Kharla Vezzetti 
Tickets to view the Zoom recording of the 11/12 program are available! Visit this link and click on the Zoom option. You will then be sent a link to view the 2-hour, informative and fun program featuring Keith Stroup, John Sinclair, Gordon Brownell, Michael & Michelle Aldrich and more.
This year for the first time, the California State Fair has recognized and awarded cannabis cultivators.
Cal NORML celebrated our 50th Anniversary at the Fair on Saturday, July 23 with two panels in the Cannabis Exhibit, where the winners are celebrated and an interactive and immersive display covers the history, culture, and pioneers of California cannabis.
Saturday, July 23
4:00 – 4:45 PM
Sustainability, Equity and More
Efforts to bring environmental sustainability, organic standards, and equity to the cannabis industry in California.…
UPDATE 10/13/2019 – The Governor has signed the bill into law. Thanks to all our supporters who sent letters in support. Cal NORML networks sent over 3000 letters to lawmakers in 2019.
UPDATE 9/21/2019 – SB 34, the Dennis Peron & Brownie Mary Cannabis Compassion bill, has passed through the CA legislature and awaits the Governor’s signature.
Joined by co-sponsor Sen. Nancy Skinner (Berkeley), Senator Scott Wiener (San Francisco) announced he will introduce SB 34 to protect cannabis compassion programs in California in 2019.…
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| On the courthouse steps |
December 8 – Cannabis advocates handed out free marijuana to grateful recipients on the Contra Costa County Courthouse steps today in protest of the county’s lack of legal, affordable dispensaries.
Organizers, including Contra Costa County NORML and PotPride.com, took advantage of California’s legalization law, which makes it legal to possess and give away up to one ounce of cannabis (or 8 grams of concentrate) to adults over 21.
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| Santa helps himself to a gift |
The handout attracted a few score of appreciative locals, who lined up to help themselves to free samples of marijuana, canna-caps, edibles, seeds, and topicals, while carefully observing the law’s ban on public smoking of marijuana.…
PLEASE JOIN CAL NORML OR RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP
TO HELP US CONTINUE OUR WORK IN 2019.
As California enters new territory with the opening of adult-use sales this year, Cal NORML continues its fight to secure consumers’ rights to use cannabis freely, legally, and affordably. We are glad to have made some progress with the state’s lawmakers and regulators this year, but much work remains to be done.
While the year got off to a bang with the first legal sales on January 1, 2018, progress has been rocky, fraught with glitches and bottlenecks, costly new taxes and regulations, and a persistent shortage of legal outlets in many parts of the state.…
This page will be updated as more results are reported.
Updated 11/11
Gavin Newsom, a cannabis supporter who pushed for the passage of Prop. 64 to legalize adult recreational use in California, will be the new governor of the state. Incumbent Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who has vowed to protect the state’s legalization law against federal intrusion, also won his race. Both are carrying their contests with 60% of the vote. (Pictured: newly elected East Bay Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks, Cal NORML director Dale Gieringer, Sabrina Fendrick from Berkeley Patients Group, and Newsom.)…
November 2, 2018 – San Bernardino County Superior Court Judge David Cohn has issued a ruling striking down parts of a City of Fontana ordinance placing restrictions on residential marijuana growers in the first court case limiting a local jurisdiction’s ability to regulate personal cultivation rights in California under Proposition 64 (AUMA).
The ruling is the result of a lawsuit filed against the city by the Drug Policy Alliance and the ACLU (at the urging of Cal NORML) on behalf of plaintiff Mike Harris, a retired ironworker and registered nurse seeking to cultivate marijuana in his Fontana home to ease his arthritis and pain from past injuries.…
BCC chief Lori Ajax kicked off Day 2 of the NCIA/CCIA conference and trade show in Anaheim by reminding the crowd that everything the Bureau does affects the cannabis consumer and the public, as well as licensees.
Speaking of the 152-page regulatory document released with revisions following thousands of comments last Friday, Ajax noted, “A change in regulations is a good thing because we’re listening.” Following another public comment period ending November 5, Ajax expects the final regulatory package will be sent to the Office of Administrative Law by December 3.…
The NCIA/CCIA conference in Anaheim got off to a rousing start with NCIA founder Aaron Smith reminding the crowd that California was still the biggest potential market for the cannabis industry, even now that Canada has become the second country to legalize it. Smith announced that the latest Gallup poll shows 66% of Americans are in favor of legalization, fully 2/3 and the highest (ahem) number yet. Speaking of the coming midterm elections, Smith opined, “No matter the result, we’re going to see a Green Wave,” listing numerous states that are looking to legalize on the November ballot.…
Updated 1:10 PM
October 19, 2018 – Regulations for cannabis businesses in California have been issued by the Bureau of Cannabis Control (BCC), the CA Dept of Food of Agriculture (CDFA), and the CA Dept. of Public Health (CDPH). A final 15-day comment period on the proposed regulations has opened.
The controversial regulation allowing deliveries throughout the state, which Cal NORML supports, has been amended in the BCC regulations to read:
§ 5416. Delivery to a Physical Address (changes in italics)
(d) A delivery employee may deliver to any jurisdiction within the State of California provided that such delivery is conducted in compliance with all delivery provisions of this division.…
Attorney General Becerra announced that this year’s Campaign Against Marijuana Planting, a multijurisdictional task force including DEA and other agencies, made 52 arrests at 254 grow sites across 40 counties.
The Campaign Against Marijuana Planting claims to have eradicated 614,267 illegal marijuana plants on public lands in California this year, half the number taken in 2017. The state’s wildfires were a contributing factor in the drop, Becerra spokeswoman Jennifer Molina said.
Arrestees were “Mexican national drug traffickers who are working for drug cartels,” DEA special agent Karen Flowers said at a press conference with AG Becerra and others.…
September 14, 2018 – A Marin County organization funded by the US Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) sent a mailer to every resident in Fairfax, California urging them to come out and oppose the approval of adult-use cannabis sales at a town council meeting last August 15.
The mailer, issued at taxpayers’ expense, claims that cannabis shops are associated with higher levels of property crime, that regular use of cannabis can lead to life-long addiction problems, that permissive attitudes lead to higher teen use, and more.…
UPDATED 10/1/18 3:17 AM
Governor Brown met his deadline of Sunday, Sept. 30 to sign or veto bills from this year’s legislative session.
He signed a bill to automatically resentence past marijuana convictions, but vetoed one to protect cannabis compassion programs that give away medicine to indigent patients, and another to allow parents to bring cannabis medicines to their children at school.
He also signed bills to allow veterenarians to discuss cannabis with pet owners, establish a statewide equity program for cannabis businesses, and expand the venues where cannabis events can be held.…
August 27, 2018 – On behalf of its members and cannabis consumers across the state, California NORML has submitted comments to the state Bureau of Cannabis Control (BCC) on their proposed final regulations for cannabis businesses in the state.
Cal NORML’s three main concerns are:
CONCERN #1: Resealable Child-Resistant Opaque Exit Packaging Unnecessary
The proposed regulations unnecessarily require that no cannabis goods leave the premises unless placed in a “resealable, child-resistant opaque packages” (Sec. 5411(b)4 and 5413).
Cal NORML constantly hears consumer complaints about the ungainly, non-recyclable packaging in which they must carry their products.…
Sacramento, August 21, 2018 –
Led by committee member Alice Huffman of NAACP, the state Bureau of Cannabis Control’s Cannabis Advisory Committee voted overwhelmingly on August 20 to approve a resolution in favor of regulation 5416(d), to allow for home deliveries of cannabis throughout California. Cal NORML testified in favor of the regulation along with many others, mostly in support. A lively debate on the topic was held among the committee members, with Sgt. David Woolsey of San Jose expressing concerns about public safety on the roadways, and committee chair Matt Rahn, mayor of Temecula, voicing support for local control.…
August 22, 2018 – AB 1793 (Bonta), a bill to create a simpler and expedited pathway for Californians to have certain criminal convictions for cannabis-related offenses removed or reduced from their records, has passed the California Senate and is heading to the Governor’s desk for his signature.
PLEASE WRITE TO GOV. BROWN AND ASK HIM TO SIGN AB 1793 INTO LAW
Proposition 64, which California voters passed in November 2016, legalized recreational cannabis use and allowed those with marijuana convictions to petition courts to dismiss their cases.…
August 16, 2018 – In testimony submitted to state Bureau of Cannabis Control, Cal NORML strongly backed a proposed regulation to allow home delivery of cannabis from licensed businesses to households throughout California.
“On behalf of California’s many consumers living in jurisdictions that have banned licensed sales of cannabis, we wish to express our strong support for your proposed regulation Chapter 3, Sec. 5416(d), which clarifies that licensed cannabis delivery businesses may drive and deliver their wares to residents in any jurisdiction in California,” the letter states.…
At their July 13-15 meeting in Oakland, the California Democratic Party’s Executive Board passed a resolution in support of the right of all employees to engage in the consumption of cannabis off-duty without the fear of being terminated from their jobs.
The CaDEM resolution supports all employees’ rights (for medical and recreational use) and was sponsored by the Brownie Mary Democrats of California.
Despite the passage of Prop. 64 in California, employees here can still be terminated from their jobs for failing a drug test for marijuana, even if they have a doctor’s recommendation to use it.…
July 9, 2018 – According to the Attorney General’s annual crime report for 2017, arrests for marijuana offenses dropped precipitously in California following the passage of Proposition 64, which legalized the recreational use for adults in November 2016. A total of 6,065 marijuana arrests took place in 2017, versus 13,810 arrests in 2016, a drop of 56%.
Felony arrests for marijuana fell a whopping 74% to 2,086 in 2017 from 7,949 in 2016. Under Prop 64, the majority of felony offenses were reduced to misdemeanors.…
This page will be updated as news develops.
June 6, 2018 – As expected, Democrat Gavin Newsom was the top vote-getter in yesterday’s primary election for California Governor. A longtime advocate of drug harm reduction, Newsom convened a Blue Ribbon Task Force on legalization that served as a blueprint for Prop 64, which he backed strongly.
It looks like his challenger in November will be Republican businessman John Cox, who has Trump’s backing. Cox made headlines by suggesting that recreational marijuana users belonged in the hospital.…