Kharla Vezzetti

UPDATE November 6: Both Beverly Hills and San Diego County have decided to study the matter further. Neither implemented a ban at their meetings on Nov. 5.

TUESDAY NOV 5th
San Diego Board of Supes 9AM – Beverly Hills City Council 7 PM

Prohibitionists are on the warpath to deny consumers access to smokeless e-cigarettes. E-cigarettes are broadly defined to include devices that can vaporize nicotine or any other substance, including medical marijuana!. These proposals are a slap in the face to countless medical marijuana patients, who are already prevented from smoking their medicine by current anti-smoking laws and have no recourse than to use smokeless vaporizers to inhale their medicine.…

September 17, 2013 – After two hours of testimony and discussion, preceded by three years of back-and-forth, San Leandro city council voted last night 5-2 to direct staff to come up with zoning code amendments allowing two dispensaries in the city. The council didn’t vote on the ordinance itself, despite staff asking (rather late) that they do so, but the ball is rolling.

Councilmember Ursula Reed, who’s admittedly flip-flopped on the issue, went to see Harborside Health Center in Oakland that day and was “very impressed” with the security, the verification of doctors’ notes, the database keeping track of patients’ usage, and the holistic calendar of services.…

UPDATE 9/13 – Last-minute efforts to pass a medical marijuana regulation bill fell short as the California legislature wound up its session yesterday. Legislation proposed by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (AB 604) and Sen. Darrell Steinberg ran into opposition from local governments and law enforcement. Similar legislation can be expected to be re-introduced next year. In the meantime, California will remain vulnerable to federal raids and prosecutions under the new DOJ policy, which requires that states enact “strong and effective” regulation of marijuana.…

September 4, 2013

Dear Sen. Feinstein:

Here are some questions for Attorney General Holder which we hope you will ask at the upcoming Judiciary Committee hearings on federal policy with regards to state marijuana laws. Cal NORML welcomes the A.G.’s announcement that DOJ will not seek to overturn state marijuana laws. We strongly support his proposed guidelines for federal enforcement and hope the state legislature will act expeditiously to enact a “strong and effective” regulation system in California, as called for by the A.G.…

Cal NORML Backs Proposed Guidelines, Calls on State Legislature to Act

August 29, 2013 – In a long-awaited announcement of federal marijuana enforcement policy, Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the Department of Justice won’t “make it a priority” to block marijuana legalization in Colorado or Washington.

Cal NORML welcomed the AG’s announcement, while cautioning that the DOJ failed to follow through on a similar, previous promise to respect state medical marijuana laws in its 2009 Ogden memo. “The new DOJ policy provides sensible guidelines for marijuana enforcement,” said Cal NORML director Dale Gieringer, “We hope that this time they are successfully implemented.”…

SACRAMENTO August 14, 2013 – The California legislature delivered good and bad news for marijuana advocates after activists walked the State Capitol for a medical marijuana lobbying day this Monday.

On the plus side, Sen. Ellen Corbett withdrew a bill (SB 648) that would have banned e-cigarettes and vaporizers in non-smoking areas. After being informed that the bill would adversely impact medical marijuana patients, many of whom must rely on vaporizers in order to consume their medicine, Sen. Corbett agreed to consider amending the bill to address their concerns.…