Health & Saf. Code, § 1649.1 · Chapter 4.9. Compassionate Access to Medical Cannabis Act or Ryan’s Law
Health & Saf. Code, § 1649.1
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
Unless the context requires otherwise, the following definitions shall apply for purposes of this chapter:
(a) “Compassionate Use Act of 1996” means the initiative measure enacted by the approval of Proposition 215 at the November 5, 1996, statewide general election and found at Section 11362.5, and any amendments to that act.
(b) (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), “health care facility” means a health facility specified in subdivision (a), (c), (f), (i), or (n) of Section 1250 or a home health agency licensed pursuant to Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 1725) of Division 2.
(2) The meaning of “health care facility” shall not include any of the following:
(A) A chemical dependency recovery hospital.
(B) A state hospital.
(C) An emergency department of a health care facility, as specified in subdivision (a) of Section 1250, while the patient is receiving emergency services and care.
(c) “Home health agency” means a private or public organization, including, but not limited to, any partnership, corporation, political subdivision of the state, or other government agency within the state, that provides, or arranges for the provision of, skilled nursing services, to persons in their temporary or permanent place of residence and is licensed pursuant to Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 1725) of Division 2.
(d) “Medicinal cannabis” means cannabis or a cannabis product used in compliance with the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 and Article 2.5 (commencing with Section 11362.7) of Chapter 6 of Division 10.
(e) “Patient” means an individual who meets one or both of the following criteria:
(1) Is terminally ill.
(2) Is over 65 years of age with a chronic disease for which the patient has received a physician’s assessment declaring that the patient has a serious medical condition, as defined by subdivision (h) of Section 11362.7 and that the use of medicinal cannabis is appropriate.
(f) “Terminally ill” means a medical condition resulting in a prognosis of life of one year or less, if the disease follows its natural course.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Amended by Stats. 2023, Ch. 484, Sec. 1. (SB 302) Effective January 1, 2024.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=HSC§ionNum=1649.1.
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- sha256 576eacfbd8eeda7cd3a04347c21c48e4c49482068126ea4668cedaef0e22df88
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- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
This section cites
Provisions in this library that the text above cites, as it prints each citation. A range cited as “ss. 61.13-61.16” links its first and last provisions.
Health and Safety Code
- Health & Saf. Code, § 1250Printed as Section 1250
- Health & Saf. Code, div. 2, ch. 8Home Health AgenciesPrinted as Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 1725) of Division 2
- Health & Saf. Code, § 11362.5Printed as Section 11362.5
- Health & Saf. Code, div. 10, ch. 6, art. 2.5Medical Marijuana ProgramPrinted as Article 2.5 (commencing with Section 11362.7) of Chapter 6 of Division 10
- Health & Saf. Code, § 11362.7Printed as Section 11362.7
Cited by 1 provision
Provisions in this library whose text cites Health & Saf. Code, § 1649.1. Each shows the citation as that text prints it.
Health and Safety Code
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