2017 California Marijuana Law Bills

California Legislature Marijuana & Cannabis Law

California NORML has posted a list of the 44 marijuana law bills pending in the 2017 state legislature in Sacramento that could affect marijuana law and policy in California.  These marijuana bills cover criminal law, cannabis licensing and regulation, and other subjects.

Of the marijuana criminal law bills, six concern DUID laws, two bills affect court proceedings, and one bill addresses federal involvement.

Of the cannabis licensing and regulation bills, two bills are specific to cannabidiol (CBD), one bill addresses concentrates, five bills affect edibles and their packaging and labeling (even though this is already covered in AUMA and MCRSA – see California Cannabis Law), twelve bills affect other aspects of cannabis licensing and regulation, six bills address taxes and uses for the marijuana tax fund from Proposition 64, five bills address water rights or Fish & Wildlife code, and one bill addresses marijuana cultivation on Tribal Lands.

There are also a few miscellaneous bills including one bill that touches on human rights, and two budget bills which may have provisions affecting marijuana.

See the 2017 Marijuana Bills Submitted to the California Legislature.

Marijuana Users Are Not More Likely to Use Health Care Services

Marijuana Public Health Care

Marijuana users do not use health care services at rates that are higher than non-users, according to a study published in the European Journal of Internal Medicine.

Researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin assessed the relationship between marijuana use and health care utilization in a nationally representative sample of 174,159,864 US adults aged 18 to 59 years old.  The study found no significant association between marijuana use and healthcare utilization such as outpatient health care visits and overnight hospital admissions.  The study also found that the frequency of marijuana use does not have significant impact on healthcare utilization.  Read the report – Marijuana users do not have increased healthcare utilization.

This result is consistent with a previous assessment, published in 2014 in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.  Researchers form the Boston University School of Public Health and the Cleveland State University School of Health Sciences similarly found no association between frequency of marijuana use and health, emergency department use, or hospital utilization.  Read the report – No Detectable Association Between Frequency of Marijuana Use and Health or Healthcare Utilization.