Kharla Vezzetti January 31, 2009 – Last February, I was among 70 North American delegates at the UN NGO consultation on drug policy in Vancouver. Representing NORML, I called for an end to the criminalization of cannabis users. The overwhelming consensus of the conference was that current policies are excessively punitive, and should be revised in the …
Jan 30, 2009 — The newly released biennial Attorney General’s Survey of Student Drug Use in California shows that marijuana use among 7th. 9th and 11th graders remained stable during 2007-8, but reports an “alarming rate” of prescription drug abuse. “The survey confirms that California’s medical marijuana law has had no adverse impact on youth …
January 23, 2009 — Cal NORML is sorry to note that the DEA yesterday conducted its first medical marijuana raid under the Obama administration. Agents raided the Holistic Solutions facility in South Lake Tahoe, taking cash and product but not arresting anyone. Supporters are urged to call the White House and ask that Obama act …
Buoyed by Obama’s election and the end of the Bush regime, California NORML will be pushing for meaningful changes in marijuana enforcement in the coming year. * END FEDERAL RAIDS AND PROSECUTIONS An immediate, high-priority goal is to realize Obama’s pledge of ending DEA medical marijuana raids in California. Scores of raids have been reported …
California NORML Release – Dec 12, 2008 The California Police Chief Association urged the DEA to close medical marijuana distribution centers, seize their profits and prosecute them in federal court, according to a letter to DEA administrator Karen Tandy. The letter, dated Oct 2, 2006, appears in testimony to the House Judiciary Committee. In the …
Cal NORML Release – Nov. 24, 2008 In a blow to medical marijuana providers, the California Supreme Court ruled that defendants are not entitled to a defense as Prop. 215 caregivers if their primary role is only to supply marijuana to patients. The court unanimously overruled an appellate court decision in the case People v. …
November 14, 2008 – In an unusual development, two Imperial Beach paraphernalia shops were raided by San Diego County Sheriffs on October 22 after a several-months-long undercover investigation. Sheriffs reportedly seized several thousand items of suspected drug paraphernalia, including pipes and bongs, from the shops Up in Smoke and Inner Visions. Two misdemeanor arrests were …
November 4, 2008 – On a successful night for marijuana reform initiatives nationwide, Californians roundly rejected Prop. 5, the Non-violent Offenders Rehabilitation Act, by 40-60%. NORA would have diverted non-violent drug possession offenders to treatment instead of prison and would have lowered small-scale marijuana possession to an infraction from a misdemeanor. Prop 5 lost in …
October 16, 2008 – The California Supreme Court today declined to review a lawsuit filed by San Diego, Merced and San Bernardino counties claiming federal laws supercede California’s medical marijuana law. The counties’ challenge was rejected by the San Diego Superior Court in 2006, and that court’s decision was upheld in July by the 4th …
Voters who want marijuana reform should be mindful of one thing this year: change is needed in Washington, DC. Twelve years after passage of Prop. 215, California has done everything it can to allow legal access to medical cannabis without a change in federal policy. A truly legal distribution system remains politically impossible so long …