of rescheduling cannabis. Our core message: cannabis is not a single substance, and rescheduling should reflect real differences in risk, potency, and evidence of medical use.

Today’s market looks nothing like it did when the Controlled Substances Act was written. Low-potency products have largely been replaced by ultra-high-potency flower, concentrates and vapes approaching 90% THC, and high-dose edibles—products linked to rising addiction, emergency room visits, psychosis, pregnancy-related harms, and emerging cardiovascular risks.

Our recommendation is simple: if cannabis is rescheduled, it must be done smarter—not broader. Schedule III should be limited to lower-potency products with some evidence of medical use, while higher-risk products remain appropriately controlled. And researchers must be allowed to study the actual products people are using—not outdated substitutes.

Very limited rescheduling could be a step forward. But we cannot allow industry pressure to outweigh evidence, youth protection, and public health.

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12/11/2025

Another important study we co-authored with Kaiser Permanente—published this week in JAMA Network Open—shows just how inconsistent and inaccurate information about cannabis use in pregnancy remains across California’s retail market.

The “mystery caller” survey reached 505 retailers. 1 in 5 budtenders said prenatal cannabis use is safe, only 40% said it’s unsafe, fewer than 6% mentioned the required pregnancy warning, and nearly a third said edibles are safer despite limited evidence.

Budtenders are often trusted, nonjudgmental advisors, yet many lack accurate information and have no medical training to guide such decisions—leaving pregnant people to navigate mixed messages at a critical moment for maternal and child health.

To protect public health, we need prominent front-of-pack warnings, clear evidence-based health messages, better training for retail workers, and strong public education campaigns.

Read Kaiser Permanente’s full article here:
https://divisionofresearch.kaiserpermanente.org/cannabis-retailers-advice-safety/