Patients received new rights to use medical cannabis with opioids. AB 1954protects a patient’s right to medical treatment even if they use marijuana, as well as the right of physicians and clinics to treat them. Consumer advocacy group California NORML championed the law, which states, “A physician and surgeon shall not automatically deny treatment or medication to a qualified patient based solely on a positive drug screen for THC or report of medical cannabis use without first completing a case-by-case evaluation of the patient that includes, but is not limited to, a determination that the qualified patient’s use of medical cannabis is medically significant to the treatment or medication.”

Parents also received new rights to responsibly use cannabis. AB2595 requires social workers to treat parental use of cannabis the same as alcohol or prescription medication. Legalization Proposition 64 protected medical cannabis patients with children, and AB2595 expands those rights to adult-use consumers.

Terminally ill patients also gained the right to self-administer cannabinoids in hospice settings. SB 988 requires healthcare facilities to “develop and disseminate written guidelines for the use and disposal of medicinal cannabis within the health care facility pursuant to this chapter.” (Patients in other states—like Kansas—continue to face arrest for using cannabis while dying.)

And expungements will ramp up now that AB1706 forces county courts to expedite the clearance of cannabis records.

California lawmakers also made it easier to do canna-business in the regulation-heavy state:

• Bars can host cannabis events under AB 2210.
• Cannabis businesses will find it easier to get insurance under AB 2568, which clarifies that insurers aren’t breaking the law by serving the weed industry.
• And dogs and cats on cannabidiol for anxiety got more rights thanks to AB 1885, which allows vets to recommend cannabinoids without fear of discipline.