Organ Transplant Anti-Discrimination Bill Becomes California Law

July 6, 2015 – California Governor Jerry Brown has signed Assembly Bill 258 (Levine), to end discrimination against medical marijuana patients who need organ transplants. The bill was sponsored by Americans for Safe Access, and also endorsed by California NORML, which gathered signatures on a petition to Governor Brown at the Grateful Dead Santa Clara …

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State Hearing Held on Drought and Illegal Marijuana Impacts to Fisheries

Senator McGuire and Assemblyman Wood at the hearing. Photo: Jennifer Savage/Lost Coast Outpost “Fish, Flow and Marijuana Grows: Drought and Illegal Marijuana Impacts to Fisheries” was the title of a hearing held July 1 in the California Assembly Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture, co-chaired by North Coast Senator Mike McGuire and his assembly counterpart …

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ReformCA Coalition Storms the State to Legalize Marijuana in 2016

UPDATE: ReformCA will hold its final state roundtable on June 16, 2015 from 6pm – 8:30pm in the Grand Ballroom of the Marriott City Center, 1001 Broadway in Oakland. RSVP June 2015 – Plans are proceeding apace for a California unity initiative to legalize marijuana for adult use in November 2016. A statewide coalition of …

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On Water and Weed: Is Marijuana Responsible for California’s Drought?

Also see: State Hearing Held on Drought and Illegal Marijuana Impacts to Fisheries Cal NORML Challenges Fish and Wildlife Figures on Marijuana and Water Consumption The press has been lapping it up like….well, water: the allegation that marijuana cultivation in California is contributing to the state’s drought crisis. The situation has led to local governments …

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Opening the Door: DOJ Memorandum On Marijuana in Indian Country

By Ariel Clark and Nicole Howell Neubert, Clark Neubert LLP On October 28, 2014, the United States Department of Justice issued a Memorandum titled “Policy Statement Regarding Marijuana Issues in Indian Country,” which effectively opened the door to Indian nations growing and selling marijuana on their lands. In so doing, the government signaled how tribes …

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Senators, Including Feinstein, Approve Amendment Allowing Vets to Use Medical Marijuana

Veterans who met with Sen. Feinstein’s staffers in March along with California NORML. On May 21, 2015, the Senate Appropriations committee voted 18-12 to approve the following amendment to HR 2029, the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016: Sec. 246. None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available to …

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Medical Marijuana Bills By the Score in Sacramento

UPDATE: The Assembly Appropriations Committee approved a compromise medical marijuana bill combining the features of both AB 266 (Cooley) and AB 34 (Bonta and Jones-Sawyer). The bill would create a new Governor’s Office of MMJ Regulation to oversee and coordinate three new MMJ regulatory divisions in: (1) the Dept of Food and Agriculture for cultivation, …

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Assemblyman Lackey Stages 4/20 “Breathalyzer” Demonstration

SACRAMENTO 4/20 – Assemblyman Tom Lackey (R-Palmdale) sponsored a demonstration of a new oral swab drug test in the State Capitol today. Lackey is sponsoring a bill, AB 1356, that would allow CA police to use the test as an alternative to urine or blood tests for DUI stops. The tests were misleadingly billed as …

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Federal Judge Denies Marijuana Descheduling Motion

UPDATE 4/17 – Judge Mueller has issued her ruling in writing. UPDATE 4:36 PM – The motion is expected to be appealed to the 9th district appellate court. See a blog post form NORML’s Paul Armentano on the ruling. See an on-the-scene report from The Leaf Online April 15 – Judge Kimberly Mueller denied a …

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E-CIG BILL SB 140 WOULD BAN MEDICAL CANNABIS VAPORIZING IN NON-SMOKING AREAS

CAL NORML LEGISLATIVE ACTION ALERT E-CIG BILL SB 140 WOULD BAN MEDICAL CANNABIS VAPORIZING IN NON-SMOKING AREAS ANTI-TOBACCO LOBBY BLOWING SMOKE ABOUT E-CIGS AND VAPORIZERS SACRAMENTO – The California legislature is considering an anti-e-cigarette bill, SB 140 by Sen. Leno (D-SF), that would perversely classify smokeless medical cannabis vaporizers as “tobacco products” and ban their …

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