July 8, 2019 – Gov. Newsom has signed a little-noticed bill to ban drug-test masking aids such as additives and synthetic urine. The bill, AB 851 by Jim Cooper (Sacramento), passed quietly and unanimously through both houses with no debate or input from opponents. Cal NORML blasted the bill as a gift to the powerful
July 5, 2019 – The number of marijuana arrests in California continued to decline toward new lows in 2018 according to data released by the Criminal Justice Statistics Center. The total number of felony arrests was 1,617, down 22% from 2017 and the lowest since the 1950s. Misdemeanor arrests totaled 3,835, down 4% since 2017.
A 45-day emergency moratorium on hemp cultivation failed to carry by a narrow vote at a meeting of the in Plumas County Board of Supervisors on June 4. Cal NORML was contacted by members in the county and sent a letter to Supervisors asking them not to pass the moratorium. We also alerted supporters in the
June 6, 2019 – Yesterday, multijurisdictional force of more than 700 personnel from the Army National Guard, the FBI, US Drug Enforcement, and numerous other police and government agencies descended on the Anza Valley region in Riverside County at daybreak and worked throughout the day. Police and military helicopters, and trucks pulling trailers were spotted removing
About 100 people testified at a public hearing held on May 31 by the FDA “in order to inform the regulatory path forward” on CBD. Manufacturers, researchers, doctors, laboratory representatives, lawyers and advocates (pro and con) were among those who spoke. Speakers expressed concern over the lack of uniformity and purity of available CBD preparations,
UPDATE 5/30 – Assemblyman Ting could not muster the two-thirds vote of the Assembly required to alter the voter-approved initiative to prevent cities and counties from banning pot shops. Read more. A new report from Applied Development Economics (ADE) in Walnut Creek, CA estimates that the passage of AB 1356, a bill currently before the
UPDATE 5/30 – Assemblyman Ting could not muster the two-thirds vote of the Assembly required to alter the voter-approved initiative to prevent cities and counties from banning pot shops. He plans to try again with the bill next year, a representative told the LA Times. Proposition 64, the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, earned more
A review of 42 scientific studies conducted by Leafly.com has found that the broad body of published research suggests crime near licensed dispensaries has generally stayed flat or decreased, teen cannabis use in legalization states has fallen since legalization, and property values near cannabis outlets generally are not affected or even rise. Leafly editors David
Governor Gavin Newsom has issued a revised state budget with several cannabis provisions, according to the budget summary. The revised budget forecasts the state cannabis excise tax will generate $288 million in 2018-19 and $359 million in 2019-20, a reduction of $67 million and $156 million, respectively, from the original Governor’s Budget forecast. It states,
May 8, 2019 – California NORML has submitted testimony to the state Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) opposing the inclusion of cannabis on the state’s Prop 65 list of known reproductive hazards. Prop 65 requires businesses to post warning signs regarding the presence of substances known to pose a risk of reproductive
Around 100 citizen lobbyists from across California visited scores of legislative offices in Sacramento as part of the Third Annual Cal NORML / ASA Lobby Day on Monday, May 6, 2019. NORML chapter members from Orange County, the Central Valley, the Inland Empire, and Contra Costa county joined Americans for Safe Access chapter members
UPDATE 5/27/19 – AB 1465 has stalled in the Assembly appropriations committee for the year, after an incomplete analysis by committee staff looked only at the cost to produce a new license, instead of also examining potential revenues that could be generated by the bill. We hope to see it reintroduced next year. SACRAMENTO, Apr
UPDATE 5/7/19 – Thanks to all who participated in Lobby Day! We visited hundreds of legislative offices and had a productive day. A special thanks to all of our sponsors who made the day possible. California NORML is once again teaming up with Americans for Safe Access to co-sponsor a Citizens Lobby Day in
April 9, 2019 – AB 1530, a bill that would have allowed local jurisdictions to ban cannabis deliveries originating outside their jurisdictional borders, was defeated in its first committee hearing today after cannabis activists and industry representatives objected to the bill. Cal NORML wrote to the committee and testified against the bill, and promulgated an
With the passage of Prop. 64 by California voters in November 2016, it is now legal for all adults over 21 to purchase and use cannabis in California. Read more about your rights in California. It’s a new day, but there is still much work to be done! Here are some of the areas where Cal
UPDATE: Mountain View City Council May 23 scrapped a plan to allow two retail marijuana stores and two delivery services to open in town, instead deciding to allow three delivery businesses. Source. The Mountain View planning commission had voted to amend the ordinance to only allow one cannabis business in the city’s downtown area, prohibit the
February 25 – As reported in the San Francisco Chronicle and the LA Times, San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón announced that his office will move to wipe out more than 9,000 marijuana-related convictions, following California’s vote for legalization in 2016. Teaming with the nonprofit technology company Code for America, the DA’s office said it
February 20 – Governor Gavin Newsom plans to reassign 360 of the state’s California National Guard from the US-Mexico border to tackle wildfire preparedness and illicit marijuana grows in Northern California. In a February 11 press release and his State of the State speech on February 12, the governor announced that at least 150 California
CA Senator and Presidential Candidate Kamala Harris has admitted she smoked pot in her past, and says she is “absolutely in favor of legalizing marijuana,” harkening to her half-Jamaican heritage and citing the mass incarceration resulting from cannabis prohibition, particularly of young black men. Interviewed on The Breakfast Club radio show in NYC, Harris called for
Take Action In Support of Cannabis Compassion Programs UPDATE 12/3 – The bill number is SB 34. November 29 – Joined by co-sponsor Sen. Nancy Skinner (Berkeley), Senator Scott Wiener (San Francisco) announced he will re-introduce his bill to protect cannabis compassion programs in California at a press conference at the SPARC dispensary in SF.
