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. Total arrests numbered 5,452, the lowest since 1962. Whites accounted for 25% of marijuana arrests, Hispanics 44% and blacks 16%. DUI arrests rose slightly by 2% to 128,053, interrupting a decade-long decline, but still over 40% lower than their peak in 2007. Felony drug arrests

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 marijuana from the various alleged illegal grows. Warrants were served 118 locations and eight people including one Mexican national were arrested for “related crimes,” according to the Riverside Sheriff’s Department. The raids reportedly resulted in the confiscation of: • 140,877 marijuana plants (which the sheriff’s

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, and a lack of safety studies on vulnerable populations like children, seniors, pregnant women, and those taking other drugs. NORML submitted comments to the FDA  asking the agency to “craft benchmark safety and quality standards for hemp-derived CBD products in order to increase consumer satisfaction

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 California Assembly, will allow between 1,195 and 3,472 additional cannabis retailers in the 392 incorporated cities and unincorporated county areas that voted in favor of Prop. 64. The potential increase in sales of regulated and taxed cannabis could be $1.5 and 2.1 billion and potentially support

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 Downs and Bruce Barcott worked with cannabis policy expert Dominic Corva, co-director of the Humboldt Institute for Interdisciplinary Marijuana Research (HIIMR) at Humboldt State University in Arcata, CA on the study. Leafly has shared the literature review, “Debunking Dispensary Myths,” with elected officials, legislative aides,

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 harm or cancer. Marijuana smoke has already been classified as a carcinogen by OEHHA in spite of human studies showing it doesn’t cause respiratory cancer. In written testimony, Cal NORML argued that existing scientific evidence on the risks of prenatal cannabis use is unclear, and that

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 from Sonoma and San Diego, along with other supporters from the North Coast and the Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay areas to lobby in their elected officials’ offices.  California state Senator Scott Wiener, sponsor of a bill to exempt compassion programs that give away

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 23 – A bill to create a new state license type for cannabis consumption café/lounges was approved by the Assembly Business and Professions Committee. The bill, AB 1465  by Asm. Bloom (Santa Monica) would finally let California have public cannabis coffee shops as in Amsterdam.