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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The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has rejected a proposal that would have let tenants across the county fall behind by about three months' worth of rent and still have local protections from eviction.

Supporters said the rules would have helped immigrants stay housed after losing income because of federal immigration raids.

Only one of the county’s five supervisors supported the expanded eviction protections. With none of the other four willing to second the motion in Tuesday’s meeting, the proposal died before it ever came to a vote.

The proposal failed after an hour of impassioned public comment from both renters and landlords. Onlookers chanted “cowards” as the board cleared the room for closed session.

Would the rules have been challenged in court?

Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, who put forward the proposal, said earlier in the meeting that expanding eviction protections would have been an appropriate way to help the county’s nearly one million undocumented immigrants.

Anticipating potential lawsuits to strike down the proposed ordinance, Horvath said, “I understand there is legal risk. There is in everything we do. Just like the risk undocumented Angelenos take by going outside their homes every day.”

Landlords spoke forcefully against the proposed rules. They said limiting evictions would saddle property owners with the cost of supporting targeted immigrant households.

“This proposed ordinance is legalized theft and will cause financial devastation to small housing providers,” said Julie Markarian with the Apartment Owners Association of California.

Horvath’s proposal would have built on an existing protection for renters in unincorporated parts of L.A. County, such as East L.A., Altadena and City Terrace. Under the current rules, renters can fall behind by up to one month’s worth of “fair market rent” (an amount determined by the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department) and still be legally protected from eviction.

Protections won’t go countywide

Last week, county leaders voted to explore increasing that threshold to two months. But Horvath wanted to go further by increasing the limit to three months and making it apply countywide, not just in unincorporated areas.

Tenant advocates said family breadwinners have been detained during federal immigration raids, and other immigrants are afraid to go to their workplaces, causing families to scramble to keep up with the region’s high rents.

“Immigrant tenants are experiencing a profound financial crisis,” said Rose Lenehan, an organizer with the L.A. Tenants Union. “This protection is the bare minimum that we need to keep people housed and keep people from having to choose whether to stay in this county with their families and with their communities or self deport or face homelessness.”

A report published this week by the L.A. Economic Development Corporation found that 82% of surveyed small business owners said they’d been negatively affected by federal immigration actions. About a quarter of those surveyed said they had temporarily closed their businesses because of community concerns.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday placed on the June ballot a proposed temporary half-cent sales tax increase to fund the county’s struggling health care system, which has been hit hard by federal funding cuts.

If passed by voters, the increase would bring the county’s tax rate to 10.25%. It is projected to raise one billion dollars annually over five years.

The tax would expire in five years.

The background

County health officials said Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” will cut $2.4 billion from county health programs over three years, threatening closure of some of the county’s 24 clinics and an array of public health programs.

Supervisor Holly Mitchell, who co-authored the proposal, said the county faced a “federally imposed crisis” that in the absence of state action, could only be addressed by raising taxes on county residents.

“This motion gives the voters a choice, given the stark realities that our county is facing,” Mitchell said.

The vote was 4-1, with Supervisor Kathryn Barger the lone dissenter. Barger is the board’s sole Republican. She worried shoppers would go to Orange County, where the sales tax is 7.75%. She also said the state should take the lead on addressing federal funding cuts to county health care systems.

Public reaction

More than 700 people showed up Tuesday to speak out on the proposal. Health care providers pleaded with the board to place the measure on the ballot, saying federal funding cuts to Medi-Cal had hit them hard.

“This is a crisis,” said Louise McCarthy, president and CEO of the Community Clinic Association of L.A. County. “Medi-Cal accounts for over half of clinic funding. So these changes will lead to clinic closures, longer wait times, overcrowded E.R.’s and higher costs for the county.” 

Others opposed any plan that would increase the sales tax.

“Our city is opposed to the adding of this regressive tax to overtaxed residents and making it even more difficult for cities, especially small cities, to pay for the increasing cost of basic resident services,” said Rolling Hills Mayor Bea Dieringer. “The county needs to tighten its belt further.”

Details on the proposed plan

Under the plan, up to 47% of revenue generated will be used by the Department of Health Services to fund nonprofit health care providers to furnish no-cost or reduced-cost care to low-income residents who do not have health insurance. 

Twenty-two percent would provide financial support to the county’s Department of Health Services to safeguard its public hospital and clinic services. Ten percent would be allocated to the Department of Public Health to support core public health functions and the awarding of grants to support health equity.

The rest would be sprinkled across the health care system, including to support nonprofit safety net hospitals and for school-based health needs and programs.

A last-minute amendment by Supervisor Lindsey Horvath set aside 5% of funding for Planned Parenthood.

The spending would be monitored by a nine-member committee but ultimately would be up to the discretion of the Board of Supervisors.