Kharla Vezzetti

January 26 – At a California Gubernatorial debate, Jorge Ramos of Univision asked the candidates to raise their hands if they had ever smoked marijuana.

Former LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s hand shot up, followed by cheers from the crowd. He said afterwards, “And different than some, I actually inhaled.” Also raising their hands were former Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin, and state Treasurer John Chiang.

See the exchange below:

@jorgeramosnews: "Candidatos, ¿alguna vez han fumado marihuana?" #Debate2018 pic.twitter.com/wTxgRVq7qR

— Univision Noticias (@UniNoticias) January 26, 2018

…

A memorial for Dennis Peron will be held at Cafe Flore in San Francisco on Sunday, March 11th from 5:00 to 10:00 pm

January 27 – We are sad to report that medical marijuana activist Dennis Peron died today at the VA hospital in San Francisco.

“No person is more responsible for the legalization of medical marijuana than Dennis,” Cal NORML director Dale Gieringer told the New York Times. “He was in the right place, at the right time as a gay rights leader at the time of the AIDS epidemic; he had the right experience as a pot dealer, the gumption to go ahead and do it and the trust of the people of San Francisco, who respected his efforts.”…

January 9, 2018 – Rep. Rob Bonta (Oakland), the California Assembly’s Assistant Majority Leader, announced at a press conference in Sacramento today that he has introduced AB 1793, to create a simpler and expedited pathway for Californians to have certain criminal convictions for cannabis-related offenses removed or reduced from their records.

Proposition 64 – which voters passed with 57 percent approval in November 2016 – contained provisions that not only reduced or eliminated many marijuana law violations, it made those changes retroactive.…

TAKE ACTION: Jeff Sessions Is Targeting The Cannabis Community – It’s Time For Congress To Step In

UPDATED 1/8/18

January 4, 2018 – Reaction has been swift from public officials in California following the announcement that Attorney General Jeff Sessions has issued a memo to federal prosecutors which “directs all U.S. Attorneys to enforce the laws enacted by Congress and to follow well-established principles when pursuing prosecutions related to marijuana activities.”

The memo rescinds all previous DOJ memos that allowed both medical and recreational marijuana businesses to operate in legalized states, and came three days after California opened state-licensed shops selling recreational marijuana to adults 21 and over.…

Download this information as a .pdf file

December 29, 2017 – With adult-use cannabis stores opening in California on January 1, Cal NORML reminds our members, tourists coming in to California, and others of the following:

Using marijuana can impair your ability to drive safely. Signs of marijuana impairment can include:

• Loss of concentration and attentiveness.
• Impaired reaction time and emergency decision-making ability.
• Reduced peripheral vision.
• Difficulty maintaining a constant speed, following distance, and lane position.
• Loss of balance.…

December 5, 2017 – Cal NORML has sent comments to state regulators regarding their emergency licensing regulations for cannabis cultivation.

“We are concerned that the CDFA’s proposed emergency regulations on cannabis cultivation licensing fail to limit the total amount of acreage that any one applicant may accumulate. This opens the doors to large-scale, industrial mega-grows that could monopolize California’s limited available acreage, exacerbate environmental harm, and stifle participation by smaller growers,” CaNORML wrote.

“California does not need any new, large-scale, industrial grows,” the comments continue.…

This article is from Ca NORML’s November newsletter, sent to our members. To join, support Cal NORML and receive all the news, click here.

Berkeley Patients Group is one medical marijuana dispenary that plans to open their doors to recreational users on January 1.

November 2017 – New Year’s 2018 is ushering in a new era in California, as the first state-licensed cannabis stores open their doors and adult-use sales begin on Jan. 1, 2018. Officials at the Bureau of Cannabis Control published emergency regulations on November 16, so that it can issue the first licenses by January 1.…

UPDATE 11/13 – CNN: Opioid commission’s anti-marijuana argument stirs anger

November 2 – The US Opioid Commission has jettisoned the voluminous research showing that cannabis serves as an exit drug to opioid use, in favor of a study looking at 12-year-old data.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie wrote in a letter from the Commission to President Trump: “The Commission acknowledges that there is an active movement to promote the use of marijuana as an alternative medication for chronic pain and as a treatment for opioid addiction.…