The lack of a growing cap led to an oversupply of weed in the market, causing prices to drop rapidly. That’s according to Whitney Economics, an industry group that collects economic data for businesses and regulators. As a result, small operators who’d been around the longest couldn’t compete in the oversaturated market.
But public health groups say that same oversupply is also concerning for its effects on the consumer side. “What we have now is a bunch of people who produce too much weed and they’re looking for warm bodies to consume it,” said Lynn Silver, program director at the Public Health Institute.
The organization released targeted guidelines earlier this year that scored cities based on how they protect public health and prevent kids from smoking weed. Santa Cruz scored just 42 out of 100. The scorecard recommends doing things like prohibiting weed infused drinks and increasing buffer zones between schools and dispensaries — an issue that came up in 2024 when a dispensary was approved blocks away from Santa Cruz High School.
As California continues to fine tune its regulation of the legal weed industry, towns like Santa Cruz are finding their own balance, figuring out what a new age of cannabis culture means for them.
New data show California’s cuts to its Medicaid program are taking a steep toll on the state’s once-signature “Health Care for All” movement.
More than 86,000 immigrants without legal status left or were denied Medi-Cal in January and February, exiting the program at a rate six times higher than other enrollees, according to a Public Health Watch analysis of the most recent data available. The sharp decline is the largest two-month enrollment drop for this population since California first opened Medi-Cal to all low-income residents regardless of immigration status in 2024.
The initiative, championed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, had been steadily growing until May 2025, when participation peaked at 1.48 million enrollees. Enrollment has fallen gradually since, driven in large part by passage of the sweeping federal budget bill, H.R. 1, and other state actions that will deter or discourage more immigrants from getting Medicaid coverage. “We’ve got a real chilling effect,” said Laura Sheckler, deputy director of policy and regulatory affairs at the California Primary Care Association, which represents nonprofit health clinics statewide. “A lot of actions have happened at the federal level … and then on top of that, state policies [have indicated] just a clear withdrawal from that promise of care and coverage.”
In June, when enrollment began to dip, it was revealed the Trump administration was sharing Medicaid data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. The data included names, addresses and citizenship status of Medi-Cal members. That same month, California approved a Medi-Cal enrollment freeze on undocumented immigrants, to take effect this year. The freeze has a twofold effect: It stops new adult immigrants without legal status from enrolling and blocks former recipients from re-enrolling. That means undocumented adults who lapsed on paperwork or payments for more than 90 days will lose coverage permanently.
Then, in July, the pace of disenrollments sped up. On July 4, President Trump signed the sweeping tax and spending bill, H.R. 1, which is projected to cut Medicaid spending by nearly $1 trillion over the next decade. Meanwhile, a series of federal ICE raids across California caused panic among immigrants and led to widespread demonstrations.