First Inaugural Meeting

Saturday, March 15th, 2014
Opening Reception: 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Meeting: 1:00pm – 4:00pm

King Street Patriots
7232 Wynwood Ln.
Houston, TX 77008

Republicans Against Marijuana Prohibition invites you to our inaugural meeting on March 15. Speakers will discuss topics including:

• medical marijuana
• prohibition’s effects on teenagers and families
• federal, state, and local spending and its effectiveness
• examples of legislation to regulate medical and recreational marijuana

We invite politicians, elected officials, candidates, judges, Republican party members, grassroots activists, and members of the community at-large to join us in listening to speakers with decades of experience in each of their diverse professions.

Learn more about the speakers below and RSVP to our Facebook event page or by emailing zoe@rampgop.org. Event is free of charge, though we encourage you to sign up for an annual membership to support this and other events.

Featured Speakers Include:

Terry Nelson
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) / Former DHS

Terry Nelson has served as a US Border Patrol Agent, US Customs Agent, and Department of Homeland Security officer during a career lasting over three decades. He knows personally the culture within federal law enforcement, that of no “visible progress and only limited discussion about the lack of progress.” His assignments have put him in Mexico, Central America, and South America. Though Nelson has won awards for his service in the war on drugs, he feels that the overall approach we are taking is a dead end. Read more »

Judge John Delaney
Mediator / Senior District Judge

Judge John Delaney served in the 272nd District Court in Brazos County, Texas, for sixteen years and from 2001 to present as a Senior District Judge on child abuse and neglect cases. These years on the bench have produced 565 jury trials and thousands of bench trials. Delaney has managed a solo mediation and arbitration practice since 2001 in which he has helped to resolve hundreds of cases from child custody to professional negligence. From 2008 on, Delaney has been a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, recognizing that arresting for small amounts of marijuana comes with expenses for police hours in processing the arrest, court time, jury time, jail space, and other limited resources. Read more »

Nathan P. Jones, Ph.D.
Alfred C. Glassell III Postdoctoral Fellow in Drug Policy
Rice University’s Baker Institute

Nathan P. Jones, Ph.D., is the Alfred C. Glassell III Postdoctoral Fellow in Drug Policy at the Baker Institute. His research focuses on drug violence in Mexico. Jones has published with numerous think tanks, including the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and InSight Crime. While teaching at the University of San Diego (USD) in 2011-2012, Jones worked closely with the school’s Trans-Border Institute on grant proposals and research projects. Read more »

Thalia Michelle
Mothers Advocating Medical Marijuana for Autism

Thalia Michelle is co-founder of MAMMA, Mothers Advocating Medical Marijuana for Autism. As an autism advocate, Thalia co-authored the the book The Thinking Moms Revolution. The book is a collection of stories of autism families and the challenges and triumphs that come with trying to help their children. Thalia is mother to b/g twins, Lance and Trinity. Lance was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder in 2008 at the age of three, and Thalia has been on a mission to help him reach his highest potential ever since. Over the last two years, as reports have filtered in from around the county about children with autism recovering language, better focus, and cognitive skills, using CBD and THCa extracts, Thalia became passionate about researching non-psychoactive forms of cannabis and hemp extracts and their medicinal benefits. Thalia’s research on the endocannabinoid system has lead her to believe medicinal cannabis can help most neurological impairments and cognitive disorders. As the mother of a child with disabilities, Thalia is determined to see her son and other children like him, gain legal access to medicinal cannabis therapeutics. Prescribing antipsychotics, synthentics, stimulants, and narcotics for children with autism is unconscionable and unethical when there are safe, natural, non-psychoactive alternatives. Thalia is also the Event Coordinator for Horse Boy Music Festival happening this April 13 in Elgin, Tx. The festival is a fundraiser for The Horse Boy Foundation which provides free equine therapy to children of autism around Central Texas.

Tracy Ansley
Texas Coalition for Compassionate Care

Tracy Ansley is the Outreach Coordinator for Texas Coalition for Compassionate Care and part of the Leadership Team for the International Women’s Cannabis Coalition. Tracy has over 25 years experience as a home healthcare, hospice, and in-office nurse in Texas. Like most children who were the product of the D.A.R.E program, Tracy began nursing school and was easily indoctrinated with the belief that cannabis has no medicinal properties. Her beliefs quickly changed when she began working with AIDS patients in the late 80’s and early 90’s, but it wasn’t until the early 2000’s that she stopped dismissing claims of it’s medical benefit beyond that of just alleviating nausea, vomiting, and AIDS wasting. Ansley immersed herself in research and began learning everything possible about the human endocannabinoid system. It was with this research that she truly began to understand the expansive medicinal value of the Cannabis plant. After decades of witnessing damage done to her patients, friends, family, and self through the use of synthetic prescription medications, Tracy’s research and subsequent realizations regarding cannabis compelled her to become an inspired and dedicated public Medical Cannabis Advocate. Read more »

Ann Lee
RAMP Founder and Executive Director

Ann Lee has been a leader and activist in the Republican Party since 1970. Her first campaign activity came in 1964 in support of Barry Goldwater. In 1983, Lee co-founded the group Women for Reagan. She has participated as a state delegate to almost every Texas GOP Convention for the past 25 years and served as a delegate to the National Federation of Republican Women 15 times. Lee’s personal experience led her to a change of mind on the issue of marijuana policy to the point that she founded RAMP in 2012. Read more »