Research and Analysis

Executive Summary

California pioneered modern-day cannabis legalization when voters adopted the United States’ first medical cannabis laws in 1996. A thriving medical market, with patient care at its center, grew for two decades largely unregulated.

In the mid 2010s, ahead of adult-use sales, California developed its first laws to regulate market activity, license businesses, and establish product standards. These laws reflect a different era of policymaking – one in which federal intervention was a top concern, and there was little evidence of harmful public impacts or the most effective approaches to mitigate them.

Today, the complexities within California’s cannabis laws are impeding government effectiveness, small business survival, and enforcement of public health and safety standards. The state must make a concerted effort to unravel those complexities and incorporate best practices from across the country if it wishes to remain a national leader.

This report describes the history of cannabis in California, as well as the policymaking environment then and now. It identifies challenges that raise barriers to entry, and it proposes practical solutions for licensing and other reforms that would improve outcomes for local and state government, businesses, consumers and communities.