Being A NORML Community Can Help Make a Happier, Safer, and Healthier San Antonio

There is always someone in greater need than ourselves, and there are always community services that our city San Antonio needs that our foundation of supporters can assist with from time to time.  We are making all possible efforts to work with other local non-profit organizations to volunteer hours of time for community projects.

It is important to spend some time as an organization in Bexar County wearing some NORML t-shirts and off the stereotypical couch scene with a bag of Doritos and prove that we are a culture of people that want to make an impact on the 2nd largest city in Texas. We don't want our city to say NORML who? NORML what? Or who is NORML. We want our city to see NORML supporters in action as everyday citizens wanting to better our community just like anyone else.

We are currently looking into organizing our volunteer base for a strong for a dependent amount of reliable volunteers to assist with community projects such as Habitat for Humanity, United Way, San Antonio Food Bank, Graffiti clean up, and we plan to continue our community service project successful as long as the have the volunteers willing to commit and participate. 

Volunteers can provide the City of San Antonio with good deeds while at the same time taking the opportunity to educate the many misinformed citizens about cannabis and help correct their misinformed minds. Protests in my opinion tend to piss the wrong people off, but an offering of logic and selfless kindness confuses the misconstrued close-minded conservative generations and our charming intellectual, motivated, and generous attitudes is how you change a city like San Antonio.

San Antonio NORML is not only looking for volunteers to help with our community projects and volunteering, but we are in also great need of someone willing to donate their time to assist with the coordination and tracking of all projects and volunteers.

If interested contact Karli Duran at karli@sanorml.org

Success does not come over night, and Texas is one of the slowest and most difficult states to fight for marijuana decriminalization. San Antonio NORML is committed to saving Bexar county tax money, and making positive changes in our city with the millions we would save.

CPS Doing More Harm Than Good

San Antonio NORML gets a lot of emails regarding their children and the CPS system, and it frustrates me that good parents are being harassed and children are being socially scared because of marijuana prohibition. 

Let me begin by giving you some history of my personal experience with children and the CPS system. My first job out of college was a Runaway and Homeless Case Manager for an emergency shelter focused on protecting children from a variety of abuse and neglect situations in their homes, although I personally worked with the runaway children, I interacted with CPS children and social workers daily. Social workers are tired and being blamed for children in abusive homes that end up dead or hospitalized because they are spending an unreasonable amount of time on petty marijuana misdemeanors. In almost all cases, marijuana is never found to be a threat to the child unless it is a biased opinion.

I am very concerned with the damage CPS is causing children, parents, and Texas taxpayers. I support a system that protects our children, but I do not agree with Texas CPS blaming marijuana to be a form of “neglect” as a way to increase their federal funding. I was also at one time the Coordinator for SafePlace, a community outreach program for children, and I helped reform the CASA program in Forrest County, MS. I am very aware of the juvenile system, and I know how desperately it needs reorganizing so that funding can go to preventative care rather than almost half of the funding going to senseless programs and misguided social worker hours, and of course, I am aware marijuana is still seen as a controlled substance under our Federal government, but it is now accepted medically in 18 states including Washington DC and by the National Cancer Institute.

“If an investigation reveals that a child needs ongoing services to be safe, CPS first looks to see if there are any services to keep the child safe in their own home, known as family-based safety services (FBSS). In an FBSS case, the parent retains legal custody so there is no court involvement or oversight. In 2010, CPS provided FBSS to more than 96,000 children.”

I was unable to find marijuana specific allegations that become investigated and referred to FBSS, but I'm definitely interested in knowing the amount of tax dollars we are spending to force good parents with healthy children to participate in FBSS. This not only causes emotional stress within the family including the child, but it is crowding the CPS system with families that do not belong while the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services has been an object of reports of unusual numbers of poisonings, death, rapes and pregnancies of children under CPS care since 2004. More children have died in Texas CPS custody in 2011 than ever in the history from marijuana.

Almost all of the state and local funding for the 2012 state CPS budget comes from general revenue which, in Texas, is largely generated through sales and other consumption taxes, and property taxes. According to the Urban Institute’s 2005 Child Welfare Survey, Texas’ state/local child protection system ranks fifth highest nationally in its reliance on federal funds. Only Mississippi, North Dakota, Connecticut, and Oregon had a higher percentage of federal funds in their child welfare spending in 2004 than did Texas, at 67 percent; the U.S. average was 50 percent.

The following is where I see a lot of taxpayers money being spent without ever proving the child was being neglected or in any harm:

Risk in Foreseeable Future

To assess the risk of abuse and neglect in the foreseeable future, if CPS were no longer involved, the following tasks are completed by the caseworker:

1) Conduct a full risk assessment

2) Talk to collaterals, especially school officials or child care staff

3) Assess for prior CPS history, criminal history, and substance abuse history

4) Assess for prior or current participation in treatment programs

5) Review mental health, psychiatric history, or both

5) Determine when the parent last used a substance 

6) Ask the parent about the friends and family members that visit the home in relationship to their drug use and history

Cutting down on the above case work (regarding marijuana investigations) can help Texas spend money on more valuable programs like preventative care and harm reduction, especially for the children.

I am not foolish, and I know that there needs to be a program to protect our children, but if CPS is truly interested in keeping the child safe, the children do not need a stranger coming to their home, asking intruding questions, and causing more harm than good by making them feel their parents have done something wrong. There are a lot more things wrong with our society than marijuana smokers, like fathers molesting their daughters and parents physically abusing their kids. I would prefer my tax dollars be spent helping those children.

“This is a wide, sweeping problem across the country, and Texas has its share," said Chuck Ragland, a former CPS caseworker in Van Zandt County. "And we are seeing a groundswell of parents getting upset." Ragland spent eight years as a caseworker and says he saw so many problems with the system that he dedicated his last three years with CPS to "making a concerted effort to try and figure out exactly what is going on." What he saw, he says, was troubling: caseworkers falsifying documents and removing children from families for very little, if any, cause, and we are seeing a groundswell of parents getting upset." Ragland spent eight years as a caseworker and says he saw so many problems with the system that he dedicated his last three years with CPS to "making a concerted effort to try and figure out exactly what is going on." 

If you have been affected by CPS, I would like to know your story. 

Comment below or email us at 420@sanorml.org

What You Need To Know About Drug Testing

Have you ever been told you have failed a drug test when you knew you were clean?  Drug tests have been known to produce false-positive results in 5% to 10% of drug test results if the drug test is administered by a testing lab that meets federal standards, but according to statistics about 85% of drug testing labs do not meet federal standards.  If you are tested by a testing lab that does not meet federal standards, your chances of testing false-positive range from 4% to over 50%.  A false-positive result happens when a substance is mistaken for another compound.

There are currently over 250 over-the-counter medications and prescription drugs that can cause false-positives.  Marijuana false positives can be the cause of taking Ibuprofen, Advil, Motrin, Pamprin, Naproxen, and Aleve just to name a few. So when you are asked by the police, doctors, or employees if you take any over-the-counter medications… say “Yes”.  Amoxicillin, tonic water, kidney infection, kidney or liver disease, and diabetes can make you test false-positive for cocaine.  There are over 20 medications that will make you test a false-positive for amphetamine, and it is no myth that poppy seeds can make you test false-positive for opiates. Over-the-counter anti-nausea medications that contain phenergan and Promethean can make you test false-positive for LSD, and over a dozen medications as well as kidney and liver disease or diabetes can make you test false-positive for ecstasy.  

Drug tests did not become popular in the United States until 1981 after a plane crashed into the carrier deck of the U.S. Navy’s USS Nimitz killing and injuring dozens of personnel.  Drug testing was administered immediately, and the results revealed drug use among several enlisted persons and officers.  As a result, the Secretary of the Navy instituted an intensive drug testing program.  After the Navy’s drug testing policies began, other branches of military services soon started implementing testing.  It wasn’t until 1989 that President George Bush Sr. adopted the drug testing policy into the White House Drug Control Strategy.  Some have argued that drug testing violates our Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which is suppose to guard against unreasonable searches and seizures, along with any warrant to be judicially sanctioned and supported by probable cause. Probable cause is defined as “a reasonable belief that a person has committed a crime.” 

Question… what do cops consider reasonable?  Is it reasonable for cops to have people give their blood without consent? According to the “no refusal” policy, a cop can have a warrant issued to have you forced to give your blood. Excuse me, but that's tampering with the people's  4th Amendment! Forcing people to have a needle stuck in their arm without their consent is unconstitutional under any circumstances.  As of October 24^th, 2011 Bexar County and San Antonio adopted the “no refusal” policy 365 days a year.  The county was given a $1.4 million grant from the Texas Department of Transportation for the “no refusal” policy to be an everyday constitutional raping of people’s rights.

Depending on how much marijuana is consumed it can usually be detected in blood tests within 6 hours of consumption.  It generally disappears completely after 22 hours, however THC metabolites stay in the blood for 2-3 days to up to 2 weeks depending on usage. Alcohol can be detected in a blood test 12-24 hours after consumption.  Most other drugs can be detected 1-5 days in the blood after ingestion.

Although there are over-the-counter drugs that can possibly get you out of failing a drug test, a blood test is very accurate and expensive not to mention invasive to human rights.

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