2.2m packs of cannabis-laced snacks seized in California

An enforcement operation in the Toy District of Los Angeles, California, has seized a staggering 2.2m packs of cannabis-laden snack products with packaging that has striking similarities with well-known brands.

At retail selling prices, illegal packs intercepted since the start of 2024 would be worth around $120m, according to California's Department of Cannabis Control and Unified Cannabis Enforcement Taskforce (UCETF) set up by state governor Gavin Newsom.

The Toy District operation follows earlier raids in 11 California counties, including Mendocino, Tuolumne, Shasta, Orange, Kern, Alameda, Yuba, Trinity, Los Angeles, Butte, and Humboldt.

There is a thriving legal cannabis industry in California, but the products seized in the crackdown on 11 storefronts were illegally marked with a forged California seal, undermining the safety and integrity of the state's regulated sector, according to Gov Newsom's office.

Along with the 2.2m packaged snacks – many of which mimicked food and candy brands that could appeal to children such as Twinkies and Sweet Tarts – the authorities have destroyed nearly 37 tonnes of unlicensed cannabis, including nearly 123,000 illegal plants, and seized 22 firearms since the start of the year.

Along with the threat to California's legal cannabis market, the use of illegal pesticides and unregulated practices harm the state's environment and water quality, according to a statement from the governor's office.

"California is committed to supporting our safe and legal cannabis market. We will not tolerate criminal activity that undermines the legal market, especially when it puts children at risk," said Gov Newsom.

"This successful operation in the Toy District reinforces our commitment and sends a clear warning to criminals choosing to operate outside the safer legal industry."

Earlier this year, warning letters were sent to various companies accused of illegally selling snack products containing delta-8 THC, a psychoactive compound in cannabis. Along with THC, candies have also been seized that on analysis were found to contain psilocybin, a hallucinogenic constituent found in magic mushrooms.

In 2020, an 11-year-old and a five-year-old were hospitalised after eating fake copies of Ferrara's Nerds Rope candies that had been donated to the Utah Food Bank. Meanwhile, in 2022, a four-year-old boy in North Carolina died as a result of THC poisoning from eating gummy candy in a case that eventually led to the sentencing of his mother to five years in prison, after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter.