A latest audit from California’s State Auditor means that hashish packaging is simply too “engaging to kids” and that “unclear guidelines and inadequate enforcement” by the state Division of Hashish Management (DCC) hamper the company’s means to determine packaging that runs afoul of state guidelines.
The auditor’s report discovered that greater than half of the merchandise reviewed from retail web sites – 23 of 40 merchandise – have been possible engaging to kids. The auditor decided that merchandise that may very well be engaging to kids as a result of they included pictures of meals – some that mimic kids’s treats, equivalent to crispy rice treats – colourful fonts and cartoon pictures, and different design parts that might enchantment to youth. The auditor’s report famous that typically it disagreed with the DCC willpower {that a} product’s bundle may very well be engaging to kids, equivalent to a bundle for crispy rice treats that reveals solely the cereal on the bundle quite than the deal with itself.
The report discovered a drastic 469% enhance within the whole variety of calls to the California Poison Management System associated to hashish ingestion amongst kids age 5 and youthful with 148 calls in 2016 – the yr voters handed the legalization regulation – to 842 calls in 2023.
The auditor’s workplace discovered that the DCC “doesn’t conduct sufficient inspections to make sure that it identifies issues proactively” and inspected fewer than half of its licensees every year since 2022.
“Moreover, DCC doesn’t constantly doc licensees’ compliance historical past throughout inspections and criticism evaluations, which implies that the division can’t be certain that it at all times identifies repeat offenders. Our evaluation of DCC’s information confirmed one licensee with at the least 4 compliance actions associated to engaging packaging, however we discovered no proof that DCC ever escalated penalties for that licensee.” — 2024-105 Division of Hashish Management, California State Auditor, 8/7/25
The report additionally notes that the DCC doesn’t adequately prohibit flavors and pressure names which might be engaging to kids, regardless of 2022 DCC rules imposing new necessities that forbid the point out of particular flavors in inhaled hashish merchandise. The auditor’s report factors out that pressure names, equivalent to Cherry Pie, Tropicana Punch, and Lemon Cherry Gelato, have been nonetheless being marketed regardless of the 2022 guidelines.
In an accompanying letter to the governor and legislative leaders, State Auditor Grant Parks wrote that the “DCC doesn’t adequately self-discipline the hashish companies that it licenses who repeatedly violate rules relating to attractiveness to kids.”
“DCC’s inspectors don’t have constant documentation practices, and we couldn’t conclude that DCC constantly checks a licensee’s compliance historical past when evaluating whether or not that licensee is promoting a hashish product with packaging that’s engaging to kids,” Parks wrote. “We additionally decided that the division doesn’t constantly enhance penalties for licensees who repeatedly violate the division’s rules.”
California Auditor Says Hashish Packaging is Too ‘Engaging’ to Kids, Calls Hashish Company Guidelines ‘Unclear’
