A bill sponsored by Cal NORML, AB 564 (Haney) has been introduced to block a pending excise tax increase on cannabis. California is set to increase its excise tax on cannabis from 15% to as much as 19% starting on July 1, 2025, as part of a budget compromise made when the cannabis cultivation tax was removed via AB 195 (2022), in order to assure adequate funding for programs funded by cannabis taxes. Cannabis is already heavily over-taxed relative to comparable products like beer, wine, and tobacco in California. The excise tax on one average, noninfused cannabis pre-roll is $1.24.

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

Please support NORML’s work by donating to our 60th Anniversary – Keith Stroup Celebration fund OAKLAND – The Emerald Cup will celebrate its 20th anniversary in Oakland by conferring its Lifetime Achievement Award to NORML founder Keith Stroup, sixty years after the world’s first marijuana freedom protest in San Francisco started a worldwide movement to end cannabis prohibition. EGGEMIER’S “PUFF IN” SPARKS MARIJUANA REFORM IN U.S. On August 16th, 1964, a lone crusader named Lowell Eggemeier marched into the San Francisco Hall of Justice, fired up a joint, and puffed it in the presence of the police inspector. “I am

UPDATED August 4, 2024 – By all measures, the first-ever cannabis consumption space at the CA State Fair was a huge success, and augurs well for seeing more of such events and spaces in California. AdWeek magazine reported that more than 100,000 people visited the cannabis exhibit, which this year included the opportunity to purchase and enjoy products from California’s cannabis farmers. Overall attendance at the 17-day California State Fair was up 10% this year over 2023, even though the Fair suffered through 11 days of triple-digit temperatures. An article from Sacramento Bee noted, “Officials noted that a nod from

On June 19, the SB 1264 (Grove), a bill to exclude law enforcement from employment rights protections for off-the-job cannabis use, failed to pass the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee, in a 3-2-2 vote. The bill would have amended AB 2188, the Cal NORML–sponsored bill banning job discrimination based on urine or hair tests for inactive THC metabolites. Watch the committee hearing (starting about 2:15 in). Beth Malinowski of SEIU (Service Employees International Union) testified against the bill, saying, “Employers, including law enforcement, are free to test for recent use of cannabis by means of oral swab, blood or breath

Also see: DCC’s AB 1894 and new requirements for packaging, labeling, advertising, and marketing. Beginning on July 1, 2024, Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 26152.1 will take effect, requiring: • Advertisement and marketing of an integrated cannabis vaporizer, defined in Section 26122,  shall prominently provide in a clear and legible fashion: “An empty integrated cannabis vaporizer shall be properly disposed of as hazardous waste at a household hazardous waste collection facility or other approved facility.” • Advertisement and marketing of a cannabis cartridge shall prominently provide in a clear and legible fashion: “A spent cannabis cartridge shall be properly disposed