A “Joint” informational hearing on March 11 before the Assembly and Senate Business and Professions committees on the CA Department of Cannabis Control’s new Condition and Health of the Cannabis Industry Report presented a grim picture of the state of the industry and its future. Asm. Mike Gipson (D-LA), chair of the Assembly Revenue & Tax committee, and Asm. Sharon Quirk-Silva (D-Buena Park) who chairs the Budget subcommittee that oversees the Department of Cannabis Control (DCC), also participated. Quirk-Silva said the findings in the DCC report are “very concerning.” Active licenses and total retail sales value are both down. “Is

All Californians are invited to attend the California NORML/Americans for Safe Access Citizen Lobby Day on Monday, March 24 in Sacramento. The event will bring supporters from across the state to meet with their state representatives and make our voices heard on pending legislation affecting the rights of cannabis consumers in California. We have moved up our annual lobby day from May to March this year so that we can better influence California’s budget process. The California cannabis industry is facing an automatic excise tax INCREASE from 15% to 19% in July of this year unless the legislature acts. Cal

UPDATE: Read Cal NORML Director Dale Gieringer’s testimony to the DWC, and an appendix of studies on cannabis and pain. See Deputy Director Ellen Komp’s letter on ties between the ACOEM and the worker’s compensation insurance providers.  California is considering adopting enormously wrong-headed chronic pain treatment recommendations by the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine that would ban medical cannabis use for injured workers. The recommendation flies in the face of scores of scientific studies, including reports by the National Academy of Sciences* and California’s Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research,** plus the experience of countless California patients and doctors

Interested vape companies are invited to sponsor their devices for a study of cannabis vape pen emissions by California NORML. The study will test a variety of vape devices and cartridges to determine how much cannabinoids and harmful smoke toxins they deliver. The study is intended to help provide better consumer information on the safety and efficacy of cannabis vapes. There is good reason to believe that electronic vape devices can deliver safe, clean doses of THC and CBD without harmful smoke toxins. Unfortunately, evidence to support this is thin due to federal restrictions on research, which forbid labs from

November 19, 2024 – Following a two-year process during which the Sacramento Office of Cannabis Management met with public officials and lounge owners across the state, surveyed interested parties, and took scientific testimony to develop a pilot ordinance allowing for cannabis consumption lounges in the city, the Sacramento city council today voted 5-4 to allow the five-year pilot program to go forward. Both Type 1 licenses, allowing for noninhaled cannabis lounges (drinks and edibles) and Type 2 licenses, allowing for smoking and vaping at lounges, were approved. About 40 members of the Sacramento community spoke at today’s meeting, many from

In a victory for cannabis consumers, the Oakland City Council on Tuesday, November 12 voted to exempt cannabis from a proposed total ban on residential smoking and vaping in multi-unit dwellings, including condos. The vote was 6-0 with 2 abstentions. The cannabis exemption was strongly opposed by the state’s powerful anti-smoking lobby, richly funded by the tobacco tax. They argued that second-hand marijuana smoke is as dangerous as tobacco smoke and poses unacceptable hazards to people in neighboring apartments. “The anti-tobacco lobby is blowing smoke about marijuana,” argued Cal NORML director Dale Gieringer in testimony before the council. “Marijuana smoke

October 30, 2024 – A new report on high-potency cannabis by the California Department of Public Health raises important concerns for the cannabis community. The report blames high-potency products for a rising incidence of cannabis use disorder (habitual overuse), cannabis psychosis, hyperemesis syndrome, emergency room visits, and frequent use by youth under 21. The report makes several key recommendations aimed at reducing access to high-potency products. While some of them are reasonable, others are objectionable and anti-consumer in the view of Cal NORML—in particular prohibiting high-potency concentrates, flowers, and hashish—a measure likely to make consumers turn to more dangerous illicit

Cal NORML supporters have sent over 2500 letters in support of (or opposed to) cannabis bills in California this year, and our annual Lobby Day in May brought citizen lobbyists from across the state to meet with their lawmakers. Please support Cal NORML with a personal or business membership to help us to continue advancing cannabis consumers’ rights in California! UPDATED 9/30/2024 Several bills that Cal NORML has sponsored or supported have passed through the legislature and have been signed into law.  Cal NORML supporters sent in over 2500 letters of support on key cannabis bills. Thanks to all who