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Medical Marijuana Patient Population in CA

Survey: 5% of California adults have used medical marijuana;
Cal NORML estimates up to 1,125,000 current users.

Updated October 2014

Fully 5% of California adults report having used medical marijuana at some time, according to a newly published survey by the Public Health Institute in Sacramento (Suzanne Ryan-Ibarra, Marta Induni, and Danielle Ewing, “Prevalence of medical marijuana use in California, 2012”, Drug and Alcohol Review, Sept 26, 2014). The study, based on a telephone survey of 7525 adults in the California Behavioral Risk Surveillance System, is the first-ever scientific survey of medical marijuana use in California.…

Cal NORML Release May 23rd, 2011
Contact: Dale Gieringer, CaNORML 415-563-5858

Nearly nine years after filing a petition to reschedule marijuana for medical use, a coalition of advocates has filed suit in federal court to require the government to answer their petition within 60 days.

The rescheduling petition, filed to the DEA on October 9, 2002 by a coalition of groups including NORML and Cal NORML (Coalition to Reschedule Cannabis), argues that marijuana has “accepted medical use” and should therefore be removed from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act.…

June 9, 2011

Here are some things we can all do right now:

1. Write to President Obama and your Congressperson protesting the incarceration of Mollie Fry and Dale Schafer. Both are serving 5-year federal sentences for growing over 100 plants over three years’ time. (That’s right: they only grew 30 plants at a time). The US has also continued with prosecutions of small-time Nevada county cultivator Michael Lombardo, and operators of a Bakersfield collective, handing out 1-2 year prison sentences.…

SACRAMENTO, May 2nd: Dr. Mollie Fry and Dale Schafer spoke eloquently at their federal surrender in Sacramento to an emotional crowd of supporters, who shouted, “We love you,” as the couple turned themselves in to serve a five year sentence for growing 106 marijuana plants over a period of three years.

“If I’m going to jail now to free millions of people, then it’s the right thing to do,” said Dr. Fry, “I’m here because I feel this is a matter of civil rights.…

April 18 – On April 26th, the California Assembly Public Safety Committee will be hearing Assemblymember Tom Ammiano’s bill AB 1017 to downgrade marijuana cultivation from a mandatory felony to a wobbler (that is, optional misdemeanor). AB 1017 is sponsored by the new District Attorney from Mendocino County, David Eyster, with support from other north coast officials who believe that it’s a waste of law enforcement resources to prosecute minor cultivation cases as felonies. The bill is a good first step; Cal NORML would prefer to see personal use cultivation decriminalized entirely:

The committee will also be hearing AB 1300 by Assemblymember Blumenfield, which tries to clarify state laws regarding the power of local government to regulate medical marijuana collectives.…

April 13, 2011 – A bill to allow local regulation of medical marijuana collectives and cooperatives has been introduced by Assemblyman Blumenfield (AB 1300).

The bill expands on the SB 420 definition of “cooperative” and “collective” as follows:

(b) “Cooperative or collective,” for purposes of this article, means a location where qualified patients, persons with a valid identification card, or the designated primary caregivers of qualified patients and persons with identification cards associate within this state in order to collectively or cooperatively cultivate marijuana for medical purposes.…

PRESS RELEASE
Americans for Safe Access
For Immediate Release: April 5, 2011

California Medical Marijuana Employment Rights Bill Approved by Senate Committee
Legislation would prevent discrimination, continue to guard against impairment at the workplace

Sacramento, CA — The State Senate Judiciary Committee voted 3-2 today, approving a bill that would protect medical marijuana patients from discrimination at the workplace. Senate Bill 129, introduced by Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) in January is an attempt to clarify the legislative intent of the state’s Medical Marijuana Program Act passed in 2003.…

UPDATE 10/17: NIH’s Cancer.gov website now states: “Cannabinoids may have benefits in the treatment of cancer-related side effects.” It had said: “The potential benefits of medicinal Cannabis for people living with cancer include antiemetic effects, appetite stimulation, pain relief, and improved sleep.”

Also see: Government-Run Cancer Institute Quietly Acknowledges That Cannabis Kills Cancer Cells August 24, 2015

Tommy Chong Using Cannabis Oil for Prostate Cancer: Is it Truly a Cure? June 10, 2012

April 4, 2011 – The US National Cancer Institute, a branch of the National Institutes of Health, touts its website www.cancer.gov…

SACRAMENTO, March 29 – The California Senate Judiciary Committee held hearings today on Mark Leno’s bill to protect employment rights for medical marijuana users, SB 129, but the vote was delayed for another week due to illness of a committee member.

The committee heard powerful testimony from Peter O’Neill, who was fired as an assistant manager for Walgreens after being forced into a drug rehab program for testing positive for medical marijuana. Americans for Safe Access, Crusaders for Patients Rights (a Christian-based organization), Cal NORML and LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) also testified for the bill.…

UPDATE: May 30, 2011 – SAN DIEGO’s BOTCHED CANNABIS ORDINANCE SUSPENDED BY REFERENDUM

Congratulations to the California Cannabis Coalition and Citizens for Patients Rights for collecting over 46,000 signatures to suspend San Diego’s ill-considered medical cannabis ordinance severely restricting collectives.

The ordinance was officially suspended as of 4:20 PM, Friday May 27th, when the signatures were turned in. It will stay suspended until the registrar validates the count. If there are over 31,029 valid signatures (as seems likely), the ordinance will stay on hold and go before the voters for a referendum; otherwise, it will go back into effect.…

The conference was held on March 19, 2011 at the
Ricardo Montalban Theatre in Hollywood.

Congressional candidate Marcy Winogrand and Assemblymember
Jim Beall spoke on the Public Perspectives panel.

West Hollywood Mayor Pro Tempore John Duran with conference
co-sponsor Dale Gieringer of California NORML.

UCLA School of Public Policy professor Mark Kleiman said
attending the conference opened his mind to new ideas.

Dale Sky Jones of the Prop. 19 campaign, Stephen Gutwillig of
the Drug Policy Alliance and Dale Gieringer in front of conference
sponsor/yummy food vendor VizziTruck

MPP’s Sarah Lovering and Dan Rush of United Food and
Commercial Workers hold court in the food court

Diane Goldstein of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) answers
a question from the crowd during the Movement Building Panel, with
Gretchen Burns Bergman of A New PATH, Dan Rush, and Antonio
Gonzalez of the Latino Voters League.…

Cal NORML Reports March, 2011

SACRAMENTO. Several important cannabis reform bills have been introduced to the California legislature. They include protecting Prop 215 patients from workplace discrimination, reducing cultivation penalties, legalizing industrial hemp, and establishing full-scale medical marijuana licensing schemes.

In the State Senate, Mark Leno (D-SF), has re-introduced a bill to protect medical marijuana patients from workplace discrimination. The Medical Cannabis Patient Employment Non-Discrimination Bill, SB 129, would declare it unlawful for an employer to discriminate against a person because of his or her status as a qualified patient or a positive drug test for marijuana, except for safety-sensitive jobs.…

Also see: Appeals Court Rules in Favor of Tehama County Cultivation Ordinance

UPDATE February 20: CalNORML has filed its appeal.

UPDATE February 6: California NORML will appeal a court decision upholding Tehama’s ordinance restricting patients’ right to grow medical marijuana. The ordinance, which declares it a nuisance to cultivate any marijuana at all – indoors or outdoors – within 1,000 feet of a park, church, school, school bus stop, et al., effectively makes it impossible for many patients to obtain their medicine in accordance with Prop.…

TELL YOUR STATE SENATOR TO SUPPORT THE LENO EMPLOYMENT RIGHTS BILL
January 31 – Before hundreds of attendees at the California NORML statewide “Next Steps” conference on Saturday, January 29, Senator Mark Leno (SF) announced he has re-introduced his bill to end employment discrimination against medical marijuana users. SB 129, The Medical Cannabis Patient Employment Non-Discrimination Bill would declare it unlawful for an employer to discriminate against a person because of their status as a qualified patient or a positive drug test for marijuana, except for safety-sensitive positions and certain health-care workers.…

On Monday, November 22, California NORML director Dale Gieringer will receive the High Times Freedom Fighter of the Year Award in Amsterdam at the magazine’s annual Cannabis Cup celebration.

Gieringer has been the state coordinator of California NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) since 1987. He is also Vice-Chairman of the national NORML board of directors, director of the California Drug Policy Forum (DPFCA) and treasurer of the Oakland Civil Liberties Alliance (OCLA).

Dr. Gieringer has published research on medical marijuana usage, marijuana smoke harm reduction, potency testing, marijuana and driving safety, and drug urinalysis, and has testified before the legislature and in court on issues concerning personal use of marijuana.…

October 30 – California’s CAMP (Campaign Against Marijuana Planting) marijuana eradication reported 4,320,314 plant seizures in 2010, slightly less than last year’s all-time record of 4,463,917.

CAMP estimates the wholesale value of the destroyed crop at $17.2 billion – enough to qualify for agricultural disaster aid for any other crop. This works out to $4,000 per plant, or over 1 lb per plant. At this rate, the total amount of marijuana destroyed by CAMP works out to over four times the estimated consumption of the entire state of California (1 million lb/year).…

UPDATED 10/18 – Several cities will be voting on marijuana business tax measures on this November’s ballot. In addition to applying to medical marijuana sales, some would apply to recreational marijuana in the event Prop 19 passes.

Cal NORML opposes Albany Measure Q, La Puente Measure N, Rancho Cordova Measure O, San Jose Measure U, and the dispensary bans in Santa Barbara and Morro Bay. We support Berkeley’s Measure T and are neutral on the other tax measures.

The city of Albany is proposing a $25/square foot tax on non-profit medical marijuana facilities of any kind, plus a 1.8% business tax on for-profit cannabis businesses.…

Californians will have an historic opportunity this November to vote on a landmark initiative to legalize adult use and sales of marijuana. Polls indicate a tight race, with Prop 19 leading in most of them, presenting the likelihood that California will actually become the first state to legalize.

Prop 19 is by no means a full legalization measure. Statewide, its major effect is to legalize private adult possession of one ounce for personal use and home cultivation of 25 square feet or less.…

Cal. NORML Press Release 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.

The report, authored by Rodney Skager, professor emeritus of the UCLA Graduate School of Education and founding director of the California Attorney General’s Student Survey on drug use, contradicts the main arguments against passage of Proposition 215 in the 1996 state election.…