Bexar County Can Start Saving $10,000 A Day In Tax Dollars Starting Today

I had always heard that Austin, TX police were more lenient on people busted with marijuana. Police officers are more likely to give you a ticket and let you go, but in San Antonio and most cities in Texas, we are not near as lucky. I always wondered why this was, then one day while researching, I discovered H.B. 2391 written by Jerry Madden. Mr. Madden wrote H.B. 2391 to avoid building more jails and prisons and spending more unnecessary tax payer's money. I emailed Mr. Madden and thanked him for writing the bill, but explained to him that I did not understand how a bill that was passed unanimously was not being implemented throughout the state 5 years later.

The bill had enormous support from Austin and believe it or not Bexar County. Judge Nelson Wolfe wrote a letter to Governor Rick Perry supporting the bill and illustrating an example of arresting misdemeanor offenders costing Bexar County $10,000 per day in operational costs (in 2007). When I spoke to Nelson Wolfe he said that Bexar County Sheriff Officers are more likely to honor the cite and release law (HB 2391). According to Judge Wolfe, SAPD and the smaller police departments in Bexar County are more likely to arrest an individual for simple possession. I have heard that officers working for some local police departments would lose their jobs if they did not arrest people caught possessing marijuana.

Will our new Sheriff Pamerleau continue to encourage her officers to honor the cite and release law? Is she willing to consider implementing a policy that honors it to save our county money? Who has more pull in this city Reed or Pamerleau when it comes to drawing the line with law enforcement and marijuana possession?

Send them an email or make a phone call and ask their thoughts on the cite and release law and the cost of marijuana arrests in Bexar County.

Susan Reed  210-335-2311
Susan L. Pamerlea  210-335-6010

REMEMBER: THE LAW ALLOWS A POLICE OFFICER THE OPTION TO NOT ARREST YOU FOR POSSESSING LESS THAN 4 OUNCES OF MARIJUANA.

THIS SAVES YOU BAIL MONEY, EMBARRASSMENT, EMPLOYMENT ISSUES, CAR TOWING EXPENSES.

THIS SAVES BEXAR COUNTY TAX PAYERS OVER 3 MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR!

Why has it taken Bexar County over 5 years to implement a policy that would save tax payers over 3 million dollars a year? So I asked Judge Wolfe "who do I speak to... " and his answer was the city council.

This is a great project for volunteers or to get involved with. Write letters, send emails, make phone calls and do some research to find out how Bexar County can begin implementing a cost efficient and more economic friendly approach to a harmless plant in our communities. Marijuana is now legal in Colorado and Washington and medically legal in 18 states including Washington D.C.

Currently there is a bill HB 184 pending before Texas legislators that would reduce the penalties of one ounce or less of marijuana to a maximum fine of $500 and no jail time.

Send a prewritten letter to your Representative asking them to support HB 184.

Until we do convince our city and state to allow us to posses marijuana without it being a crime, watch this video below and learn some excellent tips from a former narcotics officer.

“Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.”
―Thomas Jefferson

Chronic Relief - A True Stroy

About a year ago give or a take a month, a lady called my bosses office, Jamie Balagia, to schedule an appointment to meet with him to discuss some questions she had regarding a book she was in the process of writing regarding marijuana and some legal questions surrounding the issue. Little did she know she was calling the office of San Antonio Norml. Jamie and I met with her and filled her ears with over an hours worth of our rambling non stop chattering, but we helped open her eyes to a world she did not know existed.

What interested me was her story. The reason she had become interested in cannabis is because her mother was dying of lung cancer (she had already passed by the time she had met with us) and asked for cannabis to ease her pain, and as a dying request she not only asked the family to get cannabis for her, make cannabis edibles for her, but eat the cannabis with her also. I thought this was a lovely story.

When I asked her what she thought about marijuana growing up, her answer was "This is your brain...This is your brian on drugs, any questions?" She was raised in that era. Staring at the TV during that commercial in the 80's and in the classroom during D.A.R.E., a statically useless possibly harmful program. This experience with her mother led her to create a creative on-line guide to medical cannabis for the terminally and chronically ill called Chronic Relief, and at first she was just going to write a book of delicious cannabis edible recipes, but as she researched the medicinal value of the herb she became angry it was not legal and that the recipes she was creating for sick people unfortunately could not be sold in you local mom and pop store or anywhere for that matter (at least not here in Texas). The more research she did the more she wanted to educate people. She created her facebook page, and she is still in the process of completing her book.  She is still a "closet marijuana" activist, she is trying to decide whether to use her real name or pen name when she publishes her book. See she also owns her own private consulting business in the business world "What would her conservative friends think?....what would the people at church whisper?.... what would her client's think?" More than likely over half would be very proud of her and almost all would learn something. Fear sometimes traps us from being our "highest" potential.

And if it's illegal to cook our own cookies, pesto, brownies, candy, garlic sauce...then we might just get  a hold of someone else's that's just too potent for us. And end up like this POLICE OFFICER in the video below:

Teens Tokin?

My thoughts on teens getting high...

First of all, I would like to start by saying that most marijuana activists I know who have a adolescent child or grown children do not have children that smoke marijuana. This leads me to believe that just because a child grows up in a household where they may see cannabis consumed or hear the topic of marijuana being discussed does not result in the child growing up to be an adult cannabis consumer. What it does mean is that the child of the marijuana activist is more than likely going to be extremely educated on the subject of hemp and cannabis, probably more so than some of their teachers.

I have also seen from personal experiences that children of marijuana smokers usually produce are usually higher functioning children. They are usually well behaved children or sometimes extremely hyperactive, but most always above average intelligence. I found no supporting research articles worth linking on this, only my personal observation of dozens of children I have seen develop over the years.

Most people started smoking marijuana at the average age of 14 from the statistics I have seen from a variety of surveys and polls. I personally did not try marijuana until I was 17, but I started drinking vodka like a fish at age 14. I think the general fear of teenagers using drugs including alcohol, pills, and nicotine is because it is damaging to a young person's emotional and physical health. The younger a person starts using a substance the harder is to quit and your body becomes more physically and psychologically dependent on the substance. Parents, teachers, and society do not want kids drinking alcohol, tripping on LSD, snorting cocaine, shooting heroin, having sex, smoking marijuana, or trying any other substance such as dangerous bath salts that could result in you running around naked eating someones face off. Teenagers have plenty of time being adults to do all that.

Think of it this way... teenagers are know it all, selfish, some-what "stupid" people for all of 7 years (teenage years), but then they have 80+ years to make choices to destroy their mind, body, and life. At least they should be encouraged to listen to their parents and other respectable adult figures for that 7 years and stay clean, and focusing on being a productive not destructive citizen. The teenage brain is still developing and it is very sensitive to external stimuli and chemical compounds that effect brain function even pharmaceuticals. My main reason to ask a teenager to wait to start smoking marijuana is to give their brain time to develop fully and properly, as well as, learn appropriate natural coping skills needed to get through life without needing to roll a joint, fix a drink, light a cigarette, swallow a xanax, or have some one night stand. Learn to cope with life without reaching for an alternative, one day there might not be an alternative to reach for... then you'll be screwed without getting fucked.

But having said all that, lets not be too hard on kids turning to pot instead of alcohol. I don't think there are too many times I have woke up from a night of getting high and said "damn, I don't remember a thing." or "omg, I'm so embarrassed I did that" or my favorite "i can't believe I had sex with him/ her" but how many times have those words been said after a night of drinking, and they seem to have been said more when we were underage.

Which brings me to my last point, keeping marijuana illegal is making a dangerous black market for our children. The black market also includes dangerous drugs much more addicting than marijuana more available to teenagers and children.  There are no warning labels that come with the drugs that your teenagers can purchase on the streets without an ID.

Kids are going to experiment. They are going to break the rules and disobey their parents. The best way to protect them as parents is to love them unconditionally and teach them like as if we are an open book of endless knowledge and always keep an open mind.

Roll Your Smoke and Celebrate! Marijuana is High Talk

As the New Year begins, 2012 ended with great victories for states such as Colorado and Washington who's citizens voted to allow adults to legally posses an ounce or less of marijuana.  Today 18 states allow medical marijuana including Washington D.C. Main stream media is beginning to broadcast  medical marijuana miracle stories. Here in our home state several local media news stations and newspapers have published stories related to marijuana legalization.  The Gallop poll, as well as, all other polls conducted at most schools, news stations, and private organizations are finding that Americans want marijuana legalized. People are waking up and realizing it is not the evil drug once lied to us by the government. It is a useful medicine and plant that can produce billions of dollars in revenue not just in marijuana cultivation but hemp cultivation while replenishing the earth and creating jobs.


And we all need jobs, and we all need to feel comfortable and pain free in our own home without the being labeled as a criminal by the law and society. It makes watching clips like the ones below more enjoyable. Take a Texas toke for this San Antonio stoner - peace