Legal cannabis sales have been happening in Redding, Shasta Lake and Anderson since 2018, after California voters approved the recreational sale and taxation of marijuana two years before.
But those North State cities and others could be doing more to keep legal weed out of the hands of people who are underage, according to a statewide scorecard released Monday, Feb. 2 by a cannabis research nonprofit.
The Public Health Institute’s 2025 scorecards released Monday assess California cities and counties that allow cannabis to be legally sold on a 100-point scale, with higher scores representing more effective public-health protections in place as of Jan. 1, 2025, the Oakland-based nonprofit said.
The highest score, of 60, went to Pomona in eastern Los Angeles County.
According to the Institute, Redding received a score of 28, while Anderson got 25. Both cities scored slightly above the statewide community average of 23.
Shasta Lake came in with a score of 18.
Analyzing the Redding area’s cannabis scorecards
The group said Redding is going in the right direction by requiring a 1,000-foot buffer from schools and other youth-sensitive sites, such as parks and libraries; mandating in-store health warnings and banning temporary cannabis events and on-site consumption.
“However, they missed opportunities to dedicate cannabis tax revenue to youth services and prevention programs and to put limits on cannabis products and marketing that appeal to youth,” the group said.
Shasta Lake earned points by requiring a 900-foot buffer from schools and other youth-sensitive sites, forbidding on-site consumption and prohibiting medical cannabis prescribers from issuing medical cards at dispensaries. Their score suffered from allowing temporary cannabis events, not requiring health information be disseminated to customers and not dedicating cannabis tax revenue to youth services and prevention programs, the group said.
Anderson, a delivery-only community, lost points for not requiring ID verification through independent scanning software, not requiring that health information about cannabis use be disseminated to customers, not collecting cannabis tax revenue to fund youth services and prevention programs and not prohibiting temporary cannabis events. They gained points for requiring outside deliverers to obtain a local permit, which allows Anderson to monitor retail sales within its boundaries and prohibiting deliveries to locations such as schools, youth centers, public parks and restaurants.While the average delivery-only community scored 15, Anderson scored 25, the Institute said.
California communities graded on 6 cannabis policies
Higher scores are given to communities with laws in place that exceed what’s required by the state, said Alisa Padon, a research scientist with the institute, because her group doesn’t think the state’s rules go far enough.
All municipalities in California that allow cannabis sales must meet state regulations, which include selling recreational weed only to customers aged 21 or over. State rules also require verification of a buyer’s identification before the sale takes place, said Padon.
The group said it based its scorecard evaluations on six policy areas: retailer requirements, local taxation, product regulations, marketing restrictions, smoke-free air protections and equity measures.
The scorecard ranking for each municipality is based on how much the area’s regulations exceed the state’s requirements. “We don’t think the state did a very good job of passing policies that protect public health and youth,” Padon said.
What the Institute has criticized as lax oversight comes as 70% of Californians now live in areas where cannabis can legally be sold, up from 55% of communities in 2019, the group said.
Padon said one shortcoming of the state’s law is that some people who are too young to buy weed from legal sources are doing so anyway by showing fake IDs or displaying the identification of an older sibling.
To combat that, the Institute would like to see rules requiring sellers to use independent ID verification programs to help keep legal cannabis from getting into underage hands.
Other recommendations from the nonprofit includes banning cannabis advertising on platforms where more than 15% of the audience could be adolescents, as the World Health Organization advises, according to Padon.
Such an approach with advertising is being taken “in other states, but it hasn’t been done in California,” said Padon. “And we see the science coming in showing youth are not being insulated from” the legalized expansion of pot retail, she said.
Padon said she hopes the Institute’s scorecard will ignite conversation about cannabis policies and drive change in the future.
Some jurisdictions have already reached out to say they are planning to upgrade their cannabis policies, said Padon and they’ll use the scorecard’s policies “to help guide the process and figure out what … to do better.”
Snapshots of underage pot users in Shasta County, statewide
According to recent data from the California Healthy Kids Survey – Data Dashboard for Secondary Students, about 3% of Shasta County students in the 7th grade describe themselves as current marijuana users, compared to 13% of students in the 11th grade and 27% of students in non-traditional schools. The survey said it based its findings on student responses is based from 2023 to 2025.
Padon said that she conducted a survey around California in 2022 showing that 54% of the 16-17-year-olds and 64% of the 18-20-year-olds queried said they had gotten cannabis from a legal source, either from a licensed delivery service, got it from a store using a fake ID or a medical ID card, or from someone else who bought the product for them from a legit store.
Padon said her survey, which queried 409 students statewide, also found that 60% of 16-17-year-olds and 43% of 18-20-year-olds said they had purchased pot from an illegal dealer.
In November 2016, California voters approved Proposition 64, the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, which legalized the possession and recreational use of cannabis by adults 21 years of age and older.
It is illegal for people under the age of 21 to smoke cannabis, or consume edibles or other cannabis products, without a medical recommendation from a physician.
In addition, Proposition 64 established statewide regulations for all aspects of the commercial cannabis supply chain, from cultivation to testing, manufacturing, distribution and sales.
The law permits each city and county in the state to decide whether to allow commercial cannabis activities within their jurisdiction.
Unincorporated Shasta County, for example, prohibits commercial cannabis cultivation, manufacturing, testing, distribution and retail sales including delivery. Personal cultivation of a limited number of indoor plants is permitted by adults 21 and older who are in compliance with local zoning rules.
Michele Chandler covers public safety, dining and whatever else comes up for the Redding Record Searchlight/USA Today Network. Accepts story tips at 530-338-7753 and at mrchandler@gannett.com. Please support our entire newsroom’s commitment to public service journalism by subscribing today.
This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Redding, Shasta Lake, Anderson fall short on keeping cannabis from youth
Reporting by Michele Chandler, Redding Record Searchlight / Redding Record Searchlight
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