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“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 Jim Wood, both freshman who have filed MJ regulation bills this year. Attending the hearing was veteran senator Jim Nielsen, who recalled the days when the CAMP program was first funded, and asked about heritage water rights for farmers in his Sacramento Valley district.…

June 2015 – Plans are proceeding apace for a California unity initiative to legalize marijuana for adult use in November 2016. A statewide coalition of reform groups, including Cal NORML, the Coalition for Cannabis Policy Reform, DPA, MPP, LEAP, ASA, SSDP, Emerald Growers Association, the California Cannabis Industry Association, NAACP, William Velazquez Institute, UFCW and others are planning to file a comprehensive initiative with the Attorney General’s office later this summer.…

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 passing “urgency” ordinances naming the drought as an emergency, and stepping up enforcement against medical marijuana gardens with the same claim.

Police are issuing press releases tallying up the supposed water usage for eradicated crops (which, like their dollar amounts, seem quite inflated).…

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 may chart a path to cultivating cannabis without federal law enforcement interference. Specifically, the memorandum reminded United States Attorney’s of the need for flexibility and effectively advised tribes seeking to legalize cultivation and use in Indian Country to (1) prevent all activities implicated by the eight federal priorities set forth in the August 23, 2013 “Cole Memorandum” and (2) to consult with the local United States Attorney’s Offices on a government-to-government basis, with each U.S.…

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 the Department of Veterans Affairs in this Act may be used in a manner that would—

(1) interfere with the ability of a veteran to participate in a State-approved medicinal marijuana program;

(2) deny any services from the Department to a veteran who is participating in such a program; or

(3) limit or interfere with the ability of a health care provider of the Department to make appropriate recommendations, fill out forms, or take steps to comply with such a program.…

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, (2) Public Health for product safety and labeling, and (3) the Board of Equalization for licensing (ABC has been dropped from the bill). The bill retains provisional licensing measures from AB 34 along with local licensing language from AB 266.…

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 “breathalyzers,” although they can’t actually measure impairment like the alcohol breathalyzer.

Proponents were careful to state that the tests would not be a per se indicator of impairment, and would be administered only AFTER a driver had been stopped for a traffic offense and taken a field sobriety test.…

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 motion to deschedule marijuana in a Sacramento federal criminal trial this morning.

Although she noted it had been 45 years since scheduling happened and the landscape has changed since then, because the motion challenged a congressional statute, the court has to tread lightly, she said.…

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 use everywhere tobacco smoking is prohibited.

California NORML is objecting to the bill on the grounds that it would jeopardize patients’ ability to lawfully medicate in virtually all indoor spaces, including private meeting rooms, lounges, restrooms, dining areas, places of employment, and even in patients’ own residences in many multi-unit dwellings.…

UPDATE 5/15/2015 – Clearlake City Council voted 5-0 to repeal the ordinance. Victory!

5/5/2015 – The citizens of Clearlake, with help from the Emerald Growers Association, gathered a sufficient number of signatures to block implementation of the city’s total cultivation ban. The City Council will meet on May 14 to decide whether to rescind the ordinance or place it on the ballot, either at a special election or on the Nov. 2016 ballot. Read more. Cal NORML’s suit against the ban will likely be put on hold until the voters decide the matter.…

NEWS:

December 8, 2017 – The VA has issued VHA Policy Directive 2017-1315 stating, “Veterans must not be denied VHA services solely because they are participating in State-approved marijuana programs.” The directive, signed by Executive in Charge Carolyn M. Clancy, M.D., replaces VHA Directive 2011-004 which had the same language. The new directive is scheduled for recertification on or before the last working day of December 2022.

Like the old directive, the current one does not allow VA doctors to recommend medical cannabis, or for VA pharmacies to supply it.…

March 1, 2015 – This year’s legislative agenda includes several bills to regulate commercial medical marijuana cultivation and sales in California. None of them have been finalized yet, and all could be substantially changed by gutting and amending.

• AB 26 by Asm. Reggie Jones-Sawyer (D – S. LA) and AB 34 by Rob Bonta (D-Oakland) are spot bills to comprehensively regulate the industry. Details have yet to be announced as the sponsors consult with stakeholders and advocates. Cal NORML and other MJ advocates are hopeful they can work with Bonta and Jones-Sawyer to negotiate an acceptable and workable bill.…

Having failed to find evidence that Prop 215 increased teen MJ use in CA, researchers are now alleging an increase in youth marijuana use following adoption of CA’s decriminalization bill in 2011.

Unfortunately, the CA AG stopped conducting its biennial surveys of student drug use, so it’s difficult to confirm these figures. If these claims are accurate, I suspect they reflect coincidental social trends rather than any specific changes in the law. The actual impact of CA’s decrim law was rather technical, as it didn’t change any fines or punishment, just whether the offense was recorded as an arrest or citation.…

The UCLA Simms/Mann Center for Integrative Oncology, which has offered free psychosocial care for cancer patients and their families for 22 years, kicked off its 2015 “Insights into Cancer” lecture series with a panel on medicinal marijuana and cancer on January 13.

The panel featured two psychiatrists, Garth Terry and Thomas Strouse, and public policy professor Mark Kleiman, who was recently hired to develop an implementation scheme for the state of Washington’s legalized recreational marijuana.

It was a well attended event; however the issues addressed during the night (safety, addiction, withdrawal) didn’t always seem to match the concerns of the people in the audience dealing with cancer:

Terry, saying he was speaking his own opinions rather than UCLA’s, gave an overview of cannabis and the cannabinoids, with animated graphics that demonstrated the “feedback loop” by which endocannabinoids modulate that action of neurotransmitters like dopamine.…

This year saw California NORML active on multiple fronts while we undertook preparations for a 2016 legalization initiative with the Coalition for Cannabis Policy Reform (ReformCA.com).

An event to kick off the 2016 campaign will be held on Friday, January 9, 2015 from 12:30-6:30 PM at the Waterfront Hotel at Jack London Square in Oakland. Seating is limited; read more and RSVP by January 5.

You can read more about our year and our plans below. Please join Cal NORML, renew your membership, or make a year-end donation to help us with our work in 2015!…

Dec. 12, 2014 – California reported 13,779 felony and 6,587 misdemeanor arrests for marijuana in 2013, about the same as the year before, according to the latest data from the Criminal Justice Statistics Center. An unknown number of additional persons, probably in the tens of thousands, were cited for possession infractions of an ounce or less, which are no longer counted in the state’s arrest data.

Meanwhile, the number of DUI arrests dropped 7.5% to 162,199, the lowest level in decades, belying concerns that the state might be suffering a crisis in drug DUIs due to increased marijuana use.…

December 2 – At a hearing this morning in Fresno, county supervisors discussed making proposed changes to their total cultivation ban, including allowing 12-plant gardens, appointing an impartial hearing officer to hear appeals to abatement proceedings and fines, and adjusting the level of fines.

Two locals testified during the hearing: Michael Green of the Fresno Cannabis Assn. and Atty Brenda Linder. Sheriff Mims, whose office had told county counsel a 12-plant exemption would not “hinder their work in the field” rose at the meeting to say she opposed the exemption and also opposed the appointment of a hearing officer.…

UPDATE 12/2 – A Tale of Two Counties: Fresno Balks But El Dorado Listens

December 1, 2014 – At a meeting tomorrow morning, Fresno county—the only county in California that has enacted a total ban on the cultivation of medical marijuana (indoors and out)—is considering allowing a 12-plant exemption to their ban, as well as amending fines and administrative procedures around their ordinance.

Sometime after 9 AM, the Fresno Board of Supervisors will receive a report from County Counsel Daniel Cederborg that recommends including an exemption to administrative fines for the cultivation of 12 or fewer plants per parcel.…

In 2014, CalNORML lobbied for the passage of AB 1894 (Ammiano) and worked on SB1262 (Correa) to regulate medical marijuana in California. In the end, both bills failed after unacceptable compromises were introduced in the Correa bill.

Through sound testimony and by alerting our activist network, we were able to detail yet another bill, AB2500 that sought to make any amount of THC in a driver’s blood an automatic DUI.

We lobbied against AB 1588 (Conway), which would have expanded the minimum distance of dispensaries or collectives from schools to 1,000 feet from the present 600 feet.…