California must keep its promise to protect kids from Big Cannabis

On April 13th, 2026, Youth Forward’s executive director, Jim Keddy, published an opinion piece in Capitol Weekly that describes how the cannabis industry has broken the promises made to voters back in 2016 when the industry and Governor Newsom asked voters to legalize cannabis. The article describes how Governor Newsom and the Legislature have betrayed voter’s trusts by developing products that are appealing to children and youth and by increasing the amount of THC in cannabis, thus increasing the risk for mental illness and addiction among cannabis users. The article also describes how the Governor and Legislature have broken the promise that the legalization of cannabis would generate significant new revenues for child and youth programs and for drug prevention. Since 2022, the Governor and the Legislature have provided the industry with two major tax cuts, thus reducing revenues for child programs by at least $128 million annually. In response, Youth Forward and its partners have filed a lawsuit against the Department of Cannabis Control with the goal of restoring these funding streams.