Kharla Vezzetti

The California Marijuana Report with former Westwood One news reporter, KGO radio producer, screen actor and Libertarian activist Eric Brenner. The CMR is a new weekly segment on the NORML DAILY AUDIO STASH. This podcast will focus on California marijuana news and music. We go beyond the headlines and interview elected officials and marijuana law experts as well as profile California residents currently incarcerated or being prosecuted for marijuana offenses. This weekly demand for liberty will not end until every single Californian imprisoned for marijuana sees daylight again.…

UPDATE 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.…

Jun 22 – The CAMP (Campaign Against Marijuana Planting) marijuana eradication helicopter program is starting operation today, according to reporter Glenda Anderson of the Sonoma Press-Democrat. This is two weeks earlier than the traditional start of CAMP. Authorities say that more gardens are being planted early, perhaps due to the introduction of new varieties.
– D. Gieringer, Cal NORML

CAMP data…

Cal NORML thanks Rep. Barney Frank for re-introducing his bill to let states legally regulate medical marijuana. The bill, HR 2835, known as the Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act, would exempt California and other states with medical marijuana laws from federal
laws prohibiting the prescription, recommendation, possession, production, or distribution of medical marijuana. It would also reschedule marijuana to Schedule 2.

Many thanks to California representatives Sam Farr, Lynn Woolsey, Dana Rohrabacher, Mike Thompson, George Miller, and Pete Stark for co-sponsoring HR 2835.…

29 Medical Marijuana Hardship Hearings Set for Monday, June 29th

The Los Angeles Planning and Land Use Management (PLUM) Committee will be holding a special meeting next Monday June 29, 2009 to hear 29 medical marijuana hardship exemption applications. Read more.
When: Monday June 29, 2009
Time: 8:30 AM
Location: Los Angeles City Hall
200 N Spring Street, Room 1060
Los Angeles, Ca

On June 22, Los Angeles’s mayor signed off on the revised Interim Control Ordinance (ICO) regulating medical marijuana collectives in Los Angeles.…

On June 8, State Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) introduced a SJR 14, which calls for a comprehensive federal policy to ensure safe and legal access to medical marijuana for patients who benefit from its therapeutic use. “When passed, this resolution will clearly state the Legislature’s opposition to federal interference with California’s medical marijuana law and support for expanded federal reform and medical research,” said Leno. Read more. A similar resolution, SJR 20 (Migden) passed the State Senate in 2008.

The U.S.…

SAN FRANCISCO – May 18th. US District Judge Marilyn Patel sentenced Eddy Lepp to ten years mandatory minimum for having grown over 1,000 marijuana plants for a medical marijuana garden in Lake County.

Patel called the sentence “excessive,” but said she had no choice under federal law. In addition, she sentenced Lepp to five years of supervised release with drug testing. She invited Lepp to file for a rehearing in case the law should change.

Lepp called it “very, very sad” that the government showed no compassion, saying”I’ve broken no laws of the state in which I reside.”…

May 18, 2009 – The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear case #08-887 San Diego County v. San Diego NORML et al., leaving in place an appeals court ruling holding that California law trumps federal law over medical marijuana.

San Diego filed suit after San Diego NORML threatened to sue the county for failing to implement the state ID card program mandated under SB 420. In return, the county sued the state and San Diego NORML. The ACLU, Americans for Safe Access and the Drug Policy Alliance joined as patient intervenors against the county in 2006.…

May 5 – Asked today about a recent Field Poll showing that 56 percent of registered voters support legalizing and taxing marijuana in California, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said “Well, I think it’s not time for that, but I think it’s time for a debate.”

“I think all of those ideas of creating extra revenues, I’m always for an open debate on it,” Schwarzenegger said at a press event in Davis. “I think we ought to study very carefully what other countries are doing that have legalized marijuana and other drugs, what effect did it have on those countries…It could very well be that everyone is happy with that decision and then we can look at that.”…