The Brief

At Vibe Cultivators, an indoor cannabis farm in Sacramento, the first thing to hit you is the smell. Earthy, skunky, whatever you want to call it, that is some pungent weed.

There are aisles of plants, growing on two levels under artificial lights. They have names like Gelato 33 and Alien Runtz.

"As you can see, all our plants are tagged," says Brian Prichard, Vibe's entrepreneur in residence.

The state-sanctioned tags are a sign this isn't weed grown by a guy who knows a guy. They contain the name of the state-licensed grower, the license number and an ID number just for the plant, so cannabis regulators can keep track of it.

Check out the rest of the series: How safe is your weed?

Things have changed since the days before California legalized marijuana, Prichard says. Back then, he had to be secretive about his work, which meant asking for help was challenging.

Rows of carefully tagged plants grow at Vibe Cultivators in Sacramento. The industry is largely supportive of California's push to regulate it and keep harmful products from hitting the market.

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Preston Gannaway for NPR

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"Before, you know, I'd go to Home Depot and I'd tell them, 'I need this part and this part to make something.' Well, they want to know what I'm making. 'Well, I can't tell you... I just need these parts,'" Prichard says.

Now, he can just ask for information, even from state regulators.

The California Department of Cannabis Control officially formed in 2021, combining what various other state agencies were doing to stay on top of the newly formed legal weed industry in the state. One of its primary jobs is to keep weed safe. It's a task many states with legalized marijuana struggle with, in the absence of federal support or guidance.

And without a deep well of scientific research – it hasn't been easy. Weed can contain mold, bacteria, or even heavy metals like arsenic. It can also be unexpectedly potent, not matching the THC levels on its label. States are trying to keep weed consumers from getting sick, while

supporting a growing, tax-paying industry.

"We like to say around here that we're building the plane as we fly it," says Zarha Ruiz, who leads environmental compliance and manufacturing safety at California's Department of Cannabis Control. "Nothing could be more accurate."

Left: Vibe Cultivators cheerful exterior. Right: Cody Daniel defoliates cannabis plants inside Vibe Cultivators.<br>

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Preston Gannaway for NPR

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On their own

For cannabis, unlike for brownie mix or Tylenol, there's no federal Food and Drug Administration to keep consumers safe. In that vacuum, weed regulators from several states came together to form the Cannabis Regulators Association, says Gillian Schauer, the group's executive director.

"States were struggling to set up literally their own mini FDAs and mini EPAs to try to do the due diligence that was needed," Schauer says.

The states share information, holding meetings and webinars to update each other on what's working and discuss evolving best practices, for instance.

But they don't all test for the same things. According to a 2022 study about the patchwork of regulation around the country, states were testing for more than 600 contaminants in all.

"Interestingly, in each jurisdiction there's only anywhere between 60 to 120 contaminants that are regulated," says Maxwell Leung, an assistant professor at Arizona State University who authored the study. For example, a contaminant might lead to a recall in one state. But another state may not even be testing for it.

Zarha Ruiz, branch chief of environmental compliance and manufacturing safety at the Department of Cannabis Control, outside Vibe Cultivators.

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Preston Gannaway for NPR

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Testing for more contaminants isn't necessarily better, however, he says. Without a vast body of research, scientists and regulators don't know which contaminants have the biggest impact on human health.

Still, California has seen recalls of legal weed — it had 63 last year, the most since the Department of Cannabis Control formed in 2021. That meant sellers had to yank 25,000 individual units of cannabis products from their shelves, because of things like microbial contamination or misbranding.

The California Cannabis Industry Association which represents growers, manufacturers and dispensaries, generally supports the state's effort to regulate. The association says it's "heartened" by the state's recent work on recalls, which came after an investigation called out the state for missing illegal pesticides in legal weed.

"That's not to say there isn't room for improvement in any emerging industry, and cannabis is no exception," says Caren Woodsen, the president of the association's board of directors.

Preventing a weed health crisis

For Ruiz in California, the regulators' priority is keeping people safe. People in the industry remember the EVALI crisis, a 2019 outbreak of lung injuries and hospitalizations across all 50 states linked to vape products containing vitamin E acetate, an additive in some e-cigarettes with THC. At least 68 people died, including four in California.

The possible health risks aren't confined to smoking. The Department of Cannabis Control also regulates edibles like gummies, brownies and sodas. In those types of products, the THC dose may be higher than indicated by the label. Edibles may also be contaminated by bacteria, which could sicken the person who consumes it.

Wyld's grapefruit-flavored gummies are poured into molds, cured, coated in sugar and then packaged for distribution at a factory in Sacramento, Calif.

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Sydney Lupkin

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According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, emergency room visits related to cannabis increased between 2019 and 2022 for people under 25. Earlier research showed edibles were responsible for a disproportionate share of cannabis-related ER visits.

Down the street from the Sacramento pot farm, there's a factory that makes a product called Wyld gummies.

On a recent grapefruit gummy-making day, a machine poured the solution into rectangular molds. Everyone was wearing hair nets, masks and blue gloves. It looked and smelled like any other factory that makes food, but stored in a metal locker inside a back room, there's a special ingredient: THC oil.

"Our gummies are four grams, but only 10 milligrams of that is cannabis or cannabinoid product," says Gabe Parton Lee, the company's attorney. "And so the majority is just candy."

Still, it's inspected by the California Department of Cannabis Control instead of the FDA or state inspectors under contract with the FDA.

In the distribution room, hundreds of boxes of marionberry flavored gummies are cordoned off to the side under a sign that says "Quarantine Area" in red lettering. The gummies are awaiting batch testing results at one of 27 licensed labs around the state before they can be loaded on trucks and on their way to retail destinations. Inspectors will be checking for contaminants and THC levels.

Using science for safety

In California, the Department of Cannabis Control tracks almost every step in the cannabis pipeline. Weed manufacturers even have to report how many pounds of plant trimmings they throw away.

Research scientist Hung Liu runs tests at the Department of Cannabis Control laboratory in Richmond, Calif., in January. Labs are looking for contaminants such as illegal pesticides and heavy metals.

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Preston Gannaway for NPR

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The department's lab in Richmond, near San Francisco, leads the state-licensed labs. It uses sensitive machines to test for hundreds of contaminants, setting standards and helping law enforcement with investigations involving the illicit marijuana market.

And as the California cannabis industry has evolved, the lab has had to keep up, finding ways to test everything from gummies to hard candies to beverages to popcorn.

"There's all kinds of things that people are infusing with cannabinoids that we have to be able to extract them out of to then declare if it is accurately labeled" or that the labeled dosage is accurate," says Antonio Frazier, branch chief for the department's Laboratory Services Division. "It's a very interesting industry and I love it because you see so much ingenuity. I mean, you're seeing really creative products out there."

Over the last five years, the legal cannabis market has gotten a lot cleaner, especially compared to what he's seen in the illicit market.

"We see the levels of illegal pesticides that are 10, 100 times the actual limit coming from the illicit market," he says. The DCC has also occasionally found fentanyl in non-regulated cannabis products.

A research scientist measures water activity in a flower sample at a Department of Cannabis Control lab.

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Preston Gannaway for NPR

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In other words, it's still safer to buy regulated weed than illicit weed – even though regulated weed is more expensive.

None of Vibe Cultivators' products have ever been recalled. Brian Pritchard says the regulation is doing its job, which helps him do his job.

"I don't have to sneak in at midnight to get my work done anymore," he says. "It's a major improvement. The only people that are going to complain about it [are] the people who are doing stuff wrong."

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At least 20 detainees have launched a hunger strike at Desert View Annex, an immigrant detention center in Adelanto, California, where about 400 people are being held.

At a news conference Wednesday, immigrant rights groups, including the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, said the strikers were motivated by the detention center’s inadequate response to life-threatening health conditions among detainees, “decreasing portions of food” as commissary prices rise and “retaliation and suppression” against those who’ve spoken out against conditions inside. The media event included family members and legal representatives, who described hearing from detainees about how the hunger strike began.

The strike follows the recent release of a critical report from the California Department of Justice. Grounded in interviews with 194 detainees across the state, the report details how the surge in immigrant apprehensions strained conditions and access to medical care at all of the facilities operating in California. State investigators also described the recent deaths of multiple detainees.

The annex strikers’ demands include:

• bond reform
• remediation of mold, repair of water infrastructure, clean water and functioning facilities
• timely medical appointments, “appropriate treatment for chronic conditions” and “substantive mental health support”
• “a diet that sustains basic physical health”
• accountability for detainee deaths, including a man who died shortly after being released 
• “The ability to meet collectively, speak with outside advocates, and communicate with family and the public without interference or retaliation.”

Desert View Annex is operated by The GEO Group, a private prison company, under contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. No one at the press conference could confirm whether any detainees at the main Adelanto detention facility were on a hunger strike, too.

What is the response from authorities?

In response to a request for comment, The GEO Group referred LAist to the federal government. In an emailed statement, an unnamed Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said: “There is no hunger strike at Adelanto.”

The department also added: “For the record: During hunger strikes, ICE continues to provide three meals a day, delivered to the detained alien’s room, and an adequate supply of drinking water or other beverages.”

The department also said: “It is a longstanding practice to provide comprehensive medical care from the moment an alien enters ICE custody. This includes medical, dental, and mental health services as available, and access to medical appointments and 24-hour emergency care. For many illegal aliens this is the best healthcare they have received their entire lives.”

What do detainees experience?

Caleb Soto, an attorney with the National Day Labor Organizing Network, represents people currently detained at the Adelanto detention center. He said he goes inside the facility every week.

“I watch [detainees] deteriorate week by week,” he said. “The food they're given ... provides almost no nutrition. Medical appointments can take weeks or even months to be approved, and often last 60 seconds ending with the prescription of Tylenol, Advil or even a salt packet. People with serious conditions go untreated, and I've watched people age in front of me in a matter of months.”

Soto also described his experience with the bond system. “Discretionary releases have fallen 87%,” he said. “And for those who do get a bond hearing, the average bond is now over $14,000, which is a stark increase from the previous administration.”

Detainees have filed grievances, raised formal complaints and written officials about the conditions they’re experiencing, Soto added. “A hunger strike is not a first resort," he said. "It's what people do when every other option has been taken from them.”

Detainees say staff use solitary confinement to retaliate against those who speak out against these conditions, and to isolate detainees who are experiencing mental health crises.

Earlier this year, a coalition of immigrant rights groups filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of detainees, calling for conditions at Adelanto to be improved. The coalition has since requested an emergency court order to prevent further harm. A hearing is scheduled for July 10.

With President Donald Trump dragging them down in the polls, California Republicans are repackaging one of his core crusades into an idea they hope will be more palatable to voters.

They are framing their successful push to get a voter ID law on the November ballot as a “common sense” measure.

“We’ve structured this initiative based on what voters across the political spectrum would want,” Republican Assemblymember Carl DeMaio of San Diego said in a March interview, adding that showing an ID at the polls shouldn’t be any different than using one to buy alcohol or pass airport security.

DeMaio and other backers point to polling that shows 56% of California voters support requiring ID at the ballot box and that most states require or recommend an ID to vote.

But even in their pursuit to appeal to moderates, GOP lawmakers haven’t given up pushing Trump’s debunked claims of widespread voter fraud.

Last month, GOP legislators held a “stop the fraud” press conference, where they alleged without proof rampant corruption across state government, from elections to homelessness programs, and urged Newsom to call a special election to “audit” the alleged fraud.

The polling they point to also shows, however, that support for requiring identification at the polls drops to 39% when voters are told it is backed by DeMaio and could suppress turnout.

Voting rights groups say the measure would create needless barriers and would stifle turnout among low-income and disabled voters.

Current law already requires counties to routinely review voter registration databases to remove anyone who is ineligible to vote in case of a move, incarceration or death.

“Those checks and that maintenance of that list is already happening,” League of Women Voters executive director Jenny Farrell said. “We don’t need to erect new barriers.”

Voter suppression concerns tank voter ID support

If passed, as many as 1 million eligible voters could be kept from voting. Another 500,000 aren’t registered and don’t have the necessary documents it would require, according to UCLA Voting Rights Project director Matt Barreto.

“There’s been a very consistent finding in almost any state, in any environment, that lower-income and working-class voters are less likely to have an updated, valid ID,” he said.

Labor groups who bankrolled Democrats’ campaign for last year’s redistricting proposal, Proposition 50, are funding a similar opposition campaign focused on Trump’s push for a proof-of-citizenship bill in Congress.

Meanwhile, Democrats want to increase penalties for violating election laws after Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, a candidate for governor, seized hundreds of thousands of ballots earlier this year over baseless claims of voter fraud in the 2025 election.

Bianco, who seized the ballots in response to unproven claims from a right-wing activist group, supports voter ID.

Critics say he’s stoking fear among voters and that there are already adequate safeguards.

“We have a two-person rule where no ballots are ever in an area that’s not with at least two people observing what’s happening,” said Gail Pellerin, Democratic chair of the Assembly elections committee, at a UCLA elections panel last month.

Ramping up the base?

Experts agree voter fraud is rare.

However, fears about election integrity have risen among Republicans since Trump falsely claimed the 2020 election was stolen, spurring GOP lawmakers across the country to introduce bills seeking to tighten voter restrictions.

This is DeMaio’s third attempt at a voter ID ballot initiative. It qualified for the ballot last month.

Assemblymember Carl DeMaio announces that supporters of the CA Voter ID Initiative will submit more than 1.3 million signatures to qualify the measure for the November 2026 ballot during a press conference at the west steps of the state Capitol in Sacramento on March 3, 2026.

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Fred Greaves

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CalMatters

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Strategists say there’s little evidence that ballot initiatives actually turn out voters, but this measure is something intended to activate voters in what will likely be a difficult election year for Republicans.

“Issues like this, that are kind of red meat issues for Republicans when the governor’s race is fairly lackluster, it helps,” Stutzman said. “It’s all upside. It’s not going to hurt Republicans to have this on the ballot.”

Following bruising losses after Prop. 50 and in other states, GOP leaders are hoping to hold onto three statehouse seats they flipped in 2024 and gain others. But Trump — and his push for national voter restrictions — threatens Republicans’ success at the ballot box.

“It’s a loop that Republicans keep hammering on, either fraud or ineptitude, or waste in dollars,” Stutzman said. “It’s kind of traditional Republican messaging.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

The Pasadena City Council voted this week to clear the way for new apartments for low-income fire survivors. But some council members noted their hesitancy to approve the project, saying their hands were tied by state law.

The council denied an appeal from a homeowners group who opposed the project, which plans to bring 133 units of low-income housing to East Pasadena. The nearby residents said it was too tall, too dense and had too little parking.

Mayor Victor Gordo expressed reluctance about denying the appeal. He blamed state lawmakers for pitting local elected leaders against the interests of existing residents.

“We're going to see more and more of these frustrating hearings, where the local elected body essentially has little to no discretion, little to no say, and that's wrong,” Gordo said during the Monday night meeting.

The developer’s plans for the project include adapting a former office building into 50 units of permanent supportive housing for tenants, including formerly unhoused people. A new five-story building will include another 81 units of income-restricted housing. Two units will be for property managers.

Neighbors fought to block the project

Members of the Lower Hastings Ranch Association appealed an approval of the project by the city’s Design Commission. They argued the development wasn’t suitable for the neighborhood.

Ronnie Po, the association’s president, said nearby homeowners felt “blindsided” by the plans. Their appeal wasn’t really about the project’s aesthetics, he said. They were mainly opposed to the development’s height, density and reduced parking.

“I wouldn't call this a design issue,” Po said. “This project will literally rise up to the backyards of some of our neighbors up there. So this is literally in someone's backyard.”

The development team countered those complaints in a presentation to the City Council, saying the project complied with all relevant laws and did not impinge on single-family homes.

“The building is no closer than 25 feet to the nearest property line, and no closer than 110 feet away to the nearest home,” said Dana Sayles, who is with the land use firm three6ixty.

Who is the project designed to house?

The project at 600 N. Rosemead Blvd. will be reserved for renters who earn no more than 80% of the area’s median income. By current standards, that would include individuals earning up to $84,850 per year and families of four earning up to $121,150.

Many units will be set aside for renters with even lower incomes. And under state funding agreements, preference will be given to tenants displaced by the Eaton Fire.

“More than half of the units are two and three bedrooms, so this project is very much focused on families,” said Stephanie DeWolfe, a consultant on the project. “Getting family-sized units has been a challenge for the city in the past, and especially now with all the people displaced from the fires."

State law overrides local limits

Because of the state’s density bonus law — which allows larger projects when units are kept affordable — the developer is allowed to build taller than would normally be allowed under Pasadena codes. The project is within a half-mile of the Sierra Madre Villa stop on Metro’s A Line, qualifying it as near a “major transit stop” under California law.

Because it’s near a transit line, the project also qualifies for a state law that removes parking mandates. The developer is voluntarily planning to build 55 parking spaces. Many public commenters — and some council members — said more parking was needed.

“What's the assumption of where people will park their cars?” asked Councilmember Tyron Hampton.

“We live in California, by the way,” he said, drawing applause from audience members opposed to the project.

People at the meeting who expressed support for the project said many tenants, including those exiting homelessness, likely would not be in a financial position to own cars.

“I support this building since it would be perfect for people like me, who would qualify based on income limits and do not need to have parking,” said Koji Sakano. “Those who apply, like me, would tend to be those that do not wish for car parking in the first place.”

Local housing vs. new state laws

Jesse Zwick, the Southern California director of the Housing Action Coalition, said the Pasadena project’s path to approval shows city officials and residents slowly catching up to changes in state law, which in many cases override local opposition.

“The state has awarded priority to building affordable housing in places like this — that typically have resisted it,” Zwick said. “What you're seeing now is some of that resistance being up against where state law has evolved on this issue.”

Cities that have resisted state housing laws aimed at increasing development have found themselves in California’s legal crosshairs. Beverly Hills had to approve massive “builder’s remedy” projects after it failed to comply with a state requirement for cities to plan for more housing. Huntington Beach recently faced a court order to pay $50,000 for every month it continues to flout state housing laws.

Despite those risks, some Pasadena residents urged city leaders to fight back on the state’s efforts to encourage taller, denser affordable housing projects.

“The state of California has come up with these crazy laws,” said Scott Shimamoto. “We would love for the City Council and mayor to tell the state of California: Pause this.”