Although the official city-sanctioned 4/20 celebration on Hippie Hill in San Francisco was canceled this year, it still attracted thousands of people to gather on the holiday.

According to a report from SFGate, whose representatives spoke with some of the attendees, the cancellation didn’t hinder anyone’s plans. Jessica Leung told SFGate that she was excited to be there and surprised by the amount of people who still showed up. “4/20 is my favorite holiday,” Leung said.

The lower part of the hill was roped off with chains to host a “Peace, Love and Volo Field Day,” free event, inviting people to play cornhole, kickball, and volleyball. The upper part of the hill was deemed the “spectator area” for fans to chill on the lawn in the sun. Other vendors attended as well, selling art portraits and various other goods. Food trucks were also in attendance, which led to long lines.

Past city-sanctioned 4/20 celebrations at Hippie Hill included on-site portable toilets, medical support, and an increase in hired staff. Even though the official event was canceled, the city was still able to provide portable restrooms and San Francisco Recreation and Parks staff to patrol the area.

Some attendees commented on the people’s drive to celebrate. One longtime 4/20 celebrator, Chandra Edelstein, said that there was more freedom at this year’s event now that it had less city restrictions. “I expected it to be packed,” said Edelstein. “People still flock here and the energy is amazing.”

Another visitor, Alex Diaz, added that they planned to be there regardless of city involvement. “We’re out here to have a good time, and not expecting anything,” Diaz said.

Attendee Dalano Rhyne said that she prefers this year’s “scaled-down” version of the event. “I’m here I’m doing my own thing … so I’m having a good day and this was blank when I got here, so that’s a great day,” Rhyne said as she put together a cardboard art installation featuring signatures and drawings from other attendees.

Steve Banuelos and his group of longtime friends said they were hesitant to attend after the event cancellation, but decided to go anyway because “it may turn out to be something.” “Well, we’re all retired now, so what the hell else are we going to do with our time?” Banuelos said.

The 2023 Hippie Hill event was a massive gathering, which featured Erykah Badu as grand marshal and instructed attendees to “Put your weed in the air” at 4:20pm. “For a lot of us, this is our medicine,” Badu said. “This shit is here to take you to a higher place.”

Last year’s event also featured a “King of Z Hill” competition pitting growers against each other for the title of best weed and best concentrates. “Some of the most exotic flavors in the world come out of the West Coast right here in San Francisco,” said King of Z Hill organizer, Brandon Parker.

One competitor, SoCal Dank’s Joe Evans, explained that competitions like King of Z Hill aren’t about winning, but networking with others. This certainly attests to the evolution of the cannabis industry over the years, and the stark differences between the 2023 and 2024 Hippie Hill events.

This year’s Hippie Hill event cancellation was announced on March 25, citing city budget cuts and a lack of sponsors. However, the organizers did confirm that the sponsored event should be returning in 2025.

The cancellation paved the way for other celebratory events to take the spotlight. SF Weed Week held its inaugural event, celebrating 4/20 in a variety of ways through the week leading up to 4/20. SF Weed Week founding advisor, Ben Grambergu, explained the importance of spotlighting local growers. “The organizers of Hippie Hill deserved a break, and SF Weed Week is here to extend the celebration across the entire city with the best cultivators in the world sharing their gift with the most dedicated enthusiasts in the world,” said Grambergu. “Look, the Bay Area has and always will be an epicenter of cannabis culture. SF Weed Week is proving to the doom loop haters that the scene is thriving. With a week full of incredible activations, world-class cannabis, and meet and greets with the rockstars who produced it; this event has something for everyone.”

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art recently put up a new display at its gift shop to sell ceramic bongs. Each of the pieces are part of a collection called Weed’d, which are beautiful display-worthy items ranging between $50-$195. According to museum store buyer Camille Verboort, they chose this selection of bongs because they offered “sculptural quality and bold primary colors.”

Verboort added that since the museum features alcohol-related items, it’s time for them to also feature cannabis-related items as well. “We currently sell bar items quite well and, this being San Francisco, thought we could make room for cannabis accessories if we found designs that made sense for us,” Verboort said.

Weed’d is created by Italian designers who sought to “challenge the traditional narrative” and stigma often associated with bongs. One designer, Maddalena Casadei, shared that she had never used a bong before, which allowed her to experiment with the design process. ‘“The round shapes go along with the softness of the experience of using it. It is in fact designed to give pleasure through touch as well,” Casadei said.

Amid declining revenues and plunging prices, officials in one California county are considering a proposal that would ease some of the financial stress currently felt by area cannabis cultivators. 

The Press Democrat reports that officials in Sonoma County, California on Tuesday recommended that the “Board of Supervisors approve new tax rates based on a model that would reduce the tax burden for most cannabis growers.”

“Reduced tax rates may be in store for struggling cannabis cultivators and manufacturers in unincorporated Sonoma County, driven in part by decreasing prices affecting the industry…Under the proposal, cultivation tax rates would be reduced from $0.75 per square foot to $0.69 per square foot for outdoor cultivation, $3 per square foot to $2.51 per square foot for mixed light cultivation and $12.50 per square foot to $7.58 for indoor cultivation,” the newspaper reported. 

“The tax rate for manufacturers would also drop from 3% to 1.5%, while retailers would see an increase from 2% to 3%. The proposed changes come as the county sees a decline in the number of cultivators, dwindling prices driven in part by a glut of product and competition from large-scale growers and a projected long-term decrease in industry-driven revenue for its cannabis program.”

It isn’t the first time that officials in Sonoma County, located in northern California, have moved to alleviate the burden shouldered by local marijuana farmers. 

Last year, the county’s Board of Supervisors approved a tax reduction for certain cannabis growers. 

The North Bay Business Journal reported at the time that the board “voted 4 to 1…to change how the tax on cannabis cultivation is set, lowering the amount some growers will pay while raising it for others,” which ensured that “cannabis growers in the county’s jurisdiction will be taxed based on which of the size of their operations categorized into three different methods, calculated on a gross receipt tax rate of 2.5%.”

James Gore, chair of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, told High Times in 2022 that he favored the tax reductions because it was “in line with the market impacts that cannabis producers are encountering right now with a precipitous drop in wholesale price-per-pound.” 

“The reason that this was justified, merited, warranted is that our cannabis tax, like many other jurisdictions, was based on coverage—square feet. It was intended to be one and 5% of gross receipts, but when you have a drop in wholesale price, and you’re still taxing based on square footage, all of a sudden that potential 3-5% grows into not just 15 or 20—but upwards of that,” Gore said.

“We were putting people out of business with our policy, so this is the right thing to do,” he added. “The reduced cultivation tax rates are needed to account for changes in the market and our Board’s policy direction. The revenue surplus in our cannabis program will support operational costs for two years as we transition to a new tax model and policy framework. We’re committed to getting this issue right for Sonoma County, and that means continuing to work between neighborhoods and industry advocates, learning from other counties, and finding local solutions that are fair and sustainable for both communities and the environment.” 

McCall Miller, the cannabis program coordinator for Sonoma County, said that the reason behind latest tax change being considered this week “is to remain responsive to market changes and whatever those market changes entail.”

Per the Press Democrat, “Sonoma County is seeing a decline in cannabis cultivators.”

“The moves came under mounting pressure from cannabis industry representatives, who pressed for greater relief from taxes and fees they said were squeezing smaller operators out of business or into the illicit market…There are five manufacturers, six retailers and 75 cannabis cultivators in unincorporated Sonoma County, according to Miller,” the outlet explained. 

“In May 2023, there were 155 cultivators operating in unincorporated Sonoma County. Dropping prices may be one of the factors driving out cultivators, Miller said. But, she added that some cultivators have also said the county’s permitting process and backlog of applications is another factor.”

According to the Press Democrat, the county’s “cannabis tax revenue is projected to decrease from $1.6 million this fiscal year, to $1.4 million in fiscal year 2024-2025.”

“Factoring in departmental costs, the county’s long-awaited environmental impact study, launched in mid-2021 to streamline permitting and other costs, the program’s end balance is expected to decrease from around $3.7 million this fiscal year to about $2 million by fiscal year 2026-27, according to a staff presentation,” the paper reported. 

“The industry has struggled to compete with the illicit cannabis market that has undercut legal cultivators in price and fueled the supply glut,” it continued. “The recommended tax rate changes are based the results of an annual analysis completed by HdL Companies, a consultant based in Brea, California.”

The California Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) recently published an announcement regarding recent cannabis taskforce seizures. As of April 11, the Unified Cannabis Enforcement Taskforce (UCETF) seized over $53,620,600 in illegal cannabis during the first quarter of 2024 (spanning between January 1, 2024-March 31, 2024).

Law enforcement seized 331,866 pounds of unlicensed cannabis product, destroyed 54,137 cannabis plants, and seized $34,858 in total cash, in addition to confiscating 11 firearms and arresting four people.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom released a press statement regarding the Q1 seizures. “California is home to the largest legal cannabis market in the world,” said Newsom. “As we continue to cultivate a legal marketplace, we’re taking aggressive action to crack down on those still operating in the shadows—shutting down illegal operations linked to organized crime, human trafficking, and the proliferation of illegal products that harm the environment and public health.”

UCETF acting chief, Nathaniel Arnold, praised the agency for continuing to provide results as it tackles the state’s illegal cannabis industry. “UCETF continues to strengthen its momentum by focusing on priority targets and strategically removing operations having a significant impact on the illegal cannabis supply chain,” Arnold said. “We are utilizing all the available resources from our partner agencies and are committed more than ever to providing public safety, protecting the environment, and helping the regulated market succeed and thrive.”

The DCC’s Law Enforcement Division Chief Bill Jones noted that UCETF’s success so far has been a group effort between numerous agencies. “A key to UCETF’s success is a collaborative approach relying on intelligence gathering, targeted investigations and leveraging the expertise of our members,” Jones said. “The Taskforce continues to play a crucial role in protecting the legal cannabis market while eliminating the often-dangerous activities associated with unlicensed cannabis operations.”

The UCETF works with the following agencies to investigate and act on illegal activity: “Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, Department of Cannabis Control, Employment Development Department, Department of Fish and Wildlife, California National Guard Counter Drug Task Force, California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, California State Parks, and the Department of Tax and Fee Administration,” with the addition of other “federal and local partners.”

Eighteen search warrants were conducted in Q1 2024, including two in Alameda County, one in Fresno County, five in Kern County, one in Los Angeles County, two in Riverside County, one in San Joaquin County, and six in Orange County.

The UCETF was created by Newsom in October 2022, and since then it has seized $371,199,431 in unlicensed cannabis product from a total of 236 warrants.

Within the first month of operation, UCETF conducted 13 search warrants in Los Angeles. It eradicated 7,503 plants and 936 pounds of cannabis flower over the course of two days. After that initial announcement, UCETF released numbers by quarter, as seen below.

Q4 2022

Warrants Served: 30

Cannabis Seized: 19,401 pounds

Plants Eradicated: 29,687

Retail Value Seized: $32,012,854.50

Q1 2023

Warrants Served: 21

Cannabis Seized: 31,912 pounds

Plants Eradicated: 52,529

Retail Value Seized: $52,644,020.50

Q2 2023

Warrants Served: 92

Cannabis Seized: 66,315 pounds

Plants Eradicated: 120,970

Retail Value Seized: $109,277,688

Q3 2023

Warrants Served: 60

Cannabis Seized: 61,415 pounds

Plants Eradicated: 98,054

Retail Value Seized: $101,349,657

Q4 2023 

Warrants Served: 24

Cannabis Seized: 13,393 pounds

Plants Eradicated: 20,320

Retail Value Seized: $22,294,571

Q1 2024 

Warrants Served: 18

Cannabis Seized: 31,866 pounds

Plants Eradicated: 54,858

Retail Value Seized: $53,620,600

UCETF Totals So Far (Q4 2022-Q1 2024)

Warrants Served: 236

Cannabis Seized: ~234,588 pounds

Plants Eradicated: 401,458

Retail Value Seized: $371,199,431

So far, the UCETF’s seizures peaked in Q2 2023, and have since been reduced significantly. The DCC did not address what the reason might be for the reduction in warrants and plant/product seizures overall.

Regardless, the DCC is committed to its efforts to protect the legal cannabis industry. “California is effectively decreasing the illegal cannabis market by leveraging the strengths and knowledge of over 20 state agencies and departments alongside our local and federal partners. The UCETF’s progress in 2023 reflects California’s ongoing commitment to disrupting  and dismantling illegal cannabis activity,” said DCC director Nicole Elliott in January. “I look forward to working with all our partners in 2024 to build on this progress.”

Last year in September, there was a raid on a legal cannabis business called Se7venleaf in Costa Mesa, which at the time was thought to be conducting business illegally. Law enforcement seized 100 pounds of cannabis flower, various boxes of cartridges and vaporizers, among many other business-related items (security cameras, devices, and documents). In late March, the Costa Mesa police were forced to return all of the seized items. “They didn’t like that they had to return the stuff,” said Se7venleaf co-owner Matteo Tabib. “They didn’t like that they were wrong, and they didn’t like that they were embarrassed and that nobody was charged. They gave no consideration that me and Michael and our employees’ lives are not in a good place right now.”

The ritzy, upscale Los Angeles neighborhood Bel Air will welcome a new arrival: a cannabis store, run by rapper Xzibit, who proudly represents the West Coast. It’s the rapper’s latest foray into the cannabis sector after launching a cannabis-themed podcast and a cannabis brand Napalm.

Xzibit’s West Coast Cannabis (XWCC) opened its doors last month but operators want to kick off with a bang and some opening ceremonies. The store is located off the 405 freeway on Sepulveda Blvd., on the second floor of a building. The store will celebrate the launch on April 28 with a grand opening and a 4:20 p.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony, followed by a block party.

The store opening gives Xzibit the distinction of being the sole adult-use cannabis retail licensee in Bel Air, Benzinga reports.

“The West Coast is more than just a term that describes where we live, it stands for the culture of everything that represents us. From entertainment to our beloved sports teams, our car culture, our neighborhoods, and beaches, we are proud citizens of this community and XWCC is a celebration of all of the above,” Xzibit stated. ‘We are honored to be able to open our doors in such a special location and invite everyone to come celebrate the West Coast along with us.”

The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is not far from Bel Air, and Xzibit’s new store has a unique approach. In a press release, XWCC announced that UCLA students are invited to try out the new cannabis store, with the promise of a 60% discount on premium cannabis products, which demonstrates XWCC’s commitment to directly helping the local community.

If anyone needs a discount, it’s students with the burden of tuition and living expenses—especially students in California.

“Nestled in the iconic neighborhood of Bel Air, Los Angeles, XWCC is more than a premium cannabis dispensary—it’s a culmination of a journey marked by passion, commitment, and excellence,” the website reads. “Founded by renowned artist and entrepreneur, Xzibit, XWCC is a reflection of his life’s story—from his humble beginnings to his rise as a West Coast legend in music, entertainment, and cannabis. Xzibit’s career, marked by groundbreaking music and creative ventures, has always been driven by a deep commitment to authenticity and innovation. His journey is infused into the ethos of XWCC.”

XWCC represents the best of the West when it comes to quality herb.

Recently the rapper also launched Lasagna Ganja, a weekly podcast about the cannabis sector. He co-hosts the podcast, supported by DCP Entertainment, with cannabis advocate and influencer Tammy The Cannabis Cutie.

Last year, Flora Arbor LLC, a licensed craft grow based in Elgin, Illinois, announced an exclusive licensing and distribution agreement with Napalm, a premium cannabis brand founded by hip-hop artist, actor, and entertainer Xzibit. (Some people didn’t like the name because it was named after a weapon of war with a dark past.)

Xzibit and Cannabis

In the most recent High Times interview with Xzibit, he explained how cannabis can help replace things like liquor. It’s a testament that the rapper’s wilder, earlier days are now balanced with a healthier substitute like cannabis.

“I don’t get as shit-faced as I used to,” Xzibit told High Times in 2019. “I don’t bounce back like I used to, so I had to slow that shit down. It gets in the way of your productivity.” The rapper grew up in New Mexico before moving on to the coast in Los Angeles, where he blew up. He was proud to announce the store opening on 

“Get ready to elevate your experience! XWCC is opening its doors on March 17th!” Xzibit posted on Instagram last month. “Whether you’re a seasoned connoisseur or new to the scene, we’ve got something special just for you. Swing by and discover a curated selection of premium products. Mention @935kday and receive a special treat!”

As a rapper, Xzibit joined Dr. Dre and others on the “Up in Smoke Tour” and he hosted MTV’s popular Pimp My Ride. It was more or less an all-star lineup of mostly West Coast icons.

“It was the first time that my music had been broadcast and pushed on a national or on a global level, alongside iconic acts such as Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Eminem and Snoop Dogg, and you know, all of us coming up under that 2001 [Dr. Dre’s 1999 solo album] umbrella,” Xzibit said. “I was exposed to millions and millions of people, and now you have the opportunity to showcase your talent at the highest point of the pendulum.”

Xzibit’s new foray with his cannabis store in Bel Air shows that he’s not going anywhere and will remain a fixture in the cannabis market.

A handful of CBD and cannabis companies turned out to be figments of the imagination as a con artist successfully duped investor after investor, but his conning spree has come to an end.

A California man pleaded guilty April 5 to a slew of federal criminal charges for swindling investors out of $18.4 million. He conned several investors—all as he was already completing a sentence for prior criminal charges—by inventing companies that he claimed invested in hemp farms and cannabis-infused retail products. He also claimed to run a sham bottling business for CBD-infused products. The bogus businesses turned out to quickly fall apart.

People magazine reports that Mark Roy Anderson, 69, pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud, according to an announcement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Central District of California.

Anderson took the plea agreement, and admitted to engaging in two separate schemes that swindled investors. His scheme kicked off right after he was released from federal prison while he was on home confinement and supervised release. Police say Anderson has been conning people since the 1990s but moved into the cannabis sector where there was a lot of loot to be gained.

From June 2020 to April 2021, Anderson convinced investors to fund his company Harvest Farm Group, to harvest and process hemp grown on his farm into medical-grade CBD isolate. 

“Anderson convinced investors to invest in Harvest Farm Group by falsely representing that, through the company, he owned and operated a hemp farm in Kern County,” the report reads. “He also lied that had already completed successful and profitable harvests of hemp from the farm. He also falsely said he was using his own machinery and equipment to convert the hemp into CBD isolate and Delta 8, a psychoactive substance that, like CBD isolate, could be used in consumer products ranging from olive oil to body cream.”

Anderson weaseled his way out of skeptical investors and claimed that past fraud convictions were not in fact him. When investors demanded money, Anderson falsely told them that sales of products derived from hemp grown at the farm had been delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In another scheme, which ran from April 2021 to May 2023, Anderson duped investors by soliciting money for Bio Pharma and Verta Bottling—two more sham companies—by claiming that these businesses successfully manufactured, bottled, and packaged commercial products.

Specifically, he claimed Bio Pharma manufactured and sold infused products such as CBD-infused avocado oil, olive oil, pain cream, gummies, tequila, and chili oil. Anderson also claimed that Verta Bottling manufactured and sold beverages and a variety of food products.

“Anderson falsely stated that his bottling companies owned and possessed millions of dollars’ worth of assets, including—in Bio Pharma’s case—hemp biomass, CBD isolate, CBD oil, and—in Verta Bottling’s case—manufacturing equipment and an assignable lease for a warehouse to manufacture and sell its products,” the announcement reads.

How did he do this? Anderson carefully fabricated fake legal and business documents, which included fake purchase order contracts that he claimed showed agreements with third-party companies to purchase tens of millions of dollars’ worth of products manufactured by his bottling companies. Anderson also provided victims with fake samples of products he claimed that he manufactured by his bottling companies.

Investors have been warned about bogus cannabis companies before.

In 2019, Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin issued a warning to potential cannabis industry investors to be wary of scams and unscrupulous operators after filing fraud charges against two entrepreneurs in the state. In an alert released by Galvin’s office, the secretary urged investors to approach offers for unregistered securities from unlicensed sellers with caution, noting that the cannabis industry is not monitored by federal regulators or state-chartered banks.

“No one regulator can police this marketplace,” Galvin said in the statement. “My Securities Division intends to scrutinize these offerings to proactively prevent investor harm.”

Celebrities like Tom Hanks and Sacha Baron Cohen have been targets of fake CBD or cannabis companies, sometimes in the form of fake endorsements or misuse of their likenesses. Sacha Baron Cohen’s massive $9 million lawsuit was filed against a dispensary that ran a billboard ad with his image without permission, but the actor and plaintiff have reached an agreement to drop the lawsuit.

According to court documents filed on July 12, 2021, Sacha Baron Cohen filed a $9 million lawsuit against Somerset, Massachusetts-based Solar Therapeutics, a dispensary, for running a billboard ad with his image without his permission.

Solar Therapeutics erected a billboard on an interstate highway in Massachusetts that features a picture of Baron Cohen as Borat, with his thumbs up and the words “It’s Nice!,” one of Borat’s catchphrases.

The city-sanctioned version of the famous 4/20 Hippie Hill event in San Francisco has been canceled, but it’s not the end of 4/20 celebrations in San Francisco. SF Weed Week, will feature a variety of events beginning with an art opening featuring cannabis mylar art on April 5 and a schedule of events running April 13-21. Instead of just one day of celebration, the event spans an entire week of all things cannabis, featuring cultivators and breeders at cannabis lounges throughout the city and unique strain premiers, such as releases of Rainbow Belts, Blue Lobster, Pink Jesus, Chikitaz, The Butcher, Sherb Haze, and Peppermint Sleighride.

SF Weed Week creator David Downs is an award-winning cannabis journalist and author. Downs is the senior editor at Leafly and the former cannabis editor at the San Francisco Chronicle. According to the event website, Downs created SF Weed Week after thinking about what an event like SF Beer Week would be like if it was cannabis-themed instead. 

“Weed growers are rock stars, and strains are celebrities,” Downs said through a press release. “I want to give these strain releases the same rock star treatment that album releases get at Amoeba Records. And we’re going to. It’s going to be dope.”

While SF Beer Week features unique new beer varieties and flavors, SF Weed Week boasts strain releases in participating lounges, including Mission Cannabis Club, Meadow, SPARC, Moe Greens, Solful, The Vapor Room, and Flore. 

Ali Jamalian, owner of Sunset Connect, is a founding advisor of SF Weed Week who is proud to be a part of an event that puts the spotlight on San Francisco weed. 

“San Francisco’s cannabis culture has so much to offer,” Jamalian said in a statement. “It only makes sense to showcase the cannabis epicenter of the world in a week-long celebration spread across the city with an array of amazing events and activations. All for free of course.”

Especially in the wake of the cancellation of this year’s Hippie Hill event, fellow founding advisor Ben Grambergu, director at 7 Stars Holistic Healing Center, feels that SF Weed Week offers an alternative celebration that lifts up the community. 

“The organizers of Hippie Hill deserved a break, and SF Weed Week is here to extend the celebration across the entire city with the best cultivators in the world sharing their gift with the most dedicated enthusiasts in the world,” Grambergu said. “Look, the Bay Area has and always will be an epicenter of cannabis culture. SF Weed Week is proving to the doom loop haters that the scene is thriving. With a week full of incredible activations, world-class cannabis, and meet and greets with the rockstars who produced it; this event has something for everyone.”

In a recent campaign stop in California, President Joe Biden said that people in other countries are paying 40-60% less than what Americans are paying for prescription drugs. A fact-checker recently approved his claim, affirming that Americans are indeed paying double for prescription drugs compared to prices in other countries.

“If I put you on Air Force One with me, and you have a prescription—no matter what it’s for, minor or major—and I flew you to Toronto or flew to London or flew you to Brazil or flew you anywhere in the world, I can get you that prescription filled for somewhere between 40 to 60% less than it costs here,” Biden said at a Feb. 22 campaign reception in Los Altos, California, where he was joined by Vice President Kamala Harris.

WLRN, which can be found on 91.3 FM in Florida, partnered with PolitiFact to fact-check politicians and the claims that they make while on the campaign trail. Biden’s comments last month were ranked “mostly true” by fact-checkers, reports WUWF, and NPR member station.

Biden then cited provisions in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act to lower prescription drug prices, including capping insulin at $35 per month for Medicare enrollees. Lawmakers also put a limit on older Americans’ out-of-pocket prescription costs to $2,000 per year starting in 2025. 

The law also authorizes Medicare to negotiate prices directly with drug makers for 10 prescription drugs, and the list is expected to grow.

There’s a growing body of evidence to suggest that overall, U.S. prescription drug prices are significantly higher, sometimes two to four times, compared with prices in other industrialized nations. Generic drugs, however, are an anomaly and are typically cheaper in the U.S. compared with other countries. 

A recent study by Rand found that across all drugs, U.S. prices were 2.78 times higher than prices in 33 other countries, based on 2022 data. The divide was largest for brand-name drugs, with U.S. prices averaging 4.22 times higher than those in the other nations. After adjusting for manufacturer-funded rebates, U.S. prices for brand-name drugs remained more than three times higher than prices in other countries. 

“The analysis used manufacturer gross prices for drugs because net prices—the amounts ultimately retained by manufacturers after negotiated rebates and other discounts are applied—are not systematically available,” a press release about the report said.

A series of other studies show that in the U.S., people are paying more than any other peer countries for brand-name drugs, and it’s not offset enough by generic drug prices.

Drug patents and exclusivity are other factors keeping U.S. drug prices higher than in other countries.

Other Politicians Agree Prescription Drug Costs Are Too High

Last February, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) issued a report slamming the U.S. prices of drugs and executive pay of three major drug manufacturers—Johnson & Johnson (J&J), Merck, and Bristol Myers Squibb—just before a hearing.

The CEOs of all three drug manufacturers had to appear before a hearing to be grilled by Sanders, prepared by staff associated with the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP Committee). The New York Times reports that they testified on their behalf Feb. 8, telling their side of the story.

Americans pay the most for life-saving drugs compared to other countries, the senator’s report summarized—by far. In some cases, Americans are paying nearly 10 times the price as what Germans pay. Sanders’ detailed report outlines how the three companies are spending more on executive pay and stock buybacks than drug research and development (R&D).

“The United States pays, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs,” the report reads, written by staff and headed by Sanders as Chair. “At a time when one out of four Americans cannot afford the medicine their doctors prescribe, ten large pharmaceutical companies made over $112 billion in profits in 2022 while paying their chief executives exorbitant compensation packages and spending billions of dollars on stock buybacks and dividends to make their wealthy stockholders even richer.”

Sens. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) and Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) voted last July to advance a bipartisan bill she personally helped develop to reduce the rocketing cost of prescription drugs and the way pharmacy managers benefit from rising drug prices. 

The Modernizing and Ensuring PBM Accountability (MEPA) Act, which passed the Finance Committee July 26 on a bipartisan basis, reduces the cost incentive for pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) to prioritize more expensive drugs because they receive higher payouts for higher priced drugs.

The MEPA Act would scale back incentives to jack up prescription drug prices at pharmacies. The legislation shows that lawmakers understand change is needed regarding sky-high drug prices.

In an “hours-long discussion,” the officials on a Costa Mesa panel considered various ways of amending the city’s laws governing legal cannabis shops. Those laws “have engendered complaints from neighbors and proprietors alike,” according to the Los Angeles Times, which said that Tuesday’s meeting “ended with a flurry of motions from City Council members that, if approved, could have sweeping local impacts on the industry.”

The Times reported that the council “considered a slate of recommendations submitted by the Planning Commission in three earlier public hearings and cataloged in a draft revision of the original 2021 ordinance.”

“But where commissioners went in with scalpel-like precision, carefully weighing potential edits against real-world consequences before posing eight specific suggestions, the City Council adopted a somewhat scattershot approach,” the Times said.

The publication Voice of OC reported that the Costa Mesa City Council is “looking to limit the number of retail cannabis shops to 35 after city officials began questioning just how many should operate within the city,” while also “eying how close the shops should sit next to homes, youth centers and other cannabis storefronts.”

“Part of my intent today is to not only figure out the new buffers and also the cap, but also to address issues raised by the industry,” Manuel Chavez, a member of the Costa Mesa City Council, said at Tuesday’s meeting, as quoted by Voice of OC. “I think we’re doing a piece by piece approach which is fine but I do want to make sure we’re reforming some of the comments we hear from the industry.”

According to the Los Angeles Times, the council “generally supported establishing a separation requirement of 250 feet between any new cannabis dispensaries and residentially zoned properties and 1,000 feet between storefronts and youth centers where children recreate.”

More from the Times on the measures considered by the council:

“If passed, such a rule would make any already-approved shops inside that red zone ‘legal, nonconforming’ businesses. Although they may continue to operate in violation of the new rules, it’s not clear whether that status could hamper a property or business in the future. The panel also agreed to process up to 35 cannabis business permits, to allow would-be operators who’ve already passed a pre-application stage to continue the process. After that, through attrition, a new citywide cap of 10 dispensaries could be instituted upon final approval. But because a cannabis business permit runs with an individual operator and may not be transferred if a dispensary is sold, it is unclear whether another owner would be able to apply for a new permit or be shut out by the cap.”

Voters in Costa Mesa, a city in Orange County of around 17,000 people, approved a ballot proposal in 2020 called Measure Q, also known as the Costa Mesa Retail Cannabis Tax and Regulation Measure, which “allows the City to adopt rules permitting retail cannabis uses within the City, including storefronts (dispensaries) and non-storefront uses (delivery only),” according to the city’s official website.

Measure Q also established “buffers between some properties and storefronts to limit the distance between them,” which the Costa Mesa City Council began considering last fall.

In October, the council “voted unanimously for staff to take another look at the buffers,” directing the “planning commission [to] first consider any changes and make recommendations to the council within the next two months,” according to Voice of OC.

“The current ordinance does not include buffer zones between storefronts and residential areas. Some residents have expressed concerns about the distance of cannabis storefronts from residential areas and schools and the overconcentration of the businesses, especially at Broadway and Newport Boulevard…Local officials are also concerned for the well-being of students as they pass many cannabis stores on their commute to school,” the outlet reported in the fall.

“My kids are eight, and they ask me all the time, ‘What’s Nectar? What’s Mr. Nice Guys?’ It’s hard to explain to them what’s going on in the community,” Erik Weigand, a Newport Beach councilmember, said at the meeting in October.

Alex Frank, an attorney representing home and business owners in Costa Mesa, said that if “four cannabis businesses are put at that corner, it will effectively turn that corner into Costa Mesa’s cannabis row, and it will do so less than 25 yards from homes and many families in our community,” according to Voice of OC.

“My firm has been retained to encourage the city to reverse course on this before pot shops dominate that corner and damage my clients’ businesses and their homes. And if the city will not do that, my clients intend to proceed with litigation to seek damages for the resulting injuries,” Frank said at the meeting, as quoted by the outlet.

Nearly two dozen attorneys general from across the country wrote a letter to congressional leaders this week, urging them to enact legislation to federally regulate intoxicating hemp products. In the letter, the top law enforcement official from 21 states wrote that the legalization of hemp with the 2018 Farm Bill has resulted in “the proliferation of intoxicating hemp products across the nation and challenges to the ability for states and localities to respond to the resulting health and safety crisis.”

The letter, dated March 20, was addressed to the committee chair and ranking minority members of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, & Forestry and the House Committee on Agriculture. The correspondence was led by Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita and Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin, both Republicans, and co-signed by the attorneys general of 19 additional states, including Democrats and Republicans.

In their letter, the state officials call on the leaders in Congress “to address the glaring vagueness created in the 2018 Farm Bill.” The legislation has led to the proliferation of products containing psychoactive novel and minor cannabinoids that can be derived from hemp, including delta 8 THC, THCA, HHC and others.

“The reality is that this law has unleashed on our states a flood of products that are nothing less than a more potent form of cannabis, often in candy form that is made attractive to youth and children — with staggering levels of potency, no regulation, no oversight, and a limited capability for our offices to rein them in,” reads the letter.

To address the issue, regulators and lawmakers in many states across the country are seeking ways to stem the tide of unregulated intoxicating hemp products, arguing that they pose a health risk, particularly to young people. Advocates for tighter controls on intoxicating hemp products in states with legal weed note they pose a competitive threat to licensed marijuana businesses, which face the high costs and taxes often associated with the regulated pot industry.

Regulating intoxicating hemp products has been resisted by some businesses and industry advocates. Some companies marketing intoxicating hemp products have filed lawsuits to block new regulations, arguing that the 2018 Farm Bill specifically legalizes hemp-derived cannabinoids other than delta-9 THC.

These legal actions have produced mixed results. In Arkansas, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction in September that bars the implementation of a law to ban intoxicating hemp products. 

“These inconsistent court rulings are part of the reason I have urged Congress to step in and create consistency across the nation to protect our children from these dangerous drugs,” Griffin said in an email to Politico.

California Attorney General Bonta, one of the attorneys general who signed the letter to congressional leaders, said that intoxicating hemp products constitute a health risk for young people.

“Our children deserve better,” Bonta said in a statement. “The 2018 Farm Bill, however well-intentioned, created a loophole that has led to the proliferation of products, often containing synthesized cannabinoids, that are more intoxicating than legal and regulated cannabis products. These products often take the form of candy and are designed to appeal to young people and children. California prohibits intoxicating cannabinoids in hemp products, whether naturally derived or synthetic. The California Department of Justice will continue to protect the legitimate businesses who are operating responsibly in this space.”

The letter calls on the leaders of the congressional agricultural committees to take action to regulate intoxicating hemp products by redefining hemp in the next farm bill, which is currently being debated in Congress. The legislation, which guides policy on a wide range of issues related to agriculture, is updated every five years, although progress on last year’s anticipated renewal of the legislation was delayed to this year.

“The reason Congress needs to act is that its definition of industrial hemp is the original source of the problem and the confusion that has sprung up around what is allowed and what’s not allowed under state and federal law,” Indiana Solicitor General James Barta said in an interview with Politico.

The median reported potency of regulated weed in California has been steadily dropping over the past six months, according to a report from Bay Area news source SFGate. The drop in potency, which includes a decline of 7% in just the past three months, coincides with the recent implementation of new state regulations governing how the potency of cannabis flower is determined by testing labs in the state.

According to information from cannabis market data analytics firm Headset shared with SFGate, the median potency of cannabis flower tested in California was 30.7% in December. The data, which is based on more than 90,000 potency test results from the state, also shows that the median potency for cannabis flower had declined to about 28.5% by March 1, a decrease of about 7% in just three months.

Reported cannabis potency has long been a point of contention in California’s cannabis industry. Cannabis flower that shows higher levels of THC in lab testing results is more desirable to many consumers and thus more valuable. As a result, reported median cannabis potency levels have steadily risen in California, with some retail offerings listing THC potency exceeding 30% or even higher in some cases.

The drop in the median potency of California came as new regulations for a standardized cannabinoids test method and standardized operating procedures for the testing of dried cannabis flower and non-infused pre-rolls were implemented in the state in January. The rules were adopted by the California Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) in 2022 after legislation mandating the regulations was passed by state lawmakers the year before.

DCC officials noted that the legislature passed the law for the new testing regulations over concerns of cannabis potency inflation and reports of “lab shopping” by businesses in the industry attempting to show test results higher than what is actually contained in the cannabis flower or product.

“One of the challenges we face in regulating an industry that is not federally recognized, is the lack of standardized, and validated methods for testing,” DCC Director Nicole Elliott said at the time in a statement from the regulatory agency. “Individual, licensed laboratories use different methods which may produce inconsistent results and inaccurate data on cannabis cannabinoid content. DCC is working to change that so there is greater integrity in the market, accurate information for consumers, and confidence among stakeholders.”

When the new rules for testing cannabis flower potency went into effect at the beginning of the year, the DCC reported that only 18 labs had taken the steps to be compliant with the new regulations, leading to a shutdown of flower testing at the remaining labs. Since then, the number has increased by nearly half, with 26 labs now demonstrating compliance, according to the latest data from the department.

Zach Eisenberg, a vice president at San Francisco licensed testing lab Anresco Laboratories, said that the drop in the median reported potency of cannabis flower in California appears to be a sign that the new rules are beginning to have an effect.

“We certainly heard from customers and potential customers that they’re seeing potency values dropping at other laboratories,” Eisenberg told SFGate. “Some labs were even proactively saying, ‘Be prepared for our results to be lower after this change.’”

Eisenberg added that the drop in median potency is likely not caused by any change in the products. Instead, he believes that test results are now a more accurate indication of the reality of cannabis potency in California.

“I highly doubt anything has changed in terms of the actual composition of the cannabis products,” Eisenberg said.

Andrea Golan, an attorney at the Los Angeles office of cannabis law practice Vicente LLP and a member of the firm’s Regulatory Compliance and Hemp and Cannabinoids Departments, agrees, saying that it is “unlikely California cannabis is ‘suddenly getting weaker’ as the SFGate headline implies.”

“For years, the efficacy of cannabis lab test results has been widely discussed across the California cannabis industry due to inflated potency test results and inconsistencies in results due to labs using different methodologies for testing cannabis,” Golan writes in an email to High Times about the regulations that went into effect on January 1. 

“The change in law ends the practice of shopping for labs with less strict testing methods in order to inflate THC content,” Golan added. “Therefore, rather than cannabis getting weaker, recent changes may now provide a more accurate reflection of true potency.”