Kharla Vezzetti 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 …
Sacramento, September 30, 2008 – Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed Assemblyman Mark Leno’s bill to protect workers’ right to use medical marijuana. The bill, AB 2279, would have made it illegal for employers to discriminate against workers in non-safety-sensitive jobs for using marijuana as medicine. In his veto message, the governor said, “I am concerned with interference …
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DATE: 9/19/08 CONTACT: Dale Gieinger, CaNORML 415-563-5858 RECORD JUMP IN MARIJUANA ARRESTS IN CALIFORNIA California posted a record surge in marijuana arrests in 2007, according to data from the state Criminal Justice Statistics Center. Altogether, there were 74,119 arrests for marijuana in 2007, up 13% from the year before. This marks the …
DEA Targets City-Regulated Facitilites: Dep’t of Republican Justice? Cal. NORML Release – Sept 18, 2008 In response to federal threats of forfeiture, Santa Barbara’s medical marijuana coops are closing their doors as of this Friday, September 19th. At an extraordinary meeting on Aug 5-6th, the Department of Justice and DEA warned landlords of Santa Barbara’s …
The California legislature ended its regular session for 2007-8 after approving an important piece of cannabis reform legislation: Mark Leno’s bill AB 2279 to ban employment discrimination against medical marijuana patients. Urge the Governor to sign AB 2279 Altogether, the legislature voted on three cannabis reform measures in the two-year session. The State Senate approved …
AUGUST 27, 2008 – In a widening federal crackdown against medical cannabis collectives in Santa Barbara, a federal grand jury indicted John Seidenberg, 41, of Santa Ynez on Aug. 26th for growing two medical marijuana gardens for the Hortipharm collective. Seidenberg, who was originally arrested on state charges, had been preparing a Prop. 215 defense …
August 27, 2008 – Attorney General Jerry Brown’s office issued long-awaited guidelines on medical marijuana enforcement this week: Read the guidelines. For the most part, the AG’s guidelines are consistent with the opinion of California NORML’s attorneys and with the advice to providers previously posted at our website. However, there are certain respects in which …
SACRAMENTO August 20, 2008 – The State Senate approved Assemblyman Mark Leno’s path-breaking bill to prevent discrimination against medical marijuana patients by a vote of 21-14. The bill, AB 2279, would disallow the misuse of misleading and scientifically unproven urine tests to deny jobs to medical marijuana patients. California NORML strongly endorsed the bill, arguing …
AUGUST 8, 2008 – Last week saw three significant California Appellate Court rulings on medical marijuana, most of them favorable to medical marijuana patients, but one with cautionary implications for “primary caregivers.” (1) SAN DIEGO CHALLENGE TO PROP 215 & SB 420 ID CARDS REJECTED In the first, Counties of San Diego & San Bernardino …