An employee sorting freshly harvested cannabis buds at a medical-marijuana plantation in northern Israel on March 21. Picture taken March 21, 2017. REUTERS/Nir Elias

California's marijuana producers are growing eight times the amount needed for consumption, according to a report by Patrick McGreevy at the Los Angeles Times.

Scaling back would be painful for growers, said Hezekiah Allen, the executive director of the California Growers Association, during a panel discussion at the Sacramento Press Club. The Times reported that a consultant in the audience estimated the pot glut at 12 times what's being consumed.

In 1996, California became the first US state to permit medicinal marijuana. Its residents voted in November to legalize the possession of up to an ounce of marijuana for recreational use. But it now faces a glut ahead of new regulations that ban exports starting January 1.

A consequence of the glut, Allen added, is that some growers on the black market would most likely export their product to other states in violation of federal law.

Seven states including neighboring Nevada, Arkansas, and Massachusetts legalized marijuana in various forms on Election Day last year. In all, 29 US states have legalized marijuana in some form, according to Governing.com.