National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws

Lou Correa's Drug DUI Bill Scheduled For April 23 Hearing

On April 23, the California State Senate's public safety committee will hold hearings on SB289, the proposed law that would allow police to arrest anyone driving with even trace amounts of marijuana in their system. The bill's author Lou Correa, the Democratic State Senator from Anaheim who hopes to ... More >>

Chronic Pot Smokers Beware: THC Remains in System For Weeks!

According to a study just released by the American Association of Clinical Chemistry, chronic pot smokers can test positive for residual levels of THC in blood for up to several weeks after abstaining from smoking marijuana. The study is based on findings from 30 daily pot smokers who smoked ten joi ... More >>

[UPDATE: Dispensary Reopens] Empty Cop Car Shuts Down Sunset Beach Medical-Marijuana Dispensary

*See end of post for an update.Original Post, March 5, 10:46 p.m.: Until last month, there hadn't been any medical-marijuana dispensaries in Sunset Beach since late 2010, when county officials ruled the unincorporated community had to shutter three clubs operating there, just before that city merged ... More >>

Lou Correa, Attorney General Candidate, Wants Zero Tolerance For Driving Stoners

Orange County's very own Lou Correa, the state senator from Santa Ana, knows a good wedge issue when he sees it, or rather them: stoners. Yes, stoners. Folks smoking marijuana, rather than drunk drivers, or teenagers texting, are the bane of our state's highway system. Why, studies have shown t ... More >>

Patient Med-Aid: For Those Sick Enough to Smoke

A peek inside Orange County's most exclusive medical-marijuana club, one no one wants to join

OCNORML Celebrates 75 Years of Pot War with "Final Days of Prohibition" Confefence

Although it came and went without much notice, Monday marked the 75th anniversary of America's misbegotten war on weed.On Oct. 1, 1937, the U.S. Congress officially criminalized the possession and sale of marijuana, which had already been outlawed in many states thanks to a campaign of sleazy racist ... More >>

Racist Tips to Avoid Being Busted For Smoking Pot?

"7 Steps to Smoke Pot and Never Get Caught" was written by Russ Belville and posted on Alternet back on Sept. 13. It's still making the rounds on the internet right now, though, and came to my attention via the Orange County NORML discussion board. The post contains some practical advice o ... More >>

Pro-pot Peeps Seek More Marijuana Collectives in Santa Ana

We know some of you "legalize-it" people have a bad reputation for being lazeabouts, so we're giving you plenty of notice about an upcoming pro-pot meeting. The Medical Marijuana Town Hall Meeting takes place Friday from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the Senior Citizens Center Southwest, located at ... More >>

[UPDATE: Oaksterdam's Lee Retires] Feds Raid Oaksterdam University As Local Lawmakers Demand End to Pot War

UPDATE, April 6, 12:00 p.m.: According to the LA Times news blog, Oaksterdam University's founder Richard Lee is retiring from the medical marijuana industry he helped create. "I've been doing this a long time," he told the newspaper. "Over 20 years...I kind of feel like I've done my time. It's time ... More >>

Joe Byron And Joe Grumbine Legal Defense Fundraiser This Friday

​Joe Byron and Joe Grumbine, the former operators of a pair of Long Beach medical marijuana dispensaries, as well as Garden Grove's Unit D collective, were convicted on Dec. 21 of selling marijuana sales, tax evasion and electricity theft. Given the bizarre irregularities in their case--see this a ... More >>

[UPDATED W/CITY COUNCIL PROTEST] Yousef Ibrahim, Lake Forest Marijuana Clubs Landlord, Faces Federal Foreclosure

​UPDATE, OCT. 19, 1 P.M.: More than 100 medical marijuana patients and activists protested Lake Forest's cannabis crackdown at city hall last night, according to a story in today's Orange County Register. The protest was organized by the OC chapters of both NORML, the National Organization to Refo ... More >>

[UPDATED WITH CITY'S NEAR CLUELESS REACTION] Long Beach Pot Ordinance Ruled Illegal: Cannabis Activists Winning?

​UPDATE, OCT. 7, 12 P.M.: Long Beach city officials are scratching their heads about how to respond to an appeal court decision that appears to overturn the city's medical marijuana ordinance. According to an article by Greggory Moore posted yesterday evening on Long Beach Post, the city attorney ... More >>

Reefer Madness: Marijuana Now Accounts For More Than Half Of All Drug Arrests in U.S.

​According to statistics released yesterday by the FBI, 2010 saw more people arrested in the United States for marijuana than any other year, with pot cases now accounting for more than half of all drug arrests in the country. Specifically 853,838 people were placed into custody for marijuana rela ... More >>

Advocates of Treating Autism with Cannabis Disavow "Partnership" with UC Irvine

​A Denver biotech company and Los Angeles nonprofit foundation dedicated to the treatment of autism are disavowing their previously announced partnership with UC Irvine.The clarification comes more into focus when you know the players. The firm, Cannabis Science, develops pharmaceutical products ... More >>

Marijuana Activists to Protest Orange County Raids at Supervisors Meeting Tomorrow

​In December 2010, the Orange County Board of Supervisors passed a ban on medical marijuana dispensaries in unincorporated areas of the county. Then, for a few months, nothing happened. Cannabis collectives that had been operating on county turf continued to to so without being raided or even fine ... More >>

Newport Beach to Sue Medical Pot Clubs?

​Newport Beach's city council is apparently considering lawsuits against a trio of medical marijuana clubs, according to an item posted on the Newport Beach AOL/Patch website yesterday. The May 25 story noted that the three clubs were discussed in a closed session of Tuesday's city council meeting ... More >>

420 Quiz! Name This Day in Pot History

​If you're a bonafide stoner, you already know what 4:20 pm, especially on a Friday afternoon, is all about. The less said about that the better.But do you know what happened on this day exactly 100 years ago? Here's a hint: it happened in Massachusetts and it involved pot, although that's not wha ... More >>

High Times Miss 2011 Hails From Newport Beach

​Yesterday, on April 20, stoners across America were toking up at exactly 4:20 pm--4/20 and 420 is stoner code for smoking out, in case you didn't already know what your kids are talking, or texting about, as the case may be, with their friends. In honor of this important occasion, High Times maga ... More >>

Letters From OC Weekly Readers

Steele Smith: Prophet of Pot?

C3 Patient Association's head fancies himself a truth-teller in OC's medicinal-marijuana communtiy. And because of that, he just might be its most hated member

Prop 19 Backers Set Sights on 2012

​Backers of Prop 19 say they will return . . . in two years."We plan to continue this discussion," spokeswoman Dale Jones said at a news conference in the Yes on 19 campaign's downtown Oakland headquarters. "There's a seat at the table for 2012," she confided. "This is not a matter of if, but when ... More >>

Prop. 19: More Than a Nickel Bag of Opinions

Six leading OC medical-marijuana and pot-legalization advocates leave no turn unstoned in examining the ballot initiative

Disneyland Resort District Goes to Pot

​The Happiest Place on Earth, meet The Highest Place on Earth.What is supposedly Orange County's first large-scale marijuana expo opens Saturday morning at the Anaheim Convention Center, which is, of course, directly across Katella Avenue from Disney's California Adventure theme park and the main ... More >>

U.S. Open of Surfing: Protesters, Activists, Snakes Square Off on PCH

​​Visitors to the U.S. Open of Surfing hoping for a relatively friendly, laid-back atmosphere were instead greeted Saturday by several dozen protesters, Christian activists and a fucking boa constrictor over the course of the day on Saturday.Many of the most vocal groups set up at the inter ... More >>

Isaac Robert Longo, the Face of Marijuana Manslaughter?

​Don't be surprised if Isaac Robert Longo becomes a poster child for the evils of driving while high by forces girding to defeat marijuana legalization in California this November.After all, the 33-year-old Placentia man smoked pot before causing a five-car pileup on the 55 freeway in November 200 ... More >>

Growing Pains at Otherside Farms

Chadd McKeen helps medical-pot patients grow their own, while openly bashing some weed dispensaries

Mark Moen, Marijuana Martyr

The arrest of 215 Agenda's owner has OC's medical-pot community wondering if it has a prayer of avoiding trouble with the cops

Dueling Protests: Two Groups Picket OC Superior Court

Christopher Victorio​Two groups with quite different agendas but upset at the same thing--Orange County's justice system-- joined forces today at OC Superior Court in Santa Ana, carrying signs and chanting slogans in an effort to alert the public to problems inside OC's main courthouse. In front o ... More >>

What You Missed: Long Beach Comic Expo, MusInk, HempCon

Chris VictorioAll in the name of comics.​What'd you miss this weekend? For us it was a busy couple of days, despite the rain that tried to ruin it for us. First up, the Second Annual Long Beach Comic Expo took place Saturday at the Long Beach Convention Center. There were kids in costumes, grown m ... More >>

Up in Smoke: Photos From HempCon 2010

Chris VictorioNurses were a running theme at HempCon.​ For the first time in the United States, a three day event for the celebration and education of medicinal marijuana took place at the Los Angeles Convention Center on 2/19-2/21. Hundreds of vendors from all over the country hawked everything f ... More >>

Today, Medical Marijuana. Tomorrow, Legalize It!

Medical Cannabis Supporters Light Up City Council Meeting

Photo by Christopher Victorio Ready for face time with the Lake Forest City Council Tuesday night. ​Medical marijuana advocates offered 1,000 free hamburgers to draw supporters to Tuesday night's Lake Forest City Council meeting, but only 300 showed up to plead with city officials to recon ... More >>

Reefer Madness

Maverick Theater

With 'Reefer Madness,' Maverick Theater Has a (Bong) Hit On Its Hands

Taking the High Road With One of OC's Burgeoning Medical-Marijuana Delivery Services

Pot Comic Of The Week

Courtesy of OC NORML:

NORML Weekly Cartoon 2.25

Courtesy of the Orange County chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws:

OC NORML Cartoon of the Week

Courtesy of the Orange County chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws:

Dude, Where's My Pot?

Ten years after California legalized medical marijuana, OCs war on cannabis continues

EIGHT DAYS

The Ecstasy Factor

Bad science slandered a generations favorite drug. A new study aims to undo the damage.

Sorry seems to be the hardest word

George Bushs Joint

Rebecca Schoenkopf takes on the presidents drug war

Diary of a Mad County

The Druidic Candidate

Can California deal with a Druid for governor?

OC Hillbillies