Kharla Vezzetti

UPDATED 10/1/18 3:17 AM

Governor Brown met his deadline of Sunday, Sept. 30 to sign or veto bills from this year’s legislative session.

He signed a bill to automatically resentence past marijuana convictions, but vetoed one to protect cannabis compassion programs that give away medicine to indigent patients, and another to allow parents to bring cannabis medicines to their children at school.

He also signed bills to allow veterenarians to discuss cannabis with pet owners, establish a statewide equity program for cannabis businesses, and expand the venues where cannabis events can be held.…

August 27, 2018 – On behalf of its members and cannabis consumers across the state, California NORML has submitted comments to the state Bureau of Cannabis Control (BCC) on their proposed final regulations for cannabis businesses in the state.

Cal NORML’s three main concerns are:

CONCERN #1: Resealable Child-Resistant Opaque Exit Packaging Unnecessary

The proposed regulations unnecessarily require that no cannabis goods leave the premises unless placed in a “resealable, child-resistant opaque packages” (Sec. 5411(b)4 and 5413).
Cal NORML constantly hears consumer complaints about the ungainly, non-recyclable packaging in which they must carry their products.…

Sacramento, August 21, 2018 –
Led by committee member Alice Huffman of NAACP, the state Bureau of Cannabis Control’s Cannabis Advisory Committee voted overwhelmingly on August 20 to approve a resolution in favor of regulation 5416(d), to allow for home deliveries of cannabis throughout California. Cal NORML testified in favor of the regulation along with many others, mostly in support. A lively debate on the topic was held among the committee members, with Sgt. David Woolsey of San Jose expressing concerns about public safety on the roadways, and committee chair Matt Rahn, mayor of Temecula, voicing support for local control.…

August 22, 2018 – AB 1793 (Bonta), a bill to create a simpler and expedited pathway for Californians to have certain criminal convictions for cannabis-related offenses removed or reduced from their records, has passed the California Senate and is heading to the Governor’s desk for his signature.

PLEASE WRITE TO GOV. BROWN AND ASK HIM TO SIGN AB 1793 INTO LAW

Proposition 64, which California voters passed in November 2016, legalized recreational cannabis use and allowed those with marijuana convictions to petition courts to dismiss their cases.…

August 16, 2018 – In testimony submitted to state Bureau of Cannabis Control, Cal NORML strongly backed a proposed regulation to allow home delivery of cannabis from licensed businesses to households throughout California.

“On behalf of California’s many consumers living in jurisdictions that have banned licensed sales of cannabis, we wish to express our strong support for your proposed regulation Chapter 3, Sec. 5416(d), which clarifies that licensed cannabis delivery businesses may drive and deliver their wares to residents in any jurisdiction in California,” the letter states.…

At their July 13-15 meeting in Oakland, the California Democratic Party’s Executive Board passed a resolution in support of the right of all employees to engage in the consumption of cannabis off-duty without the fear of being terminated from their jobs.

The CaDEM resolution supports all employees’ rights (for medical and recreational use) and was sponsored by the Brownie Mary Democrats of California.

Despite the passage of Prop. 64 in California, employees here can still be terminated from their jobs for failing a drug test for marijuana, even if they have a doctor’s recommendation to use it.…

July 9, 2018 – According to the Attorney General’s annual crime report for 2017, arrests for marijuana offenses dropped precipitously in California following the passage of Proposition 64, which legalized the recreational use for adults in November 2016. A total of 6,065 marijuana arrests took place in 2017, versus 13,810 arrests in 2016, a drop of 56%.

Felony arrests for marijuana fell a whopping 74% to 2,086 in 2017 from 7,949 in 2016. Under Prop 64, the majority of felony offenses were reduced to misdemeanors.…

This page will be updated as news develops.

June 6, 2018 – As expected, Democrat Gavin Newsom was the top vote-getter in yesterday’s primary election for California Governor. A longtime advocate of drug harm reduction, Newsom convened a Blue Ribbon Task Force on legalization that served as a blueprint for Prop 64, which he backed strongly.

It looks like his challenger in November will be Republican businessman John Cox, who has Trump’s backing. Cox made headlines by suggesting that recreational marijuana users belonged in the hospital.…

Some of the citizen lobbyists who participated in Lobby Day.

June 5, 2018 – The Cal NORML / ASA annual Lobby Day, held June 4 in Sacramento, was well attended and well received.

Constituent advocates from Humboldt county to San Diego and all across the state visited dozens of Legislators’ offices to lobby on several key bills affecting cannabis consumers and the industry. Among them were:

– AB 1793 (Bonta), to automatically expunge past cannabis convictions (currently in the Senate).…

May 25, 2018 – The Cal NORML-sponsored bill to protect employment rights for medical marijuana users in California, AB 2069, has been held in the Assembly Appropriations committee, meaning it won’t advance in the legislature this year.

A last-ditch grassroots effort to reach committee chairwoman Lorena Gonzales-Fletcher (D-SD), who had the ability to amend and move the bill, was unsuccessful. At a Labor committee hearing on the bill, Gonzalez-Fletcher expressed concerns for workplace safety raised by the State Building & Construction Trades Council, and her impression that medical marijuana recommendations were too easy to obtain in California.…