California residents - Here’s what you can and can’t do now that marijuana is legal

Story by The Orange County Register
Written by Brooke Edwards Staggs

Under state law, the passage of the measure means it takes effect at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. For California residents and visitors 21 and older, here’s what becomes legal:

• Consuming marijuana at home.

• Carrying, giving away or accepting free of charge up to an ounce of flowers or up to 8 grams of concentrated cannabis.

• Growing as many as six pot plants per home, discreetly, and keeping the harvest. But check on local policies, since some cities are rushing to say grows for personal use must be indoors or permitted.

• Petitioning to have criminal records or jail sentences changed, with some felonies converted to misdemeanors and some misdemeanors or infractions made legal.

Here’s what remains illegal under Prop. 64:

• Smoking weed on the street or in a bar, since public consumption is banned.

• For now, buying or selling recreational cannabis. Licensed shops won’t open for another year. So anyone who doesn’t have a doctor’s recommendation and wants to get cannabis legally needs to either wait until their homegrown supply is ready or get an ounce (or less) for free from another adult.

• Consuming in a vehicle or getting high and driving. Drugged driving laws still apply and, as with alcohol, it’s not legal to have an open container of pot in a car.

• Going to work high. Employers can still enforce their own drug policies, including firing workers who test positive for weed.