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SACRAMENTO, April 21-22. – Two medical MJ regulation bills – SB 1262 by Sen. Lou Correa and AB 1894 by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano – passed their first committee hearings in the California legislature this week, heightening the likelihood that the legislature will finally pass some kind of comprehensive state legislation for the legal sales, production, distribution and manufacture of MMJ this year. However, the final details remain unclear, as there are significant differences between the two proposals and both face the prospect of further amendments.…

The Sacramento Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to ban outdoor medical marijuana cultivation in unincorporated areas of the county, but chose not to ban indoor cultivation and rather work with advocates to develop an indoor ordinance.

The move came after Supervisor Roberta MacGlashan introduced two ordinances to ban both outdoor and indoor cultivation of medical marijuana, in a county that has also banned dispensaries. MacGlashan said her office had received “a huge number of complaints” about the strong odor of outdoor grows, citing public safety concerns and also worries about water usage, especially in this drought year.…

UPDATE 4/22 – AB 1892 passed the Assembly Public Safety committee by a 5-2 vote.

SACRAMENTO – Tom Ammiano has re-introduced his medical marijuana regulation bill under a new bill number, AB 1894.

The new bill will be heard in the Assembly later this month, effectively replacing his other bill, AB 604, which had been pending in the State Senate. AB 1894 is essentially identical to AB 604, except for including an additional section authorizing counties and cities to levy a special transactions and use tax on medical marijuana, not to exceed 5% or 2.5%, respectively.…

UPDATE 4/29/2014 – AB2500 FAILED TO PASS THE ASSEMBLY PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE. Thanks to all the NORML members and supporters who wrote in about this bill.

UPDATE 4/23/14 – Assembly Bill 2500 has been amended to impose ‘per se’ criminal penalties to individuals who drive with trace levels (2ng/ml or above) of THC or other controlled substances in their blood — regardless of whether he/she is behaviorally impaired. NORML and California NORML opposes the imposition of this legislation.

Thank Your Assemblyperson for Voting No on AB2500

Read Cal NORML’s testimony on AB2500

BACKGROUND: From the March Edition of Cal NORML Reports.…

UPDATE: This story was corrected on March 27 to reflect the news that the decision was not unanimous. According to the Court’s website, Justices Kennard, Werdegar and Liu thought the petition should be granted, and the four other justices disagreed.

March 26, 2014: In a disappointing setback for Prop 215 patients’ rights, the CA Supreme Court denied review of the Maral v Live Oak appellate decision, which upheld the right of local governments to completely ban personal use cultivation by medical marijuana patients.…

March 7, 2014 – California NORML, the state chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, has launched an advertising campaign in response to Governor Jerry Brown’s pronouncement on “Meet the Press” that “potheads” are unable to compete in the modern workforce, and that therefore he does not favor marijuana legalization in California.

“The world’s pretty dangerous, very competitive. I think we need to stay alert, if not twenty-four hours a day, more than some of the potheads might be able to put together,” Brown said on the March 2 edition of the NBC program, asking, “How many people can get stoned and still have a great state or a great nation?”…

UPDATE 3/11: The bill failed in committee.

The California Assembly Public Safety Committee will be hearing AB 1588 (Conway) on March 11th.

The bill would expand the minimum distance of dispensaries or collectives from schools to 1,000 feet from the present 600 feet. It would also impose an additional fine of $500 to $10,000 for anyone illegally cultivating within a 1,000 foot radius of a school (not including individual Prop 215 patients and their caregivers). The 600-foot rule was copied from the state’s rule for siting of liquor stores.…

This story was updated on March 3. Many others who were also involved in the campaign are probably still not credited. This story is meant to be inspirational to others who want to get active locally.

Against all odds, the citizens of Shasta county have turned in an estimated 13,080 signatures on a referendum to repeal their outdoor cultivation ban, only 20 days after their campaign began. The number is more than twice the 6,600 valid signatures needed to overturn the measure.…

February 4, 2014 – By a vote of 5-0, the Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors voted to table an ordinance that would have banned medical marijuana dispensaries and outdoor cultivation today. The board acted on the recommendation of the planning commission, which voted 6-1 to scrap their own plan after nearly 100 citizens showed up for the meeting and 20 spoke against it (with none speaking in favor).

After a presentation by Community Resources Director Bev Shane noting that California might have an initiative on the ballot in November, and state legislation was also pending in Sacramento, a motion was made and seconded to delay any action until November.…

January 26, 2014 – As the popularity of cannabis e-cigs and vaporizers has taken off, California NORML has been busy fighting bills to ban e-cigs in non-smoking areas. These bans are especially harmful to the many seriously ill patients who cannot legally smoke medical cannabis indoors due to the state’s stringent anti-smoking laws, some of which even ban smoking in private rental units and apartments. California law generally defines e-cigs broadly to include any device capable of vaporizing nicotine, which includes most every vaporizer on the market.…

Cal NORML News Alert

January 2, 2014 – Los Angeles Judge Hammock has upheld the city’s medical marijuana ordinance Proposition D. LA-area collectives should expect that the city will proceed to enforce the ordinance.

In other LA news, the police department has begun to deploy oral saliva swabs for DUI checks. Oral swabs typically detect marijuana smoking for several hours after last use; their sensitivity varies from a couple of hours to a couple of days. The tests can in no way detect whether drivers are actually impaired.…

UPDATE: 3/27/2014 – The California Supreme Court refused to hear the case, so the appellate court ruling stands. Read more.

January 3, 2014 – In a lawsuit supported by California NORML, attorney Joe Elford is filing a petition today asking the State Supreme Court to review a recent Third District Appellate Court decision, James Maral v City of Live Oak, that upheld the right of local governments to ban medical marijuana cultivation entirely.

The petition argues that local governments are pre-empted by state law from banning cultivation by qualified medical marijuana patients, insofar as California’s Compassionate Use Act (Prop.…

Join CalNORML and support our efforts in 2014!

December 2013 – Cal NORML kicked off 2013 with a successful conference in January marking the 100th anniversary of marijuana prohibition in California this year and setting goals for ending it. Over 300 people from across the state attended the conference in San Francisco, which hosted 56 speakers.

Then it was off to Sacramento, where we worked to derail a bill that would have made it an automatic DUI to have any amount of THC in drivers’ blood.…

UPDATE January 6, 2014 – Gutierrez will be sentenced on Friday, January 10 at 10:30am Oakland Federal Courthouse 1301 Clay Street

October 4, 2013 – A jury in federal court has found KPFA citizen journalist Jose Gutierrez guilty of assaulting a US marshall during a protest of the raid on Oaksterdam University on April 2, 2012.

Gutierrez was wearing a bull mask and holding a sign saying “Department of Injustice: BULLIES” when the incident happened at the neighboring Blue Sky coffeehouse in Oakland.…

UPDATE 9/27/2013 – Governor Brown signed the bill into law.

SACRAMENTO, Sept 11th – The State Senate unanimously passed Sen. Mark Leno’s industrial hemp bill, SB 566.

The bill would exclude hemp with THC content <0.3% from the definition of marijuana when cultivated for industrial purposes, and would regulate its cultivation under the state Dept of Food and Agriculture. In an important stipulation, the bill would not become operative until "authorized under federal law" as determined by the state Attorney General. This condition was designed to win support from Gov. Brown, who vetoed a hemp bill last year on grounds that it conflicted with federal law. Republicans joined Democrats in approving the hemp bill. Republican Allen Mansoor of Costa Mesa sponsored a parallel bill in the State Assembly. …

UPDATED 8/14/2013

August 12 – US Attorney General Eric Holder was aware that coming to California’s Bay Area meant encountering drug policy reform advocates. His May appearance at UC Berkeley law school saw him greeted by medical marijuana advocates, including a banner in the sky saying, “Holder: End RX Cannabis War”

In advance of his appearance this morning at the national American Bar Association meeting in Los Angeles, Holder announced the results of a Justice Department review that recommends a re-evaluation of mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes as racist, unjust, ineffective and expensive.…

By Dale Gieringer, CalNORML director

One hundred years ago, on August 10, 1913, an obscure law banning the possession of “Indian hemp” took effect in California.

Also known as cannabis indica or hasheesh, Indian hemp had long been available in drugstores without causing any evident problems; hemp was also grown as a fiber crop in the Central Valley. Only later did it become familiar by the Mexican name “marihuana,” a word unknown to white Californians in 1913.

Public concern about Indian hemp was nonexistent in 1913.…