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OC Register: Cannabis report card: Do Orange Countycities make the grade?
Public Health Institute’s (PHI) Getting it Right from the Start and its 2025 State of Local Cannabis Policy Scorecards is covered by the Orange County Register, as this year’s annual review evaluates the policies passed by California cities and counties that allow cannabis sales, and highlights jurisdictions that are making positive steps in adopting cannabis regulations that protect youth, public health, and equity.
- Teri Sforza, Orange County Register
Orange County, CA (Feb 6, 2026)—Congrats, California, you’ve built the largest legal cannabis market in the world! Taxes on same pour $1 billion into public coffers each year.
In the handful of Orange County cities that allow the biz, this means money. In Santa Ana, cannabis generates some $10 million for youth services and public safety programs per annum. In Costa Mesa, it’s about $3.6 million a year; in Stanton and La Habra, more than $1 million a year each; and in Laguna Woods, some $750,000 a year.
But public health types worry. Are the state and cities doing enough to educate folks about, and help protect them from, the risks and downsides of marijuana products?
Cannabis, they warn, can have severe negative effects on the adolescent brain, including problems with memory, learning and coordination. Use during pregnancy can be problematic for both mother and baby. Car accidents, psychosis and schizophrenia have been associated with marijuana use; and the higher potency products on the market today — along with kiddie-pleasing flavors and candy-like packaging and presentation — pose particular challenges, according to the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, the U.S. Surgeon General, et al.
Recent changes to California law, allowing an “ice cream truck” delivery model for medical marijuana (even if a city forbids storefront retail sales), expands access even further.
(An aside: While this can be a good thing for many, we have too-intimate knowledge of how easy it is for underage kids to get their hands on this stuff. A gummy from a friend in San Diego. A 17-year-old stomping up the stairs in a panic, heart racing, fearing death. A call to 911…fire engines…ambulances…curious neighbors pouring into the street. Bad things happen when 100-pound people eat gummies containing 10 mg of THC! Legalization, inexperience and easy access can be a very scary mix.)
Enter now Getting it Right from the Start, a project of the Public Health Institute, an Oakland-based nonprofit that seeks to prod cities toward stronger health protections, especially for kids.
As part of ‘Getting it Right,’ the nonprofit scores cities based on the safeguards they employ. The group wants to see cannabis businesses located far from schools, parks and other places where kids congregate, and it wants distance requirements between such businesses as a way to prevent overconcentration. The group wants prominent warnings about the dangers of cannabis overuse. And they want a nix on products that are appealing to kids.
A perfect score on the Public Health Institute’s test is 100.
No city in California came close.
Passing grades?
The group’s highest-ranking city was Pomona, with 60 points, far eclipsing any municipality in Orange County.
Pomona caps the number of retail licenses, bans temporary cannabis events and on-site consumption, requires a 1,000-foot buffer from schools and other youth-sensitive sites, mandates in-store health warnings, prioritizes equity in hiring and dedicates local cannabis tax revenue to youth programs and prevention, the organization said. It takes in about $500,000 per year from cannabis revenue.
In O.C., the highest scorer was Santa Ana, with 40 points. The city goes beyond the requirements of state law by limiting the number of retailers and requiring a distance of at least 600 feet from schools and a distance between retailers. It requires health warnings to be displayed and it restricts cannabis business signage. Santa Ana also imposes a local retail tax on cannabis, and dedicates that revenue to youth and prevention programs.
Laguna Woods got the next-highest score, at 25 points. It also went beyond state requirements by requiring distance between retailers; having a local retail tax; limiting billboards; prohibiting temporary event permits; and prohibiting on-site consumption.
Costa Mesa scored 21 points. It requires cannabis businesses be at least 1,000 feet from schools and other kid areas; imposes signage restrictions, and prohibits on-site consumption. The city was praised for requiring independent, third-party ID verification for cannabis delivery (as were Los Angeles, San Jose and a few others).
La Habra scored 21 points as well. It doesn’t allow cannabis stores, but delivery is OK. For that, the city requires local permits while limiting delivery destinations and imposing a local retail tax. But research has shown that rates of youth cannabis use are highest in places that only allow delivery sales, the public health folks point out.
Stanton scored 18. It limits the number of retailers; has a local retail tax; signage restrictions; and prohibits on-site consumption.
Several O.C. cities that don’t allow cannabis storefronts do have regulations on deliveries.
“Garden Grove, Irvine and La Habra all require deliverers to obtain a local permit, which is great, as it allows them to monitor the retail sales occurring within their boundaries,” said Alisa A. Padon, a research scientist with the Prevention Policy Group and Public Health Institute.
“Garden Grove, Tustin, and La Habra all limit delivery destinations, for example, prohibiting delivery to schools, parks, or youth centers. We’d like (cities) to prohibit delivery to college dorms and campuses, too. Cypress and Tustin both prohibit temporary cannabis events, such as those at county fairs and in parks, where children and adolescents are inevitably exposed, even when certain areas are age-limited.”
But there’s much more, however, that cities can and should do.
California built the largest legal cannabis market in the world, but we still lack the public-health guardrails required for a legal but addictive product. As cannabis products grow more potent and marketing more aggressive, the evidence of harm is mounting. Local leaders must respond to what the science tells us — not to industry narratives.Dr. Lynn Silver
Program Director of PHI’s Prevention Policy Group
Click on the link below to read the full article.
Originally published by OC Register
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