Were you arrested for possessing an ounce or less of marijuana in California before 1976?  If so, Cal NORML would like to hear your story.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of California’s landmark decriminalization law, the Moscone Act, which was sponsored by Cal NORML and decriminalized possession of one ounce of marijuana from a felony to a minor misdemeanor. The Moscone Act cut the number of marijuana felonies in California from over 100,000 to 20,000 in a year, saving the state $100 million in arrest costs, not to mention the human costs for arrestees.…

The Cal NORML/ASA Lobby Day yesterday in Sacramento brought in a score of citizen lobbyists from across the state to meet with legislators or their staffers in support of AB 564 (Haney), to halt a pending cannabis tax increase from 15% to 19% on July 1.

Christina Dempsey, Deputy Director of Government Affairs at the CA Dept. of Cannabis Control, spoke to the group about the report the DCC just issued on the state of the cannabis market in California. In particular, she highlighted the finding that an estimated 60% of cannabis sold in the state comes from the illicit market, with only 40% from the legal, licensed and taxed market.…

A “Joint” informational hearing on March 11 before the Assembly and Senate Business and Professions committees on the CA Department of Cannabis Control’s new Condition and Health of the Cannabis Industry Report presented a grim picture of the state of the industry and its future.

Asm. Mike Gipson (D-LA), chair of the Assembly Revenue & Tax committee, and Asm. Sharon Quirk-Silva (D-Buena Park) who chairs the Budget subcommittee that oversees the Department of Cannabis Control (DCC), also participated. Quirk-Silva said the findings in the DCC report are “very concerning.”…

UPDATE: The agency adopted the objectionable guidelines in May 2025. No panelists asked questions or had any discussion at a hearing in March on the topic at which Cal NORML testified. 

Read Cal NORML Director Dale Gieringer’s testimony to the DWC, and an appendix of studies on cannabis and pain. See Deputy Director Ellen Komp’s letter on ties between the ACOEM and worker’s compensation insurance providers. 

California is considering adopting enormously wrong-headed chronic pain treatment recommendations by the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine that would ban medical cannabis use for injured workers.…

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PLEASE SUPPORT CAL NORML IN 2025

Cal NORML expects to be working harder than ever in 2025 to help fight off an automatic increase in state cannabis excise taxes from 15% to as much as 19%, triggered by a 2022 bill, AB 195, that ended the cannabis cultivation tax. To satisfy beneficiaries of cannabis tax money, the tax could be raised to make up for any losses from the cultivation tax being eliminated.…

Interested vape companies are invited to sponsor their devices for a study of cannabis vape pen emissions by California NORML. The study will test a variety of vape devices and cartridges to determine how much cannabinoids and harmful smoke toxins they deliver. The study is intended to help provide better consumer information on the safety and efficacy of cannabis vapes.

There is good reason to believe that electronic vape devices can deliver safe, clean doses of THC and CBD without harmful smoke toxins.…

November 19, 2024 – Following a two-year process during which the Sacramento Office of Cannabis Management met with public officials and lounge owners across the state, surveyed interested parties, and took scientific testimony to develop a pilot ordinance allowing for cannabis consumption lounges in the city, the Sacramento city council today voted 5-4 to allow the five-year pilot program to go forward.

Both Type 1 licenses, allowing for noninhaled cannabis lounges (drinks and edibles) and Type 2 licenses, allowing for smoking and vaping at lounges, were approved.…

In a victory for cannabis consumers, the Oakland City Council on Tuesday, November 12 voted to exempt cannabis from a proposed total ban on residential smoking and vaping in multi-unit dwellings, including condos. The vote was 6-0 with 2 abstentions.

The cannabis exemption was strongly opposed by the state’s powerful anti-smoking lobby, richly funded by the tobacco tax. They argued that second-hand marijuana smoke is as dangerous as tobacco smoke and poses unacceptable hazards to people in neighboring apartments.

“The anti-tobacco lobby is blowing smoke about marijuana,” argued Cal NORML director Dale Gieringer in testimony before the council.…

October 30, 2024 – A new report on high-potency cannabis by the California Department of Public Health raises important concerns for the cannabis community. The report blames high-potency products for a rising incidence of cannabis use disorder (habitual overuse), cannabis psychosis, hyperemesis syndrome, emergency room visits, and frequent use by youth under 21.

The report makes several key recommendations aimed at reducing access to high-potency products. While some of them are reasonable, others are objectionable and anti-consumer in the view of Cal NORML—in particular prohibiting high-potency concentrates, flowers, and hashish—a measure likely to make consumers turn to more dangerous illicit alternatives.…