Introduction

In our prior articles for California NORML, we discussed how federal gun laws intersect with California’s legalization of recreational and medical marijuana use. We explained that, even though California law allows marijuana use, federal law continued to treat marijuana as a controlled substance and barred “unlawful users” of controlled substances from possessing firearms or ammunition.

That analysis has now changed in a big way. On June 18, 2026, the United States Supreme Court decided United States v.…

A well-attended event in Berkeley on Saturday, May 16 presented the Budist 2025 California Cannabis Harvest Report, with outdoor farmers represented from the report’s covered counties: Humboldt, Trinity, Mendocino, Sonoma, Lake, Nevada and Santa Cruz. Starting from DCC dashboard numbers and adding in the number of licensees producing outdoor crops, the report highlights farmers and cultivars in each region, and looks at statewide trends.

The 2025 outdoor cannabis harvest was the largest since 2022; however all counties in the report except Mendocino lost market share in California’s outdoor market in 2025 vs.…

by  The Law Office of Shay Aaron Gilmore

On April 22, 2026, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche signed the most consequential federal cannabis order in more than five decades. The order immediately moves both FDA-approved cannabis products and state-regulated medical cannabis products from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). At the same time, it launches an expedited administrative hearing — beginning June 29, 2026 — to determine whether broader rescheduling of all marijuana, including adult-use products, should follow.…

Join Cal NORML now through the end of April with a discounted $42 Gold Membership and get a free thank-you gift: Our popular gold lapel pin in the shape of a pot leaf (shown). It’s a great way to represent your support for Cal NORML and cannabis!

Join Cal NORML through 4/30 and we will send your gift to you by mail. Membership renewals qualify; email here if you are unsure of your membership status. Members receive our printed newsletter and discounts on events and items throughout the year.…

July 9, 2025 marks the 50^th anniversary of California’s landmark marijuana decriminalization law, the Moscone Act, which reduced the penalty for possessing an ounce or less of marijuana from a felony to a citable misdemeanor punishable by a $100 fine and no jail.

The Moscone Act resulted in an 80% reduction in felony marijuana arrests, saving the state an estimated $100 million per year in enforcement costs, and saving well over a million users from a criminal record over the years.…