Getting it Right from the Start, a project of the Public Health Institute, is pleased to announce the official release of our Local Cannabis Policy 2020 Scorecards, now available at https://gettingitrightfromthestart.org/ca-cities-counties. Since 2018, we have been analyzing policies related to retail cannabis sales, marketing and taxation to better protect youth, reduce problem cannabis use, and promote social equity. Based on our findings, we developed a “scorecard” of cannabis-related polices in six public health and equity focused categories. The 2020 scorecard covers local policies in effect by January 1, 2020, for every California jurisdiction that allowed storefront cannabis retailers. In this Web Forum, we will be discussing our methodology and findings.
 
Along with our scorecards, we will be discussing our revised, public health-focused Model Cannabis Retail Sales and Marketing Ordinance. Our ordinance was first published in 2017, along with model local taxation ordinances, to help local California jurisdictions respond more safely to the legalization of adult-use cannabis approved by voters in 2016.

We hope this Web Forum on our scorecards and model ordinance will help guide California cities and counties, as well as other states and countries, in determining how to implement potential best regulatory practices for cannabis to better support public health and social equity.