Our project and this interim report, funded by the California Department of Cannabis Control, opens with a history of local control and bans. The project consisted of four in-depth case studies of “ban counties” in California: Siskiyou, Napa, Yuba, and San Bernardino. Our main analysis offers county-by-county and cross-county findings. We conclude with policy recommendations.

Based on preliminary findings, we recommend to protect medical and personal cultivation in ban counties. We see a need for specific policies that:

• enable small-scale exceptions at the state level to local bans
• reform local enforcement approaches
• redirect state agencies in their relations to ban counties
• establish a state commission to review local-level ban enforcement.