Last control California State Auditor suggests that cannabis packaging is very “attractive to children” and that “unclear rules and insufficient implementation” by the State Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) impede the ability of the agency to identify the packaging that runs state rules.

auditor report revealed that more than half of the products reviewed by retail websites – 23 of 40 products – were likely attractive to children. The auditor determined that products that could be attractive to children because they included food images – some that imitate children’s treatments, such as treating fresh rice – colorful letters and cartoon images, and other design elements that can appeal to young people. The auditor’s report noted that it sometimes disagreed with the DCC that the package of a product could be attractive to children, such as a package for fresh rice treatments that only indicates cereals in the package than the treatment itself.

The report found a drastic increase of 469% in the total number of calls to the California poison control system regarding the ingestion of cannabis among children aged five and younger with 148 calls in 2016 – the year that voters passed the legalization law – to 842 calls in 2023.

The Auditor’s Office found that the DCC “does not carry out sufficient inspections to ensure that it identifies problems” and inspected less than half of its licenses each year since 2022.

“Moreover, the DCC does not consistently document the history of compliance with licenses during complaint inspections and evaluations, which means that the department cannot always identify repeated offenders. Our DCC registration analysis showed at least four compliance actions related to the attractive packaging for the licensed one. ” -2024-105 Cannabis Control Department, California State Auditor, 8/7/25

The report also observes that the DCC does not adequately prohibit fragrances and strains that are attractive to children, despite the 2022 DCC regulations that impose new requirements that prohibit the mention of specific aromas in the inhaled cannabis products. The auditor’s report shows that strain names, such as Cherry Pie, Tropicana Punch and Lemon Cherry Gelato, were still being advertised despite the 2022 rules.

In an accompanying letter to the governor and legislative leaders, State Auditor Grant Parks wrote that “DCC does not adequately discipline cannabis businesses that license them who constantly violate the withdrawal regulations.”

“DCC inspectors do not have sustainable documentation practices, and we cannot conclude that the DCC constantly controls the history of a licensee when it assesses whether the licensee is selling a packaging cannabis product that is attractive to children,” Parks wrote. “We also determined that the department does not constantly increase penalties for licenses that constantly violate the department’s regulations.”

The Auditor in California says cannabis packaging is very ‘attractive’ for children, calls them rules of the ‘unclear’ cannabis agency