This year for the first time, the California State Fair has recognized and awarded cannabis cultivators. Cal NORML celebrated our 50th Anniversary at the Fair on Saturday, July 23 with two panels in the Cannabis Exhibit, where the winners are celebrated and an interactive and immersive display covers the history, culture, and pioneers of California cannabis. Saturday, July 23 4:00 – 4:45 PM Sustainability, Equity and More Efforts to bring environmental sustainability, organic standards, and equity to the cannabis industry in California. Graham Farrar, Glass House Brands – Sustainable cannabis cultivation Khalil Ferguson, United CORE Alliance – Social Equity in

Cal NORML is tracking these bills, along with state budget bills, and will be alerting our membership to upcoming hearings, and actions they can take on key bills at the proper time.  SIGN UP FOR CAL NORML’S EMAIL ALERTS TO STAY INFORMED. Please donate to Cal NORML to support our advocacy work, or join as a regular or business member: Cal NORML regular membership Business Membership with Free Listing $20.00 – $100.00 / year $50/month – $500/year UPDATED 8/4/22 Two Cal NORML-sponsored bills and several other cannabis-related bills are moving through their second chambers in the California legislature. Our Employment

  This page will be updated as we learn more about candidates and races.  The California Statewide Primary Election is on Tuesday, June 7, and the deadline to register to vote is Monday, May 23. If you miss the May 23 deadline, you can also register and vote in person through Election Day, June 7, using same-day registration. Here are Cal NORML’s recommendations for pro-cannabis candidates in key or contentious races for the June 7 Primary Election in California. Send any input about these or other races for this guide here. Read about more races at NORML’s Smoke the Vote

At Gov. Newsom’s press conference this morning announcing his May budget revision, he was asked about his proposal to end the cannabis cultivation tax while keeping the state excise tax at 15%, while granting authority to raise the tax to as much as 19% if tax revenues fall below $670 million as soon as January 2024. Newsom announced a $150 million “backfill” from the General Fund to cover any temporary tax income reductions that may affect youth, environmental, or law enforcement programs that are currently funded with Prop. 64 taxes, while announcing a $20.5 million grant program for local governments

Join Cal NORML and ASA (Americans for Safe Access) at Lobby Day 2022 as a citizen lobbyist for your rights as a cannabis consumer in California!

It was a good 4/20 week for cannabis reform in California! On 4/19, AB 1954 (Quirk), to prevent discrimination of pain patients and others by their doctors for using medical cannabis, passed the Assembly Business & Professions Committee by a bipartisan vote of 18-0. That bill now moves to the Appropriations committee. Watch the hearing (starts at: 1:45). SEND A LETTER TO YOUR LAWMAKER: Allow Doctors to Treat Patients Who Use Medical Marijuana And on 4/20, AB 2188 (Quirk), to grant employment rights to cannabis users in California, cleared the Assembly Labor & Employment committee with a vote of 5-2. Watch

TAKE ACTION:  Support Employment Rights for Cannabis Consumers in California Allow Doctors to Treat Patients Who Use Medical Marijuana Support Terminally Ill Patients’ Right to Use Cannabis Support Local Access for Medical Marijuana Patients   UPCOMING HEARINGS Monday, 4/18 – 10 AM Senate Business and Professions Committee SB 1326 (Caballero) – interstate agreements Monday, 4/18 – 10 AM Senate Appropriations Committee SB 1097 (Pan) – Labeling – Oppose; amendments offered SB 988 (Hueso) – Ryan’s law cleanup – Support TAKE ACTION: Support Terminally Ill Patients’ Right to Use Cannabis Tuesday, 4/19 – 9:00 AM Asm. Business & Professions Committee AB

BECOME A SPONSOR TODAY! California NORML and ASA (Americans for Safe Access) are pleased to announce the return of our annual Citizen Lobby Day, taking place May 10, 2022 in Sacramento, CA. Our members and coalition partners will host a lobby day and training in support of state legislation to better regulate cannabis and protect consumers in California. The California Citizen Lobby Day offers an exciting and unique opportunity to reach out to the medical and adult-use cannabis community. Becoming a sponsor of the Citizen Lobby Day is an excellent way to maximize your visibility to full or targeted groups

By Ellen Komp The theme of this year’s 35th annual Women’s History Month is “Women Providing Healing, Promoting Hope.” I can’t think of a more appropriate theme to celebrate the historical (some would say, herstorical) association between women and cannabis. GOING BACK TO THE ANCIENTS The connection between women and herbal medicine, spiritual practices, and cannabis goes back thousands of years. My book “Tokin’ Women: A 4000-Year Herstory of Women and Marijuana” begins with the ancient Sumerian goddess Ishtar, also called the Queen of Heaven. Ishtar was a compassionate, healing deity associated with the Akkadian herb qunnabu (cannabis), when distillation of

Nearly 40 cannabis and drug policy related bills have been introduced in Sacramento for the 2022 legislative session. Cal NORML is evaluating and tracking these bills, along with state budget bills and will be alerting our membership to upcoming hearings, and actions they can take on key bills at the proper time.  SIGN UP FOR CAL NORML’S EMAIL ALERTS TO STAY INFORMED. Please donate to Cal NORML to support our advocacy work, or join as a regular or business member: Cal NORML regular membership Business Membership with Free Listing $20.00 – $100.00 / year $50/month – $500/year This year’s pending

AB 2188 would prevent employers from using bodily fluids testing to discriminate against employees who consume cannabis when they are not at work. Write to your to State Senator in support of AB 2188.  Assembly Member Bill Quirk (D-Hayward) has introduced legislation, AB 2188, that would end discrimination based on cannabis metabolites testing by California employers. The bill is sponsored by California NORML, which advocates for the rights of California cannabis consumers. The bill has passed through two Assembly committees and also prevailed on the Assembly floor. Testing or threatening to test bodily fluids for cannabis metabolites is the most

  In news that was widely reported and joked about by Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel, a preliminary study from Oregon State University found that cannabinoids in raw cannabis (CBGA, THCA, and CBDA) have strong affinities for binding to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. Researchers used affinity selection–mass spectrometry (AS-MS), which “involves incubating a therapeutically important receptor like the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein with a mixture of possible ligands such as a botanical extract,” then separating the possible active compounds using magnetic microbead affinity selection screening (MagMASS). Upon further study, CBDA and CBGA “were confirmed to block infection of human epithelial cells