New report describes how California’s cannabis laws are impeding a safe and equitable marketplace
Overly complex licensing processes are creating challenges for businesses and government officials alike
CALIFORNIA — The Cannabis Policy Lab issued a report outlining problems with California laws that govern licensing of cannabis businesses. These problems are straining government resources needed for oversight and making it difficult for small and equity businesses to succeed.
Access the report: California Cannabis Report: Licensing and Market Access
The Cannabis Policy Lab spent several months engaging with a diverse group of stakeholders to understand their challenges and explore suggestions for reform where there is broad consensus. More than 60 people who work in and around cannabis in California ultimately contributed to the report, including state and local government administrators, cannabis businesses, researchers, and community advocates.
The report includes more than a dozen recommendations to improve those laws, including by:
Streamlining licensing processes, reducing duplication between state and local governments, and eliminating the need to hold multiple licenses for a single location
Allowing cannabis businesses to access existing, state-funded small business support programs, and
Expediting licensing for equity businesses.
“California is one of the largest and oldest cannabis markets in the world, but it’s also one of the most complicated regulatory environments,” said Christina Dempsey, founder of the Cannabis Policy Lab. “Those complexities are impeding the state’s ability to achieve a safe, equitable cannabis marketplace.”
This is the first report issued by the Cannabis Policy Lab, a public policy research organization founded by a former California state cannabis regulator to educate lawmakers and the public about cannabis. The report was produced pro bono, in response to the needs of the California Legislature and government administrators.
“California developed its cannabis laws in a different era, when states were worried that the federal government would shut down their programs and before anyone knew how best to regulate this market,” Dempsey added. “But a lot has changed in the last decade, and California needs to update its laws to reflect that.”
Another report, California Cannabis Report: Improving Oversight of Hemp Products, will be released in early March. Both reports directly address emerging regulatory issues while considering what would be most effective in California.
About California’s regulation of cannabis:
California became the first state in the country to legalize medical cannabis in 1996, paving the way for the modern-day cannabis legalization movement. In November 2016, California voters overwhelmingly approved adult recreational cannabis use, following states like Washington and Colorado during a wave of adult-use ballot measures in the 2010s. With federal intervention a looming threat, many states, including California, set up highly restrictive regulations.
Today, nearly all states allow medical cannabis and 24 of those have also legalized adult-use. The federal government has not only refrained from interfering in state cannabis markets but is actively considering rescheduling cannabis, following a recommendation from the Department of Health and Human Services.
Despite legalizing in the mid 90s, the State of California did not begin to regulate cannabis businesses until 2018, when adult-use cannabis sales began. The transition from a robust, legal but unregulated market into strict and, at times, onerous regulation has prevented many existing businesses from participating in the legal marketplace.
Seven years after the approval of Proposition 64, fundamental challenges in the regulatory framework are impeding survival of small businesses, enforcement of the most critical public health and safety laws, attainment of equity goals and government’s ability to quickly and effectively address emerging issues and challenges. These problems are compounded by a persistent unlicensed market, slow adoption of local programs, and the proliferation of intoxicating hemp products.
The report outlines how these challenges stem, in large part, from a highly restrictive and outdated regulatory framework.
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About the Cannabis Policy Lab
The Cannabis Policy Lab is a nonpartisan public policy organization (“think tank”) that educates government leaders and the public about cannabis legalization and regulation. The Cannabis Policy Lab publishes research and reports and cannabis regulation that highlight the best ideas from across the country and propose innovative approaches to challenging problems.
The Cannabis Policy Lab was founded by Christina Dempsey, a former state cannabis regulator who served as the Deputy Director of Policy & Research for the California Department of Cannabis Control.
