Young people and advocates press supervisors to direct cannabis tax revenue toward youth services and prevention

Dozens of young people and community advocates testified at the Santa Barbara County budget workshop on April 15 asking supervisors to allocate cannabis tax revenue to youth prevention and services.

The Coalition for Youth Impact and multiple individual commenters pointed to Proposition 64’s stated goal of reinvesting cannabis revenues in affected communities and urged the board to use unallocated funds — roughly $780,000 staff identified in the revenue review — to seed a pilot program delivering prevention, mental-health support and college- and career-preparation services.

A coalition speaker summarized the plea: “Necesitamos que esto sea efectivo, necesitamos que esto vaya a los jóvenes del condado,” and asked the board to “crear un programa piloto para jóvenes con ingreso de los impuestos de cannabis que ayuden a en su salud mental, intervención temprana para uso de sustancias.” Several commenters noted other California jurisdictions have dedicated a substantial share of cannabis revenue to youth and community programs and urged Santa Barbara to do the same.

Why it matters: County staff reported revised cannabis revenue estimates and a modest discretionary balance; advocates said directing funds now would align spending with the voter-intended reinvestment goals and produce preventive benefits. Supervisors and staff acknowledged the request but asked advocates to provide a focused, measurable proposal so the board can weigh options ahead of budget adoption.

Board response and next steps: Supervisors welcomed the comments and asked staff and advocates to return with a concise, targetted proposal for how a pilot would operate, the measurable outcomes it would pursue and how the pilot could be funded and evaluated. Staff said the board could consider allocations of unassigned cannabis revenue and asked for clearer program design by the next workshop.

Speakers and quotations in this article are taken from the official April 15 transcript.