Louis Uridel runs MetroFlex Gym in Oceanside, California, and starting January 1, 2027, his customers will need to flash a government-issued ID before buying a tub of creatine off the shelf. "Choosing your protein supplements," Uridel told the Deseret News, "requires more identification than choosing your governor."
He's not exaggerating. California does not require photo ID to vote.
Assembly Bill 2030, introduced by Democratic Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal in February 2026, bans the sale of over-the-counter supplements marketed for weight loss or muscle building to anyone under 18. Governor Gavin Newsom signed it into law on September 28. The covered products include creatine, green tea extract, and green coffee bean extract — substances you can buy at every GNC, Walmart, and gas station in 49 other states without anyone checking your birthday.
Lowenthal's justification, per his office: the law "is critical for child safety because taking weight-loss and muscle-building supplements has been associated with higher rates of eating disorders, body dysmorphia, and depressive symptoms for teens." The National Eating Disorders Association backed the bill.
Creatine is one of the most studied supplements in sports nutrition. Dietitian and sports nutritionist Wendi A. Irlbeck didn't mince — actually, she was perfectly clear: "Creatine is safe, beneficial and effective for children and adults of any age. There has been zero reported adverse effects in the data." Zero. But Sacramento looked at a substance with zero reported adverse effects and decided the solution was a statewide ID mandate.
The state that spent years arguing voter ID laws are discriminatory, racist, and an unacceptable barrier to democratic participation now requires a 19-year-old in Venice Beach to prove his age before buying a legal workout powder. California allows voters to cast ballots without presenting photo identification at the polls if they're not first-time voters. The logic, as we've been told for decades, is that requiring ID suppresses turnout and disproportionately burdens minorities. Apparently that burden evaporates at the supplement aisle.
Former Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt summed it up in the way only Spencer Pratt can: "So you need ID to get swole, but not to vote."
The bill cleared both chambers of the California Legislature before landing on Newsom's desk. No one in that process paused to notice that they were constructing an ID verification regime for protein powder that is more rigorous than the one they refuse to build for elections. The same state government that fights federal voter ID proposals as an assault on civil rights just decided that an 18-year-old buying creatine at a strip mall needs to be screened by the cashier.
AB 2030 takes effect January 1, 2027. California's next statewide election is in 2028. When that day comes, you'll be able to walk into your polling place, cast a ballot for governor, senator, and president without showing a single piece of identification — then walk across the street to GNC and get carded for a $30 jar of powder that has zero reported adverse effects.
The jar of creatine, evidently, is the bigger threat to democracy.
