Cal NORML hosted a statewide Zoom meeting for all interested activists on Wednesday, December 2 at 4 PM PST. Watch a video of the meeting. Our special guest was Congresswoman Barbara Lee Barbara Lee was born in segregated El Paso, TX and attended St. Joseph’s Catholic School, where she was taught by the Sisters of Loretto, an order dedicated to promoting justice and peace. After grammar school, Congresswoman Lee moved to San Fernando, California and worked with the local NAACP to integrate her high school cheerleading squad. As a single mother raising two sons, Congresswoman Lee attended Mills College and

UPDATE December 1, 2020 – After San Francisco residents and activists mobilized, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted 10-1 to approve an ordinance that bans tobacco smoking but allows cannabis smoking inside multi-unit apartment buildings in the city. The amendment to remove cannabis smoking and vaping from the ban passed by an 8-3 vote, with Supervisors Mar, Safai and Yee opposing.  San Francisco is now the largest city in the country to ban tobacco smoking in apartment buildings, and to specifically allow cannabis smoking. West Hollywood took a similar step this year.  Thanks to our SF supporters who took

  Californians are voting on 38 ballot measures addressing cannabis in 36 cities or counties across the state on the November 2020 ballot. Most measures would allow local officials to impose taxes on cannabis businesses, ranging from 1.25% up to 10%. For cultivation, most localities seek to place a square footage tax ranging from $0.5 – $25. Trinity County, by contrast, seeks to tax by weight of flower and leaves, while Calaveras voters will decide whether to move from a weight-based tax to a square footage-based one. Many of the jurisdictions considering measures currently do not allow cannabis businesses, or

Presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden has named California Senator Kamala Harris as his Vice Presidential pick. As San Francisco’s District Attorney and California’s Attorney General, Harris upheld California’s medical marijuana law. Since being elected to the Senate, she has come on strong for federal marijuana law reform as the Senate sponsor of the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement (MORE) Act to remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act, enabling states to set their own marijuana policies and reinvesting funds in communities of color that have been impacted by laws against marijuana. California cannabis activist Mikki Norris remembers Harris as

July 14, 2020 – Arrest data released by the California Dept. of Justice show there were 1,181 felony marijuana arrests in California in 2019, down 27% from 2018 (1,617 arrests) and the lowest number since 1954. Hispanics accounted for 493 or 41.7% of arrests; blacks for 263 (22.3%) and whites for 252 (21.3%).  Males were 87.9% of those arrested for felonies, and juvenile felony arrests numbered 91. 2019’s misdemeanor marijuana arrests were down slightly in 2019: they numbered 3,769, versus 3,835 in 2018.Hispanics were even more disproportionately arrested for misdemeanors, coming in at 1,869  or 49.6% of arrests, with blacks accounting

RACIAL JUSTICE, EQUITY, AND CANNABIS IN CALIFORNIA Wednesday, July 1 • 4 PM Listen to audio of the meeting: Part 1 Part 2 (starts with attorney Roxanne Mosley) 70120.m4a   Find out how you can support racial justice and equity in the cannabis industry in your city or county, and at the state level in California. Our panelists will talk about their projects and issues that remain for communities impacted by the war on drugs in a post-legalization world. Our panelists are: – Amber Senter, Supernova Women, NCIA’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee – Lanese Martin, The Hood Incubator – Ramon