Marijuana Law in California

I hope to have all of California's marijuana laws on this site someday. For now I'm starting with the key medical marijuana laws: Prop 215, which is Health and Safety Code Section 11362.5, and Senate Bill 420, which is Health and Safety Code Chapter 6, Article 2.5, and is found in sections 11362.7 through 11362.9.

A word of caution about reading laws: not every word means what it seems to mean in normal conversation. The law is a technical language resembling English, but it is not English. We lawyers go to school for several years to learn, among other things, how to understand what the words in the laws mean. The courts interpret the laws, and their interpretations change over time. Lawyers in the field either keep up or know how to research the latest court decisions.

The bottom line is this: Marijuana law is changing rapidly. That makes it very tricky to know what's legal and what's not. Despite recent court decisions marijuana remains illegal under Federal law in the opinion of Federal law enforcement officials, even if it is medical. California's laws will vary from city to city after Jan 1, 2004 on important matters like how much medical marijuana you may have, and how many plants you can grow. If you are considering doing or not doing something connected with medical marijuana and you are reading this site to get information about what's legal, I advise you to talk with a lawyer who knows the field before you commit yourself to a course of action that may put you at risk of potential fines and even prison time.

If you are interested in what the penalties are for cultivation and possession of marijuana, medical or not, under Federal law try this link to the DEA website www.usdoj.gov/dea/agency/penalties.htm. Marijuana has its own section at the bottom of the list.