Burdensome and irksome, arbitrary and protectionist, the many webbed network of laws governing commercial cannabis in California are there for at least one reason even hardcore libertarians should grudgingly appreciate: They are meant to prevent consumers from purchasing knock-off products that have the potential to do them harm. This is noble and good.

Arrests for cannabis smuggling at Los Angeles International Airport are up 166 percent since the legalization of marijuana in California, according to a report from the Los Angeles Times. Officials at LAX reported that cannabis was discovered in checked luggage and carryon bags 503 times last year. In 2017 there were 400 reports for marijuana possession at the airport while in 2016, the year California voters legalized cannabis with the passage of Proposition 64, pot was found on 282 occasions. About 20 percent of those reports involved trafficking and the rest were related to passengers who had been found possessing weed or cannabis products in quantities consistent with personal use.

California is paying a price for the shaky rollout of its legal marijuana market.

State budget documents released Thursday show the Newsom administration is sharply scaling back what it expects to collect in cannabis tax revenue through June 2020 — in all, a $223 million cut from projections just four months ago.

The reduced income for the state treasury means that slower-than-expected pot sales are punching a hole in California’s budget.

The diminished optimism for retail pot sales comes as shops continue to be undercut by a thriving illicit market, where consumers can avoid taxes that can approach 50% in some communities.

When California voters broadly legalized marijuana, they were promised that a vast computer platform would closely monitor products moving through the new market. But 16 months after sales kicked in, the system known as track-and-trace isn’t doing much of either.

As of last month, just nine retail outlets were entering data into the network established under an estimated $60 million state contract, even though 627 shops are licensed to sell pot in California.

The rate of participation is similarly slim for other sectors in the emerging industry.

Third-party lab testing of a variety of commercially available CBD products finds that many contain only trace quantities of cannabidiol, according to an analysis first reported by BusinessInsider.com.

Representatives from CannaSafe Laboratories, a California-based analytical testing company, assessed 20 CBD-infused products, including vape cartridges, beverages, edibles, and skin creams. Only three of the 20 products contained levels of CBD matching the percentages advertised on their label.

Researchers from the University of California, San Diego are seeking more than 130 people to participate in cannabis-related clinical trials.

There will be a total of four clinical trials coming up, one of which is a study on children. The center for Medical Cannabis Research at UCSD will focus on the use of cannabinoids to treat autism, schizophrenia, anorexia, and tremors. All of the studies are planned for this year and they will all be conducted separately.

California legislators considered a plan Monday intended to encourage more banks to do business with marijuana companies that have been frozen out of thousands of financial institutions.

Most Americans live in states where marijuana is legally available in some form. But most financial institutions don't want anything to do with money from the cannabis industry for fear it could expose them to legal trouble since the federal government still considers marijuana illegal.

The city of Los Angeles has filed a lawsuit against an unlicensed cannabis dispensary for selling product tainted with dangerous chemicals, according to media reports. At a downtown news conference on Wednesday, City Attorney Mike Feuer indicated that the lawsuit against Kush Club 20 on Central Avenue in South Los Angeles would be followed by others.

“We are opening up a new front in our efforts to effectively enforce the city’s rules regarding marijuana,” Feuer said. “This compliments our criminal efforts in doing so, and we have filed a civil action against multiple business operators, property owners and real estate defendants.”

The city of Los Angeles is taking a new approach to shutting down illicit cannabis dispensaries—sue them for selling contaminated  products, writes Calvin Hughes.

California was one of the first states to legalize adult-use cannabis, and as such, it’s become somewhat of an experimental oddity for the rest of North America.