Founded in 1972, California NORML is a non-profit, membership-supported organization dedicated to protecting and expanding cannabis consumers’ rights. As the state chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, we are the only state organization devoted specifically to marijuana reform for consumers. We publish a newsletter, lobby lawmakers, sponsor events, offer legal, educational, and consumer health advice, and sponsor scientific research. We maintain a separate membership and financial base from national NORML.
Annual membership fee is $30-$100 (or $20 for a low-income newsletter subscription).
Send to: Cal NORML, 2261 Market St. #278A,
San Francisco CA 94114 or click here to pay online.
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See Cal NORML’s 2024 Accomplishments and Plans for 2025
Cal NORML’s Goals for 2025
• Advocate for lower cannabis taxes in California, especially for medical users, and fight against a pending excise tax increase.
• Lobby Congress for federal descheduling, the SAFER banking act, and other reforms.
• Support opening cannabis consumption lounges in more localities, and allow them to serve food and beverages.
• Support users’ right to inhale cannabis in their own homes and rental units with landlord’s permission so long as they don’t expose neighbors to objectionable smoke.
• Continue to inform and advocate for workers about their employment rights under AB 2188, and medical patients about their rights under AB 1954, banning discrimination by doctors.
• Improve access to non-intoxicating hemp CBD products and hemp-derived medical products.
• Support consumer education on cannabis dosage and high-potency products, and more accurate product testing and labeling.
• Oppose policies that would unduly limit consumer choice or restrict personal use and cultivation.
History and Past Accomplishments
California NORML was originally founded as Amorphia, which organized the 1972 California Marijuana Initiative, Prop. 19. The initiative, which would have repealed laws against adult use, possession and cultivation of marijuana, received 33% of the vote. Amorphia became the California branch of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws in 1974.
California NORML successfully lobbied the state legislature to pass the Moscone Act of 1975, which “decriminalized” marijuana possession from a felony to a misdemeanor, with a maximum $100 fine for 1 ounce or less.
California NORML attorneys successfully sued to force CAMP (Campaign Against Marijuana Planting) helicopters to respect a 500’ flying ceiling.
California NORML led the opposition to Gov. Wilson’s “Smoke a Joint, Lose Your License” law, imposing a six-month driver’s license suspension for pot possession, which was killed as of July 1, 1999. We have continued to successfully fight yearly against bad DUID bills in California.
California NORML was one of the original sponsors of the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, Proposition 215, the nation’s first medical marijuana law. We have supported the legal battle to uphold Prop. 215 against federal and local intrusion.
RECENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Since the passage of Prop. 64 in 2016, legalizing the adult use of marijuana, we have been busier than ever watchdogging numerous proposed bills and regulations that seek to implement the new law, as well as supporting local activists and NORML chapters working on local implementation in their cities and counties. We’ve also been busy informing Californians about their new rights under the law, as well as public health information. We also sat on a CHP committee that is studied ways to prevent DUIDs in the state.
In 2019, we were able to help pass SB 34, a bill to give tax relief to compassion programs that give away cannabis to needy patients, as well as a bill to allow students to use medical cannabis on school campuses.
Much work remains to be done to fully protect the rights of cannabis consumers in California. Prop. 64 imposed an unduly high 15% excise tax that affects patients as well as recreational users; additional cultivation taxes and local taxes have sent many consumers back to unregulated and untaxed suppliers, and crippled cannabis businesses. We helped pass a law to eliminate the cultivation tax in 2022, but only if cannabis tax revenues remain at a certain level; otherwise the excise tax could be raised to as much as 19% in coming years.
Other shortcomings of Prop. 64 included not protecting employees against unwarranted drug testing, interfering with their employment rights. Cal NORML successfully sponsored a bill in 2022 (AB 2188 – GC 12954) that will disallow employment discrimination based on urine or hair testing for inactive THC metabolites that have no basis on job performance, but rather detect off-the-job use days or even weeks beforehand. That law took effect on January 1, 2024.
A second Cal NORML–sponsored bill in 2022 (AB 1954; BPC 2228.5), protects medical marijuana patients against discrimination by doctors who often deny pain medicine prescriptions and other medications to patients who test positive for cannabis.
In 2024, Cal NORML sponsored a successful bill to allow cannabis consumption lounges to prepare and serve food and drinks, and sell tickets to concerts and other events (AB 1775, the Cannabis Café bill). We also worked to pass a bill to extend cannabis compassion programs, allowing tax-free donations of cannabis products to patients in need, and a bill to end double taxation of cannabis at the local level. Read more about Cal NORML’s legislative efforts in 2024.
Cal NORML watchdogged a law that passed in 2022 (AB 1706) to streamline the process to automatically clear past marijuana convictions, and remove barriers to employment, education and housing resulting from criminal records that disproportionately affect communities of color.
THE LOCAL AND FEDERAL FRONTS
Much of the resistance to legal marijuana businesses across the state is happening at local levels, where opponents, including anti-tobacco activists, continue to show up at meetings, objecting to cannabis retailers and consumption lounges. Local governments are also acting to limit tenants’ rights around cannabis smoking or vaping in their own homes. Cal NORML is working with local NORML chapters and activists to counter these restrictive efforts, and has published a page listing consumption lounges in California.
Federal efforts to legalize marijuana nationally, facilitate banking and allow interstate commerce are being supported by Cal NORML with an eye to affordability for consumers, meaning fewer taxes and less unnecessary regulation.
MEDIA AND OUTREACH WORK
Cal NORML is frequently interviewed by media outlets across the state and always comments with an aim to protect cannabis consumers rights, armed with factual information. We stay on top of all the latest studies and news reports about cannabis, and issue responses when required.
Cal NORML holds yearly Lobby Days, gathering activists from around the state to lobby their representatives for better cannabis laws in California. Through our NORML networks, we send thousands of letters to lawmakers and the state, local and federal levels in advance of key votes on pending laws.
Cal NORML’s hotline 415-563-5858 has been in continuous operation since 1972, and we answer calls from the public, press and government officials there and through our website and Facebook pages. We also maintain pages on Twitter/X, Instagram, LinkedIn and BlueSky. We send out a weekly e-newsletter and alerts about upcoming votes and other actions. Join Our Email Alert List.
We were the first to publish an online Marketplace Directory of cannabis dispensaries, and we maintain listings of retailers, delivery services, lawyers, and cannabis products and services on our website www.CaNORML.org.
YOUR SUPPORT IS NEEDED
We depend on our membership base for support, and for getting informed and active to protect and expand our rights. Cal NORML receives no funding from national NORML and must raise our operating funds from within the state.
Please Join Cal NORML today and support our efforts! Members receive our quarterly newsletter, discounts on products and events, and the satisfaction of knowing you are standing up for your rights! If you have questions about membership, please write here.
Cal NORML’s 2024 Accomplishments and Plans for 2025
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