2003
January 23, 2003: As federal prosecutions against medical marijuana patients and providers escalate, a coalition of patients, care givers, doctors and public officials have united behind the 8-year-old daughter of a federal prisoner to launch an outdoor advertising campaign throughout California.
Oct 7, 2003 – The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in a lawsuit by Prop. 215 patients Angel Raich and Diane Monson challenging the constitutionality of the federal government’s ban on personal use and cultivation of marijuana for medicine under California law.
2002
Jan. 14 2002 – BART announced that it has scrapped plants to deploy drug-sniffing dogs on its trains following a flood of protests from angry patrons and NORML supporters.
Feb. 11, 2002 – In a foretaste of what could await the defendants in the DEA’s medical MJ raids, a Sonoma County patient, Keith Alden, was summarily convicted of marijuana cultivation in the first federal jury trial of a medical cannabis grower in San Francisco.
May 3, 2002 – US Judge Charles Breyer has issued a summary judgement for the government in its case against the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Club plus two other Bay Area cannabis clubs.
May 29, 2002 – The Aiko Compassionate Center, a medical marijuana patients’ group in Santa Rosa, was raided by a team of DEA agents today.
Jun 6, 2002 – California saw spirited rallies against the DEA in a nationwide day of protest organized by Americans for Safe Access.
2001
Oct. 23, 2001 – While the US experienced a record 734,498 marijuana arrests last year, California posted a slight decline to 62,418 pot arrests, down from 62,844 in 1999. This is the first year since 1991 that total pot arrests have declined in the state.
2000
Mexicans Blamed for Record CAMP Harvest
California’s Campaign Against Marijuana Planting (CAMP) seized a record 345,207 plants in 2000, up 43% from the previous record of 241,164 set in 1999. For the first time, the majority of CAMP’s harvest came from the Central Valley and Sierra foothills rather than the Emerald Triangle of Mendocino, Humboldt and Trinity counties.
May 27, 2000 – A state report on the impact of California’s medical marijuana initiative, Prop. 215, showing that use of marijuana by students declined slightly following passage of the 1996 initiative after having increased for several years previously, is being suppressed by the California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs.
Fall 2000 – An electoral showdown is looming in California this November over Proposition 36, which would end prison sentences for non-violent drug users.
Nov. 2000 – Drug reformers fared better than either Presidential candidate in last November’s elections as Californians voted 61-39% to approve Prop. 36, requiring treatment instead of prison for most drug possession offenses, while Mendocino County voters approved Measure G to allow personal use cultivation of marijuana by 58-42%.
1999
August 16, 1999 – Amidst growing public interest in marijuana reform, NORML launched an innovative ad campaign in San Francisco urging marijuana smokers who are tired of being treated like criminals to come out of the closet.