December 2009
California NORML is proud to have been on the forefront of marijuana reform in 2009, a year that marked a memorable turning point in the movement as legalization finally emerged as a serious political issue. Your support for CalNORML will help us move this issue forward as never before.
December 29, 2009 – NORML has received a flood of recent complaints from chronic pain patients wrongfully denied treatment by pain clinics for having failed unwarranted drug tests for medical marijuana.
December 17 – At a rollicking meeting where someone signed in as “Santa Claus” for public comment, LA City Council yesterday once more put off their vote on a medical marijuana ordinance, at least until a special meeting they will hold on the topic January 13.
The California Assembly will be hearing AB390, Tom Ammiano’s landmark bill to legalize and regulate marijuana in early January, 2010. Please tell your assembly member that it’s time to stop wasting money on marijuana prohibition and to reap the benefits of a legally regulated market.
December 1 – A San Diego jury’s not guilty verdict for medical marijuana defendant Jovan Jackson sends a powerful message to District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis to call off the heat and dismiss the numerous other defendants currently facing similar charges in San Diego.
December 1 (UPDATE) – Redding city council will consider a comprehensive medical marijuana ordinance on Dec. 1; L.A. City Council has put off the matter until Dec. 8.
November 2009
November 17 – After a huge public outpouring of support, two Los Angeles City Council committees rejected the advice of the city attorney and voted Monday to approve an ordinance that allows marijuana dispensaries to continue selling marijuana to people with a doctor’s recommendation.
November 11 – The American Medical Association and the California Medical Association have both adopted resolutions in favor of research and debate on medical marijuana.
November 10 – A proposed Red Bluff ordinance would effectively deprive patients of their Prop. 215 right to grow medical marijuana, both individually and collectively.
November 3 – In a remarkable turn of events, both sides at today’s California Supreme Court Hearing on the Kelly case agreed that the so-called SB 420 quantity limits in Health and Safety Code 11362.77 are unconstitutional when applied to limit patients’ right to a compassionate use defense under Prop. 215.
October 2009
SACRAMENTO, Oct. 28th – The state Assembly Public Safety Committee held historic hearings on the legalization of marijuana, the first since “Indian hemp” was prohibited in 1913. The hearings were chaired by Tom Ammiano (D-SF), who has proposed a legalization bill, AB390, which will be heard early next year.
October 26 – A medical marijuana regulation ordinance proposed to the L.A. City Council by City Attorney Carmen Trutanich would cost $36 – $74 million in lost tax revenues plus untold additional enforcement costs, according to an analysis by California NORML.
October 19 – Marijuana arrests in 2008 rose to their highest level in California since the state’s 1976 decriminalization law, according to the latest data from the Cal DOJ Bureau of Criminal Statistics.
October 19 – While it is certainly encouraging that the Obama administration has committed to writing the AG’s declared policy of respecting state medical marijuana laws, the proof will be in the pudding.
October 18 – Turn up the pressure on the LA DA! Tell him that LA’s dispensaries provide a valuable service to the community, and that they should be subject to reasonable city regulations, not arbitrary raids and closures.
October 17 – Mendocino county reported a record number of marijuana arrests in 2008, according to data from the Cal DOJ Bureau of Criminal Statistics.
Two marijuana legalization initiatives are currently collecting signatures for the 2010 ballot in California. A third initiative has also been submitted but is not presently circulating.
September 2009
September 11 – SWAT-style raids on 14 medical marijuana outlets in the San Diego area on September 9 resulted in 31 arrests, including a man in a wheelchair who was wrestled into a police car.
August 2009
Aug. 24th, 2009 – UPPER LAKE, CA: In what are believed to be the first DEA medical marijuana arrests since President Obama took office, the federal government arrested five Lake County defendants on marijuana charges on Tuesday, August 18th.
August 23 – A recent University of Texas study that claims the active ingredients in marijuana spread and prolong pain is an isolated, theoretical lab study involving rodent cells and endocannabinoids. It is more compelling to consult the long list of human clinical studies examining actual use of marijuana for chronic pain.
August 22 – In a troubling development, the state assembly is balking at passing the prison population reduction bill passed by the state senate. The major objection appears to be the review of penalties for various offenses including drugs.
August 12 – According to press and eyewitness reports, the DEA and other federal and local agencies raided two Los Angeles cannabis collectives today, as well as the residences of collective officials.
August 10 – As California considers how to reduce prison spending, it has overlooked releasing non-violent marijuana prisoners in favor of car thieves.
After Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske pronounced “Marijuana is dangerous and has no medicinal benefit,” in Fresno last week, California NORML cordially invites Kerlikowske to come and interview a few real, live medical marijuana patients, physicians, researchers and providers next time he visits California.
CalNORML director Dale Gieringer writes: “While Fox news is right that studies on marijuana consumption are hazy, it is confused about how Cal NORML got its estimates on marijuana consumption in CA. In fact, our estimates are lower than those of the ONDCP.”
July 2009
July 22 – Last night’s landslide victory for Oakland’s cannabis business tax by 79.9% of the vote mirrors the historic 79.6% victory of San Francisco’s path-breaking medical marijuana initiative in 1991.
July 18 – At their meeting yesterday, LA City Councilmembers introduced resolutions to study the feasibility of taxing medical marijuana collectives in Los Angeles, and to support HR 2835, the Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act.
Board of Equalization, Cal NORML Agree On Benefits of Ammiano Bill AB 390 (July 15)
July 15 – A new nationwide CBS News poll reports 41% support for marijuana legalization. This is a 10% jump since the last CBS poll just four months ago.
The Veterans Administration will ignore marijuana drug screening for pain patients who have legal medical marijuana recommendations, under a new policy reported by VA Watchdog.
June 2009
The Los Angeles Planning and Land Use Management (PLUM) Committee will be holding a special meeting next Monday June 29, 2009 to hear 29 medical marijuana hardship exemption applications. On June 22, L.A.’s mayor signed off on the revised Interim Control Ordinance (ICO) regulating medical marijuana collectives in Los Angeles.
June 22 – The CAMP (Campaign Against Marijuana Planting) marijuana eradication helicopter program is starting operation today.
Cal NORML thanks Rep. Barney Frank and California’s co-sponsors for HR 2835, a bill to let states legally regulate medical marijuana.
On June 8, State Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) introduced a SJR 14, which calls for a comprehensive federal policy to ensure safe and legal access to medical marijuana for patients who benefit from its therapeutic use.
May 2009
May 18, 2009 – US District Judge Marilyn Patel sentenced Eddy Lepp to ten years mandatory minimum for having grown over 1,000 marijuana plants for a medical marijuana garden in Lake County.
May 18, 2009 – The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear case #08-887 San Diego County, CA, et al. V. San Diego NORML, et al., leaving in place an appeals court ruling holding that California law trumps federal law over medical marijuana.
May 5 – Asked today about a recent Field Poll showing that 56 percent of registered voters support legalizing and taxing marijuana in California, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said “Well, I think it’s not time for that, but I think it’s time for a debate.”
May 23, 2009 – Hearings for AB 390 have been set for the next session of the California Assembly (Dec – Jan) so as to provide time for building support.
May 3 – In an unpublished opinion, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reaffirmed the 10-year mandatory minimum sentence of Bryan Epis on charges of conspiracy to manufacture marijuana.
April 2009
April 30 – Public opinion has swung to legalization here in California.
The US Dept of Justice has made a mockery of AG Eric Holder’s policy of supposedly respecting state medical marijuana laws in the case of Charles C. Lynch, whose sentencing has been postponed until June 11.
March 2009
March 26, 2009 – Yesterday’s DEA raid on a San Francisco medical cannabis club is a wake-up slap to everyone who was hoping for the best from Attorney General Holder’s promise to end DEA raids.
Speaking live on CNN, Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-47) cited the west coast’s majority support for regulating cannabis like alcohol and called for a statewide “pilot program” to objectively assess the impact of cannabis legalization upon adult society.
February 2009
February 25, 2009 – Speaking at a press conference with DEA administrator Michelle Leonhart, Attorney General Eric Holder declared that ending medical marijuana raids “is now American policy.”
February 23, 2009 – Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-SF) announced the introduction of a landmark bill to tax and regulate marijuana like alcohol and tobacco at a press conference today.
February 19, 2009 – A growing number of Americans, and a majority in the West, support legalizing marijuana, according to a January 29-31 poll of 1,053 likely voters by Zogby International, sponsored by California NORML and Oaksterdam University.
Feb. 6 – Pot advocates unite! Tell the Kellogg Company and USA Swimming that you’re disgusted by their spurning of Michael Phelps.
February 5 – A White House spokesperson says that the Obama administration will re-evaluate policies of DEA interference in state medical marijuana laws.
Feb 4th, 2009 – While the DEA continues to stage medical marijuana raids in California, nearly three-quarters of voters think President Obama should honor his campaign pledge to end the raids, according to a poll of 1,053 likely voters by Zogby International.
February 3 – California NORML has confirmed reports of four DEA raids in L.A. today.
January 2009
January 30, 2009 – The newly released biennial Attorney General’s Survey of Student Drug Use in California shows that marijuana use among 7th, 9th and 11th graders remained stable during 2007-8, but reports an “alarming rate” of prescription drug abuse.
January 23, 2009 – Cal NORML is sorry to note that the DEA yesterday conducted its first medical marijuana raid under the Obama administration. Supporters are urged to call the White House and ask that Obama act promptly on his pledge to end DEA medical marijuana raids. Call the White House hotline 202-456-1111 or visit the White House website.