Marijuana prohibition has taken yet another innocent life. In January 2013, two- year-old Alexandra Hill was taken from her home in Round Rock, Texas because her parents had admitted to smoking pot after their child had gone to bed. As a result, she was placed with an abusive foster mother, who subsequently beat her to death.
According to her father, Joshua Hill, who spoke with KVUE, a local ABC affiliate, “She would come to visitation with bruises on her, and mold and mildew in her bag. It got to a point where [he] actually told CPS that they would have to have [him] arrested because [he] wouldn’t let her go back.” A few days later, the Hill family got a call informing them that their daughter was in a coma, and they needed to get to the hospital right away. Two days after that, Alex was taken off life support. Up until she was snatched from her family in January, the 2 year old had never been sick or gone to the hospital.
“When a parent who responsibly consumes marijuana after hours is seen as neglectful in comparison to a parent who responsibly enjoys a glass of wine, then the system isn’t just broken, it’s deadly,” said Sabrina Fendrick, Director of Women’s Outreach at NORML. Little Alex’s fate was sealed the minute the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) determined that such behavior qualifies as “neglectful supervision,” and put her with a foster mother who had not been given a proper background check.
This is just one more tragic casualty of marijuana prohibition. However, the practice of child snatching by CPS from marijuana-using parents is by no means unique to this story. Current policy gives state agencies the right to legally kidnap minors and infants from their loving parents’ home (simply for the fact that they are cannabis consumers), and place them in an unknown, possibly dangerous or truly neglectful environment. Hundreds of similar CPS cases pop up around the country every year. Only when the government changes its view, and policies on marijuana can we truly protect the rights and integrity of good parents who responsibly consume cannabis after hours and out of their child’s view. It’s time for CPS, the state of Texas and the federal government to step up, take responsibility for all of the damage they have caused, and commit to ending this disastrous and fatal policy.
this is such a sad story, RIP baby girl <3
Heartbreaking!! & speechless
Ditto!
I hope that everyone one involved at CPS and the foster criminals are put away for life…and I’m trying to be nice.
I cannot put into words how angry this story just made me. As a father of a young child, I am utterly disgusted that this completely avoidable tragedy was allowed to happen.
THIS NEEDS TO STOP NOW!!
HOPE THE CPS GETS CHARGED WITH NEGLECT This goes to Show how SCREWED UP OUR JUSTICE SYSTEM IS..
O am glad I am not the father, because I could not live without killing someone.
Marijuana prohibition and a broken foster care system are two unrelated (except, in this case, by coincidence) problems. Publishing this article suggesting marijuana prohibition is the cause of the child’s death makes NORML look stupid. (I am totally in favor of legalizing pot, but this article is dumb.)
[Paul Armentano responds: Were it not for marijuana prohibition, this child would not have been removed from the home and placed in foster care.]
This is just such a miscarriage of justice! How they can a child out of an ‘unsafe’ environment without thoroughly investigating the foster home! That’s CPS for you! I’ve had more dealings with them than I care to share. They are bigots!
This is just horrible. Could have been avoided all together, but it seems our government refuses to stop dragging its heels on the issue of marijuana reform.
I too am totally disgusted by the ignorant and often brutal policies that have been put in place to stop people from using a relatively benign plant; even if it greatly benefits them in some way! Taking a child away from someone solely because they use cannabis is just barbaric and should not be tolerated in a civilized society. I continue to be astounded by how unjust our Justice system is here in America. We will never truly progress as a nation until this kind of willful stupidity ends.
Ok, I’m all for pot legalization so things like this don’t happen. 100% on board. However, I have to wonder if the parents were only guilty of pot smoking. I work for CPS in New York (yes I know this story is out of Texas which has some less progressive laws, etc) and a child would never be removed simply because the parents admit to pot smoking when the child has gone to bed. Perhaps they have a history of Neglect? Perhaps there were other factors not published in the story? Believe it or not it is very difficult to remove a child from the custody of their parents.That said it is disgusting that the foster mother, paid by the state to help that child hurt her. That is what I’m outraged about!
[Paul Armentano responds: Previous media reports, including a front-page New York Times expose, have indicated that this practice is also fairly common in New York state:
http://healthland.time.com/2011/08/19/viewpoint-smoke-a-joint-lose-your-child/
People caught with small amounts of marijuana in New York State are supposed to receive no more than a $100 fine, the equivalent of a traffic ticket. Instead, in New York City, many such people are being accused of child neglect, even if they are never charged with a drug-related violation. And some have even lost custody of their children.
Hundreds of child welfare investigations have been initiated as a result of marijuana arrests, though the parents who were caught were not charged or convicted of any crime, the New York Times reported Thursday in a front-page story.]
Oh shut the fuck up about mary jane she anit killed no body
This is pathetic and inexcusable
Here we go again. It’s marijuana’s fault! Such Bull Sh*t!! Really? It’s the ‘User’s’ fault. A glaas of wine has up to 12% alcohol content. You are more likely to drink another glass of wine for it’s effect than another ‘joint’ for it’s effect. No matter what anyone says, it’s always the user, not the drug or alcohol. It’s about choice & control. RIP little girl.
Um, the parents should take some responsibility. After all, regardless of whether or not marijuana should be legalized, it is not legal and therefore they did break the law. And, there is probably more to the story. Why was CPS questioning the family in the first place? They wouldn’t have been in this situation if something more hadn’t led them there. Yes, it is sad and the system failed the little girl, but the system is not the only one at fault.
Utterly heart-broken.
While CPS may think they’re doing good they tear families apart for no reason and tragedies like this happen. So sad! While I’m not one to sue others, I would definitely sue CPS and the government for such a stupid law! My deep condolences to the parents. It’s heartbreaking!!
This makes me sick. If they tried to take my child just because I like to partake then they are going to have one hell of a fight on their hands.
R.I.P. , God this one hits you right in the stomach….
I hope the officers involved all die from broken hearts. (Not likely)
………….no little baby girl should ever suffer that kind of fate…..fuck…
i am so disgusted. such a tragedy
The CPS should have taken a good look at her real home. They would have seen she was provided for, loved and never abused. The snatch kids up and don’t really care. If they did they would be more educated about marijuana and know all the false propaganda over the years is all they are basing their plan on. Grow up, get educated and really learn what you are doing. Learn how to truly interview parents and potential guardians. Open your eyes. These poor parents, how their hearts must be totally broken.
Wow… As a person who loves children and a smoker… wow. I thought cause I have no money or stuff that I wouldn’t feel worse today… Somethings got to be done about these idiotic pieces of junk that are against pot legalization. I’m at a loss for words… Damn.
I’m all for spirituality but does Moses have to come down off Sinai peak with words etched in stone saying “Pot is good. It is a gift. Legalize it” for these mormons, I mean morons to listen? Christ!
Sorry if i got sidetracked.
Another case where CPS has taken a child out of a home (because the parents smoke weed) they love their children and they do not abuse them….and put them in an abusive home with some physco that kills their child “while they are in PROTECTIVE CUSTODY” They stick these children where ever they find a spot. What amazes me the most is I have friends that want to foster and are great people but cannot get approved but they will approve the kind of people that are cruel to children. CPS has way to much authority. I understand that there are people that abuse their children and they need to be removed, but this was not a reason to take this child from her home and place her with strangers that ended up killing her.
Can someone tell me if someone at CPS will be held accountable for failing to do a background check?
how sad is this cps should go after people who beat, starve, and neglect children not for people who smoke pot responsibly, my prayers to the mom n dad.
Seems to me this could have been avoided if her parents were law abiding.
[Editor’s note: Guess you missed the point…]
It has nothing to do with smoking pot, more that the government cant run its own house left along anothers.
This is sad, this story need to get into the big media mainstream. Just to show the rest of the world what our sad government does to innocent families & children.
Very, very sad, but it all could have been avoided if the parents weren’t using ILLEGAL drugs. Parents that think pot is ok should think twice because it is still illegal.
[Editor’s note: Ummm…would the government have removed the children because the parents had a bottle of wine, a cigarette or a pound of coffee? The point is that cannabis’ illegality is up for indictment here, not parents choosing a safer drug than the ones listed above. Parents are thinking twice about cannabis prohibition these days, not about the morality of using cannabis as a parent.]
how am I not surprised this happens in a “zero tolerance” state that also takes pride in its use of the death penalty. hypocrisy or criminal ignorance?
I agree. They shouldn’t have been pot and a thorough background check should have happened.
Been smoking pot*
No words. This is fucking inexcusable.
Just imagine the father’s pain, look at how hard he’s trying to contain his rage and sorrow.
We can’t trust our government with anything.
Why am I NOT SURPRISED that this occurred in Texas. Americans are so proud and make such a big deal about Texas, the Lone Star State, THE BIGGEST STATE IN THE UNION. Well I’ll tell ya how the rest of the real world feels about Texas. The ENTIRE WORLD thinks of Texas as the DEATH STATE. DEATH by means of the State, the Courts, the Police, any JOE BLOW IDIOT authorized to own or carry a gun, Foster Parents, Prisons, Judges, and anybody that feels like “defending themselves”. Texas is the state where you get killed just because someone feels like killing you, and as long as you have some sort of ‘government sanction’ you are good to go.
The fact of the matter is that this is what your goddamned war on drugs gets you. Good loving parents, and who on earth really gives a half a shit whether or not you smoke before or after you put your kids to bed or not. I don’t EVER recall hearing or reading a story about some dumbass smoking a joint then getting in their car and killing anyone, or beating the hell out of their spouse, or any violent actions at all. Your war on drugs has accomplished sweet f all except to fill up your ‘for profit’ prisons and take happy healthy children away from their perfectly safe loving homes and giving them to a drunk. Do some research for yourself, you’ll see the facts for yourself. Stop wasting all that money on all the pathetic “Wars on/against EVERYTHING” your bloody government can think of, stand up for your rights as citizens and make a goddamned stand. When will enough be enough for the American public? When will you have had it with the bs you are being spoon fed, stop believing everything you read or hear about the evils of marijuana, and vote some USEFUL laws into being… like protecting the family, instead of going to war against your own people for deciding that they aren’t interested in taking all those pharmaceutical medications that are being pushed on people from infancy to old age, because their lobbyists are giving and getting kick backs for every prescription a doctor writes as well as the doctors themselves getting the same kick backs and allow them to choose to medicate themselves the natural way, the way people have been doing for a millennium. Marijuana has been in use for depression, bi-polar, schizophrenia, nausea, eating disorders, and just about anything else that a pill can ‘take care’ of. Take a good long look at the list of ‘side effects’ for all those “legal” drugs that they are pumping into you all. Because smoking a joint to feel good, give you patience and a sense of humour when dealing with your children doesn’t come with side effects like liver failure, stroke, suicidal thoughts, heart attack, urinary trouble and the list goes on and on and on… they don’t exist for marijuana. And that’s a fact JACK!! Everyone involved in the murder of this child should be beaten into a coma, and then allowed to die, without any pain meds, with no compassion, nothing at all but the laughter of those of us who do think with our brains and not our STATE PRIDE. How many more children need to die before alcohol is made illegal and pot is decriminalized. Leave the government out of our gardens and in the Senate or where ever it is that they do the nothing that they do but accept bribes to keep stupid out of date anti marijuana laws in place, while they watch families get torn apart and more and more children are sexually abused, tortured, and eventually killed by their government approved foster parents. I can’t tell you how sick the laws in your states and your country at the federal level make me. When I think about the Prime Minister of our poor Canada, and his dream to be an American with american style prisons and laws… I tell you I can’t think of where I would go to get away from all’ya’all sickos.
This just sickens me. When is enough, enough? Where do we draw line? I say right here, I say right now! I WILL NOT STAND IDLY BY AND WATCH THE GOVERNMENT ABUSE IT’S POWER WHILE WAGING WAR AGAINST OTHERWISE LAW ABIDING CITIZENS!
This is wrong in so many way’s . I hate to say this but they need to SUE the shit out of CPS . And then someone needs to be Fired.
As a father of 3 daughters ages 4 to 25 now, I can relate to this story. My ex wife threatened to not let me see my 2 older daughters because I smoked pot, after bedtime. This is not right. Our leaders need to wake up. When families are broken apart because of a plant that is illegal and mostly harmless, our leaders must do something. My ex wife lives with her Mom. I went on, while still smoking pot and acheived 2 college degrees and have had a solid career while in college and up until today. I turned out to be the best father for all my children, supporting them, raising them healthy and happy. My 25 year old does not smoke but respects my responsible use. Its not the pot, its the person. Pot isn’t going to change a bad person to good or a good person to bad, that comes from within. My pot smoking while started out as recreational, actually helped me concentrate in school, work a full time job and go to school at night and helped me get the rest I needed during a difficult 10 years of my life. Now it still helps me sleep and relax, after 2 back surguries from a mountin bike accident. I also have high blood pressure. If I don’t take my statin prescribed drug on the weekend and just smoke pot, my blood pressure is 120/80 exactly. If I don’t smoke and take stains my blood pressure is 125-130/85. If I don’t take any medicine its 140/90. The pharma companies don’t want us to know this and are unfairly bashing my pot stocks (which by the way is an absurdity as the sec isn’t controlling and is run by the U.S. Government). When is the BS going to end? Please Mr. Obama and Mr. Holder, do what is right.
RIP Baby girl
Feel like crying, so sad
She should be beat to death. I don’t really see that as a problem though. When she’s in prison, she’ll get exactly that. Justice will prevail, regardless.
CPS is out of control on many fronts. Using a harmless, technically illegal drug to justify their idiocy is just a drop in the bucket of the abuses of this frightening organization.
Why is ignorant shit like this happening in 2013? Are the southern states like a time capsule of ignorance and stupity; so fucking solidily stupid you can bank on it???
These assholes can’t be bothered to find out if the people they have on death row are actually criminals or not; helping murders kill children over something as non-sensical as marijuana…
There was a time when I wanted to visit Texas and other southern states, but the people down there just don’t act right.
[Editor’s note: Whether it is three women getting their privates searched in TX or private bounty hunters being used by the OK State Police, as long as cannabis prohibition is in place these kinds of abuses will continue.]
I lost custody of my 8 yr old for smoking marijuana ONCE while pregnant. I did so because I was in labor for over a month and the dr told me it was in my head (I suffer from depression which was the blame according to the OB; However, upon my EMERGENCY C-SECTION, my OB discovered my blood work AND ultrasounds had given extremely false dates, and I was, in fact, in labor, but my body would not dialate or progress further in pregnancy).
Even after I was found to be a fit new mother, I was continually harassed by CFC and they took my child for what was deemed as medical neglect: he had RSVP and I was accused of not giving him his nebulizer treatments after his release from UT Children’s Hospital. The doctor had decided not to release him with a prescription for a nebulizer, and it was on his release papers from said hospital. Although I had these papers, they took my child (I NEVER smoked after that one time, and voluntarily submitted to random drug screens for over a year to prove I had no longer been using illegal substances.
Even after this, and me completing over 30 (no joke!) items on a treatment plan, the state social worker would come up with 10-15 activities I needed to complete. I never could make headway in this situation because I would give 200% effort, but it was never good enough.
Eventually, I allowed my son to be openly adopted by the family he had been with since he was 6 weeks old because I didn’t want to jerk him away from the life he had known almost every moment he had been alive.
Moral of the story: I believe the state social services office looks for any reason to take a child from the custody of their birth parents, while leaving crack heads and other drug addicts and alcoholics to “care for” their children.
When, oh when, is the system truly going to be shaped into one that benefits the children….
Good evening everyone… Being angry is not going to solve this problem. It is ok to get frustrated over tragedy like this, but let’s be honest with ourselves.. How can a few people in power are capable of holding a whole country hostage with laws that make no sense, and so destructive to society. We elect those idiots to ruin our lives and we have done nothing serious to stop it.. If the American people were really serious about repealing this stupid law, it would be done without all this waste of time.. The Government are nothing, but a bunch of heartless and selfish asshole.. The solution is simple… Organize a peaceful protest against this policy, it would be done.. Now, that is one thing.. Boycott big pharma products all together, organize protest all over the country against this stupid law and let every member of congress know that we are the majority.. Not just people who smoke, but people who do not want this foolish idiots tell us how to live our lives.. They would have to tell us, what kind of the country we are living in.. Is it democratic or dictator.. Don’t we go around the world, start war with other countries, claiming that we are spreading democracy.. How is it that we don’t even have democracy in our own country.. This is not a pot smoking issue, this is a human right issue.. It’s either we are free or we are not… Congress and the rest of the idiots in Washington need to let us know.. Last thing we need to do is simple.. Take a few minute to write your elected officials in your states.. We all need to do that. Let them know if they don’t get rid of that stupid law now. They will not get elected ever again.. Everyone need to do that. I guarantee you, they would come out of so call, bullshit vacation of theirs to fix this problem.. Let me know if that make sense.. Don’t forget, we are the Majority!!!!!!!
This would have not happened in the government hadn’t removed a two year old from her family and put her in the hands of an abusive killer. We the people, have given the government too much power. Unless a child is being abused or severely neglected, the CPS should not step in.
There’s many good reasons to legalize pot, this seems to be the worst. Maybe if the parents cared more about their children than their drug habit, this wouldn’t have happened in the first place.
[Editor’s note: So in other words, if you’re a parent under prohibition, you lose your kids. If you’re single, then you’re just busted. Right? With a majority of the US population supporting cannabis legalization treating parents’ use of cannabis as a moral turpitude worthy of losing access to their children is savagery in a country that allows parents access to deadly and addictive drugs like alcohol, tobacco and pharmaceuticals.
Parents should not be made to suffer TWICE under these now unpopular and unsustainable cannabis prohibition laws. Ending cannabis prohibition is a no brainer family value. How can’t it be when the government takes your kids away for what should obviously be a non-crime to let others kill them?]
people avoid traveling through Texas due to how strict they are with mundane laws. I see this happening in Texas and though Angela above works for the CPS in New York, these are 2 WAY DIFFERENT States. Not sure if you have ever been to Texas before(neither have I as I avoid it like the plague). Being a Medical Patient in California if I drove through Texas with Medical Marijuana in my trunk(not on person) and following California law with my medical papers I would be STILL be arrested and thrown in jail in Texas rather than be fined. They have a very low tolerance for this. They were probably flagged by CPS for some dumb reason relating to maybe a neighbor seeing them smoke a joint in the yard maybe? Who knows. Sure the news is skewed and who knows how much of this story is true BUT to have someone who is a foster family neglect/abuse a child. Does the CPS not inspect all foster houses and if so how often?? How the hell was this Foster person ever eligible to take in children?? Smoking pot should not be deemed as bad as it is, especially to take a away a child from what I read are good parents. Maybe if they were having her smoke with them THEN I would see this being appropriate. RIP little girl
There seems to be no accountability for government. they do not police themselves and if you start trouble for an agency you are not going to get any cooperation. prosecutors will not go to the trouble to bring charges against any public employee.
OK first of all….how is CPS gonna place a child with an abusive foster parent?? She did worse than the real parents. Can’t blame it on the plant or the parents who smoked the plant. That’s a lil absurd. The system shouldnt be putting children in the care of these kinds of people who friggin abuse children. Like get serious!
something is missing. Were the parents arrested or something? Did someone report these parents to CPS? Usually vengeful aunts, grandmoms and neighbors report something as petty as weed…. I am all for an end to prohibition as well, but where is the other half of this story.
here’s a good story:
http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/07/health/charlotte-child-medical-marijuana/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
i believe people today tend to be endocannabinoid deficient and endocannabinoids are powerful mood regulators, but through our co-evolution, like with the domesticated dog, we have given ourselves over to a benefit cannabis affords but that we can’t make anymore because external sources became available.
As an example, vitamin C production in humans was just clipped out, even though vitamin C is essential throughout life. The environment must have provided Vitamin C in such abundance from vegetation, that such a potentially lethal mutation, (deletion of vitamin C synthesis), could possibly disappear in humans and yet not have wiped us out?
In the same way, I would bet metabolic production and regulation of endogenous cannabinoids like anandamide went down from when 10,000+ years of co-evolution, when people freely and regularly consumed THC/CBD from cannabis. Wouldn’t this idea be considered somewhat reasonable considering how humans just don’t make vitamin C anymore yet is necessary for survival, deficiency leads to bleeding gums, decreased immunity, scurvy.
Endocannabinoid deficiency is the cause of a lot of health problems. This has to be the case because cannabis-provided agonists of endocannabinoids are real, effective medicine for otherwise untreatable disorder?
Cannabis prohibition took away supplementary (dietary) external cannabinoids from people who have, over thousands of generations, become accustomed to regular consumption of exogenous cannabinoids to maintain health.
What if cannabis consumption alleviates/ameliorates/improves chronic conditions that maybe could have been prevented if deficiencies were treated with *access* to supplementary agonists of endocannabinoids like anandamide.
Cannabis has only very recently in human recorded history been taken away from people by force of other people…from the same country. :\
They are powerful people, these degenerates who ordered Nixon to start CSA drug war (and to also stay in Vietnam 8 years breaking two campaign promises to end the genocide. They ordered him to create privatized medicine, HMO’s. All this was made available in Oval Office tapes after he kicked the bucket.
The Heart is LOST without words to express such pain.
i would sue the government for due neglegence
I’m not surprised by the posts that say
“this would not have happened if they hadn’t broken the law”
or that
“there must’ve been some bad conditions in the house to have CSP involved in the first place.”
First, an unjust law is no law at all. So unjust it is in fact, it is obscene. Prison for possession of a bag of dried flowers? Really?
Second, if they were smoking cannabis, and not drinking alcohol, that child was in far better hands, more thoughtful hands than those of a drunken parent(s), which I would bet was the state of a person who was capable of beating a child to death
A stoned person would never do that, just fukking accept it (Bill Hicks) and move on from that antiquated prohibition stance. People make mistakes or bad judgments…and they admit they were morons and then they move on. A stoned couple would NEVER NEVER beat their child to death and that is fact. In advance, STFU to anyone who would even deny this fact by writing some one-liner drivel or intellectual dishonesty (and ignorance)
Do you really think they care so much about your personal well being that they will throw you in a for-profit PRISON for cannabis which has never killed anyone. The Prohibition Pigs really love you and care about your best interests and those of your family and associates. lolololololol
doesn’t anyone see whats really going on? it’s quite possibly going to be “us” and “them”, and there are more of us, so why are “we” putting up with all this crap? it is our country! we are the majority! stand up for your country. what we need is a good sit in at the capital, or everyone just shut down this country, set one day for a peaceful show of power and i believe that a lot of us would be surprised to see somone they never expected, or someone that’s been lying through their teeth. as it is there is needed a strong leader. my father told me, about 10 years ago, before he died (from cigs just like his father). “there’s going to a revolution, a civil war, in this country. my father fought in korea, worked for columbus dispach, dayton daily news, and the bellefontaine examiner. he was always saying, “read between the lines”. poor little alexandra, and danny chong! so many of our people are being hurt in so many ways. we need to quit allowing the few that run our country into the ground, pushing us around, get them all voted out! and make the ones taking their places accountable. we’ve been scared of them for sooooo long! i’ll be 60 in about 3 weeks. i grew up with the assinations, vietnam and every thing else! i have ptsd, ddd, fibromyalgia, etc. i smoked past tense, only because i can’t find it, for depression. all the meds put on 100 lbs, i’ve lost 50 lbs so far. other meds make me sleep all the time. anti-depressants don’t work on me. how do we fix all our problems? just say no? what a laugh, maryjane a gateway drug, i did all the hard stuff first!ups, downs, coke, acid, thc, cigs, booze, all that before pot, to name a few. now thats all i do. legalize, tax, and what ever else.eliminate black market, eject illigal criminals, bring new tecnologies, create jobs, fix our economy. so much more good can come from legalization. get rid of the trickey dickys that have been in cahoots with the cartels, why else won’t they let us be free. it has turned into a police state almost.
Inexcusable, CPS. when they wanted to drug test me, I told them to shove it up their asses, to find someone other than a bitter newly exited ex-husband to say i did drugs and then come back with a warrant. I do not do drugs. I smoke marijuana. I don’t drink. I’ve successfully raised an adult child and am raising another.
Texas is whack…..
Anyone from Colorado out there who can tell me this:
If I lived in Colorado where pot is legal, and I was a parent, are there restrictions on using pot while parenting?
Cause I don’t know about you but after a long day of work a nice toke just would make me want to get on the floor and play with the kid!
This is a sad, sad article. If I were those parents I would have told as many people I could that my baby was coming back from her fosterhome with injuries. Why didn’t anyone do anything?
completely idiotic, I am all for reform but the childs death was not caused by the idiotic law, it is soley the responsibility of cps an organization wich has time after time proven that tho they started as a protector of children to one that makes their own judgments and have their own set of rules, I will always stand firm for reform, but normal has gone well over the line in this case and using tragedies such as this to try to make their point and losing their own way to the truth
[Editor’s note: If you support reform, your logic is flawed in only lamenting CPS’ role in the demise of the child. Over the last 40 years, many thousands of families have been broken up not because of CPS’ existence alone, but because of cannabis PROHIBITION laws. No cannabis prohibition, no having govt agents come into one’s house, see a bong, and declare one or both of the parents as ‘unfit’ to possess their own children.
Lament CPS all you like, but what is the nexus needed for the govt to claim ‘abuse’? That is right, the mere presence of contraband and/or paraphernalia.
Pretty thin reasoning to break up a family…cost a child their life…especially for those that claim they support legalization.]
R.I.P., baby girl. Not your fault. Damn shame the Govna and his buddies care more about unborn, unbreathing fetuses than a viable, young childs’ welfare.
I’d shoot any fucking pig who tried to take my kid, they’d have to take my ass out Waco style. Fuck the police, and fuck the US government. They’re Babylon, straight out of Revelation.
I hate to tell the one who thinks this woman who beat tnis child to death is going to “get what she deserves” in prison….as a retired correctional employee….prison isn’t as bad as it used to be….I watched a man watch a tv show about what his dad did to them…and I tried to get him to go to seg because i thought he would be killed…nope..no one bothered him ….so sorry for the family loss, but I do agree there has to be more to the story other than just smoking after the child had gone to bed….I have also worked with the california jail system…and never have heard of anything to this extreme over a joint at night….after the child is in bed..just saying…
CPS strikes again. A government agency that has no watchdog on it… and a child is dead. Way to go.
*watched a tv show showing his grown children and what thier dad (who was in prison) had done to them…..
Wow what a terrible story first off, I can’t believe this would happen in the land of the “free”. Secondly all of the responses that say the parents are to blame because they did something illegal is just moronic. I can guarantee that the same people saying that have driven while under the influence of alcohol above the limit, jay walked, drove over the legal speed limit etc, all which is illegal. There children should be taken away from them because they did something illegal. But they do not think of it that way unless it involved MJ What a croc. Legalize it already and let adults live the free life.
Free the weed! Save a child!
I would much rather people smoke pot and get mellow than get obnoxious and get drunk…..
I don’t believe that parents have after hours. You never know what is going to happen and you have to be ready to deal with anything at a moments notice. If you want to smoke pot find a sitter. I also don’t believe all foster parents are good or even better than the birth parents.
This just makes me sick, I feel so horrible for the little girls family. No matter what they did for there precious girl to go in to foster care know one should never have to experience loosing a child. Having a 2 year old girl myself this saddens me deeply. Praying that justice gets served!!!
I have to agree with Jorm. I also am in favor of legalizing pot, and I recognize that this is a tragic story, but the real problem here was an abusive foster parent and inattentive CPS.
It’s true that this particular child was placed in foster care because her parents smoked pot. IF this child was not taken from her parents, it would have done nothing to prevent the abusive foster parent from receiving a different child, who likely would have faced the same fate.
The point is–the abusive foster parent and flawed system existed completely independently of marijuana prohibition. If you take away prohibition, that foster parent doesn’t just disappear; the foster care system isn’t magically fixed. A child still would have likely died.
[Editor’s note: The assumption that the foster parent was destined to abuse is a leap…as flawed as many CPS are in the U.S., the govt’s legal reason to remove the child was the presence of an herbal drug–a demonstration itself of the govt’s failed 75 year war on cannabis and it’s consumers–that a majority of the US believes should no longer be subject to criminal prohibition laws.
No cannabis prohibition law, no legal cause to remove child and send them into uncaring (and largely unaccountable) CPS system.
This is another example of how easy it is to point out how cannabis prohibition kills, while still struggling to find credible examples from the govt and/or prohibitionists of cannabis having any killing capacity from a pharmacological standpoint.]
This is really heartbreaking. People please remember that this is not just happening in the south, but in the entire country. There needs to be more publicity to this tragic policy our federal and state governments have. They need to be held responsible for their acts. I can imagine that if the federal and state government officials were charged with murder as well, that’s basically what they do by snatching kids from their homes, their policy would change. Just my opinion for what it’s worth.
The girls parents should sue the hell out of somebody…… I would
I just want to say that this is a tragic story to hear about, I have a legal Medical Cannabis Licesene and I sometimes smoke but because I am a mom, I have a 15yr old and 3yr old twins I also choose to use edibles more than smoke because it is more private and less likely to for my kids to be subjected to it or be around it or accidently come around when I might be smoking it, but my point being is that I have more than 6 medical conditions that I get much relief from using Medical Cannabis than I do from taking prescription medications that actually when you do your research you actually find that pills are the ones that are more harmful than good for you in treatment than smoking/eating cannabis. Now I know many who don’t have a License to smoke legally , they all do hold degrees and very well highly known and well paid jobs and are some of the best care giver and parents I have ever known. CPS and CYFD and all them other programs that just take kids away and not fully investigate the people they are leaving the children with, they take away without fully knowing if the knew environment will even be safer than the one they are already in and cause more harm for the child than good. I hope Karma gets all them bad case workers and agents and gives it to them good. May God have mercy on their souls and may they burn then worst in hell!!!!
Sincerely a loving great single mother,
Sabina M.
*God Bless those helpless children who know no better than what they are told and shown and may God be with them and protect them from harm.
Although I believe in legalizing pot and the death of this poor child in horrible, you people on your anti Texas rants have been smoking too much of it. The whole world hates Texas is probably the reason why Texas has the largest influx of people fleeing other states. And there are more killings in Chicago in a weekend than in the whole state of Texas. I’m licensed to practice law in three states including Illinois, Ohio and Texas. You ranters are just nuts. I’m also a little suspicious about this case as it took me forever to get CPS to step in when my sister was so methed out she was ironing imaginary bugs off the faces of her children and pulling them out of windows and making them sleep under bushes to hide them from the imaginary pornographers who were hiding in her attic with cameras. In fact, I had to go to court before CPS would even get involved, so how do you think CPS found out this couple was smoking a little weed after the baby goes to bed??? Maybe the tooth fairy stopped by CPS and told them???
[Editor’s note: Maybe when narcing your sister out to govt agencies that break up families you should have told them that she was using cannabis instead of meth. Why? Because local law enforcement and CPS are incentivized by federal grants to target cannabis rather than meth. Govt’s rationale, consistent with its Reefer Madness mentality: Cannabis is a supposed ‘gateway’ drug, ergo, stop people from using cannabis, then there will be no meth problem…so govt emphasis is on cannabis enforcement, NOT meth.
Also cannabis consumers are so much easier and more compliant for police to collar than a meth freak…they also tend to have more assets to seize for civil forfeiture…which police get to keep most all of the $ to keep the prohibition enforcement machine running.
Holidays must be fun at your house…]
Thank you, Editor, for correcting the few people that totally missed the point.
For everyone else, PLEASE do something… you can!
Forward this story to your local government representative, your senator, the FREAKIN PRESIDENT, if you have to!
Being disgusted and sharing this on fb is not as effective as we hope.
If booze, that makes people fight and beat other people, is legal… so should be marijuana, a substance with medicinal properties.
as a marijuana user, I still feel that this article is misleading. marijuana prohibition isn’t the reason that this girl died. the sad fact is that big government is the issue. what an American does in his own home is his own fucking business and cps shouldn’t get involved unless there are signs of neglect.
[Editor’s note: Are you not able to make any distinction between the failings of ‘big government’ re the CPS to that of ‘big government’ still trying to maintain an unpopular cannabis prohibition?
No cannabis prohibition, no legal cause to remove child, no losing child to malevolent and unaccountable CPS system.]
This is an awful tragedy – I hope some one is facing criminal charges for this
Breaks my heart to read this. So many judgmental people in the world who think they know answer. To those, this beautiful baby’s death. She was safer at home, with parents who loved her.
Anyway to get the name(s) of the CPS people responsible to get a petition going to get them fired? This thing happens way too much and loss of job as a result should be something to scare those self-righteous f***s.
C.P.S will not be held for this.
I don’t think pot is the problem here.
The parents made the active decision to smoke an illegal substance. We don’t know how they act when they are high.
In my experience I’ve known people who, when high, I wouldn’t trust to water my garden. Not saying that this excuses what happened but there’s action one that could have prevented this.
Two, a more thorough back ground check should have been conducted. A warning could have been issued. Fix your issues and we’ll be back in a week to check on you. It was very heavy handed to remove the child. However we don’t know. Was she really being neglected? Did she have adequateaccess
Dammit posted before I was ready…
Did she have access to water and food and clean clothes? Toys? We simply don’t know. I do know DHR in my area only gave a warning to a family who didn’t have electricity or water or proper beds or anything to a family and I know for a fact those kids( there were 3) were neglected and abused. They received a warning and skipped town.
That’s why I say it was really heavy handed if all they were doing is smoking pot. But is that really all that was going on? We can’t know that for sure.
I think its stupid to say without a doubt pot prohibition is what killed this child. Its very sad but there are other avenues of what killed her.
Regaddless of how I personally feel about prohibition its still heart breaking and could have been avoided a few different ways.
[Editor’s note: You write “The parents made the active decision to smoke an illegal substance. We don’t know how they act when they are high”
Do you expect govt agents to run around with gadgetry trying to figure out which parent in a country of 300 million is or is not ‘too high’ from whatever drug compounds impair?? What if one or more of these parents were following the medical recommendation of their doctor to use cannabis? We don’t know WHY the parents possessed the cannabis, but, did they make a safer decision from a physical and mental health point of view to possess cannabis than alcohol? Yes. Under the failed and unpopular public policy of cannabis prohibition was it a legally safe decision to possess cannabis? No. That’s the point!]
This is so fucked up! I’m a new dad and would definitely be put in jail if this happened to my son. My wife is a CPS worker and this is an all to common story she says. This has to stop!!! What is wrong with people?!? I’m so embarrassed of our government and laws right now…
“THIS NEEDS TO STOP NOW!!”
TALK IS CHEAP. Get off your ass and do something about it. Don’t be one of the thousands of people who talk the talk but won’t show up at the Philadelphia Smokeout VII, er, walk the walk.
Absolutely heartbreaking. The videos of the father with his daughter before she was killed show how happy she was with him, and it was clear what a devoted parent he was. This story really does need to go mainstream to ensure those responsible for removing the child from the family are appropriately dealt with.
this is such a sad story, RIP corrupt system that seeks to inhibit people’s happiness and well-being : this is the final nail in your coffin <3
WTF !!
Get it together US. us Canadians would never allow such a tragity.
awful story how terrible for the poor parents I wish the wickedly stupid gang of police and other state employed criminals would get what they deserve but thats too much to hope for
i’m from maine and i’ve smoked pot since i was young . i’ve raised my son from day 1 and got custody of my daughter and later in time had guardionship of my daughters son . dhhs up here let me have my daughter knowing i smoke pot along with getting my grandson later on in time after he was born because of my daughters boy friend and everything worked out my daughter has her son back and i have a granddaughter now . why cant the goverment just realize that it is the most usable herb out there mother nature made it it’s a natural and not man made .and what happened to that family is worse than anything i can imagine the hurt there going through is something that never should have happened sue is not going to bring the baby back so take everything u can get thats bullshit the laws are fucked on that shit u got pill poppers that cant take care there kids and still have them just cant understand
SO YOU TAKE KIDS FROM THERE PARENTS BECAUSE THEY SMOKE MARIJUANA WHICH IS NOT THAT BAD BUT YOU LEAVE KIDS IN HOMES WHERE METH AND HARD DRUGS ARE REALLY LEAVE THE MARIJUANA ALONE AND TAKE CARE OF THE METH PROBLEM BECAUSE THAT IS REALLY BAD AND THAT KID WAS WITH A GOOD FAMILY UNTIL YOU MESSED IT UP AND NOW SHE HAD TO PAY FOR YOU MISTAKES REALLY SO WISH YOU WOULD PAY MORE ATTENTION TO THE BIGGER PROBLEM WE HAVE
It’s called “collateral damage”. Wage a war and that’s what you get! Some day I hope we learn to wage peace so we get “collateral benefits” instead.
What I would like to know is what happened to the child killer? Will Texas execute that person? Then what about dealing with the bureaucrats who let the situation happen? What will be their punishment, if any?
Folks don’t like dead dog and dead kid stories so I hope this particular story winds up getting brought up enough that it holds the government of Texas’s feet to the fire and forces a thorough reexamination of policies as well as punishment for those who were involved.
Then cry havoc and let loose the lawyers to sue, sue and sue some more. If nothing else, Texans do respect pocketbooks so that is where they need to be hit in order to realize there is a problem and any more failures like this will add to the costliness.
Keeping Marijuana illegal is wrong. How many millions of cases where peoples lives were ruined or destroyed because these fucking idiots shit-bags don’t think we should be feeling good off some plant that’s the safest plant/drug in the world? I hope to God that this sick joke of the war on drugs ends soon. If all drugs were tightly controlled, no one would get harmed by them… I can’t think of the words to describe the inept mentally retarded thinking of these shit eating “people” who say they’re good and do nothing helpful or good for anyone but the already rich. nixon reagan – both repugnicants. Look at all the bad this drug war has done while doing nothing to stop the flow or quality of the drugs…
So so sad. When will enough be enough. Prohibition is wrong on every level, but what I will never understand is how people are able to accept relinquishing the most basic freedoms. How do people live feeling like government, and individuals policing us is the natural order of things? Prohibition IS oppression in its most pure form. It is a faceless voice threatening you with the loss of your life ,as you know it, dictating what you may not grow, consume, and inhale. Dictating how we medicate, recreate and diet is fundamentally wrong!
Once prohibition is gone we will see much of our world transform. I hope this story is a catalyst for change. I wonder if Obama and the mainstream media will even make mention of this story.
It IS a police state with family pets and even humans being shot. Our Constitution is in shreds.
All because chemical companies drive the country. Big pharama has long tried to make a synthetic form of THC so they can make money. It’s all about the money.
Deny the curative properties of THC (like with cancer) because there is money to be made off the increasing numbers of cancer patients – which now Monsanto is increasing even more with the poisoned food they offer us.
This is one more example of the preference for ideology over science, there is no reason to take this child from her home for what her parents did. The people responsible for this should be punished as the criminals they are.
I’m in tears by this article. This breaks my heart.
I don’t smoke pot, but my parents do, and I fully support and endorse it’s medical purposes. I grew up with them being activists, and as a two-year old, as much as they hid it from me and NEVER smoked around me (much like this poor, poor family). Guess what? I am a perfectly normal, and happy human being. I’m in university, I have big plans for my future, and I’ve won awards for being “gifted” in writing through out all of my primary and high school years.
Despite ALL of this, I could have been this girl. Like her family, my parents only smoked when I was in bed, or when I wasn’t around. But the cops who took this girl away could have taken ME away. This could have been so many people’s little girl. This is so heartbreaking.
I can’t believe this really happened. I feel so bad for that poor little baby and her parents. I would never EVER live in Texas. I think a lot of people must feel the same way I do because in the last few weeks I’ve seen many U-haul trucks some towing a car on the back with Texas or Oklahoma plates coming through town. I’m guessing bound for somewhere here in Colorado. Escaping the madness I would imagine.
I’m having a hard time posting this on Facebook. I think someone from the government is trying to prevent me from doing so.
THESE OVER ZELOUS BUREAUCRATS GET UP ON THEIR HIGH HORSE AND ACT AS MISGUIDED PROTECTORS OF CHILDREN. MOST OF THESE FOSTER PARENT GIGS ARE ABOUT A CHECK NOT ABOUT CARING FOR CHILDREN. THESE CPS CHARACTERS SEE THE TIDE CHANGING THE WAY MARIJUANA IS VEIWED BUT THEY ARE CLINGING TO THE OLD WAYS. KEEP RUINING LIVES CPS, YOU ARE REALY HELPING LIKE YOU HELPED THIS POOR LITTLE GIRL.
Target: Texas Mentor Program.
I didn’t even want to read this article. It was so painful to watch. I’m a grown man with two small kids of my own and I found myself fighting tears in my eyes in a public library.
But I’m glad I watched the video. I suppose the story I’m about to tell is the reason I have been an activist all these years. The privatization of child incarceration is at the very root of evil in the corruption of our law enforcement in the Department of “In”Justice today.
I live close to Austin. I know people in Round Rock. What’s more, I had my own run in with CPS 25 years ago when I was 10 through the Deparment of Human Social Services. I witnessed first hand how private facilities control the distribution of foster children for profit through State and federal funds for nearly two years while my mother exhausted all her inheretence– and the entire year’s budget from the Comal County DHS office– to get us back. She took down 4 cops– three men and one woman, fighting to keep us from being taken. By my standards, law enforcement had already removed the threat to my family when they arrested my stepfather on some trumped up drug charge– not for the illegal drugs he used, but for the legal alcohol he was addicted to. The “placements” my 6 siblings and I were separated to would stage “fundraisers” and auction off eligible children who had been in private custody so long they could be adopted. I was sent with one sister to a private facility near Boerne Texas called “The Mesia” ran by a fundraising woman named Anita who wore too much make up and smiled through dark, evil eyes. Would-be parents, elderly investors and foster care contractors were ushered into the gym where they would donate money and peer at children– some with delusions of a happy family– others like slaves on an auction block. The placement would put kids on sedatives and clean them up for “adoption day” filling their heads with hopes and dreams, while disguising the severe mental tantrums kids experienced from being detained and separated from their parents against their will. It’s all about the money; Our government sponsors the traumatic separation of families, and now I find that drug policies have been fabricating the unjust authority for private industry to gain lucrative custody of children for government sponsored profit.
Well I won’t let it ruin my poker night! I’m still raising money for NORML in my “Pot for Pot Poker Tournament.” Still, I feel that aside from being theraputic, my story should be told.
The marijuana user was my stepfather, who deserved to be put away the day we were taken by force by police– but for alcohol abuse (if anything the marijuana was the only calm memories we had of him). It was the year and a half they kept us from my mother that started up the real fight. 7 kids pays a lot of bills for soome foster care contractors. Some of us went to individual homes, some to placements. One of my brothers was placed in juvenile detention! He still isn’t right to this day. Can you believe the State of Texas would punish an 8 year old child in juvi after taking him from his mother? What’s the lesson? “That’ll teach you to love your mother and trust the system! Now learn how to be a deliquent!” The DHS used tax payer dollars and bought out judges that sympathized with us. They bribed our lawyer. Social workers made promises we would “go home one day,” but meanwhile all of my siblings were seperated into different foster homes to maximize private profits on what can only be described as a state-funded child incarceration and extortion regime for profit. We were told to behave “or you won’t get a visitation from your mother.”
I was ten, but the youngest was still breastfeeding at 10 months. We were building a house. I would be the first to admit that the mobile home we lived in before the house was finished wasn’t up to standards, especially with a violent drunk who needed to be arrested always breaking the furniture. But the whole case and premise for the DHS to keep us from our mother (after they forced her to divorce my stepfather and deported him) was that “she would find another man like him.” Is that reasonable grounds to award state custody? I mean even if it was TRUE?! The DHS used evidence from my stepfather’s association with drug dealers to prove this point. Until I write this now, I have to say I never wondered where they got their information?
As I found out after the lawyer drove away with a mercedes and the judges all but cried and gave up, that the reason we were detained so long was not only for profit motivation from the private foster placements; after investigating our lawyer, my mother discovered that the DHS knew they had an indefensible case to detain us for so long; they were just waiting for the Statute of limitations to expire so we couldn’t sue the County for collateral damage.
During those long nights away from home as a child, I told myself that if God would let me out of the Hell I was in that one day I would fight to make sure these things stopped happening to children in the State of Texas. I’m surprised that I supressed the pain over child protection cases and picked up on drug policy to satisfy my need for activism. All those faces from all those children still haunt me, I suppse, and quite often the negative narrative for prohibition is too overwhelming; our senses kind of shut down to protect ourselves after a while.
We kept our sense of humor and have stayed tight as a family over the years. We even forgot about what happened to us after a while.
But this case called me out. It should call all of Texas and America out. We can donate to NORML, we can write our Congressmen, but I propose we start marching.
We need to get organized and get pictures of this girl, get the Texas Chapter of NORML and we need to march to the steps of the capital in Austin, and demand an end to cannabis prohibition and CPS drug policy. If law makers are waiting for the money and the votes, we’ll get there; but for the sake of this little girl, we need to do things the old fashioned way.
Mr. Armentano, I know I’ve probably worn you out with my blogs that take up a minute just to scroll through, but if I “Dare” ask anything of you, I have one favor to ask:
How can we organize a march in Austin for Alexandra Hill? I will attempt to contact Texas NORML. Please advise.
Hope I win at poker tonight to help the cause.
the same thing happened to me i lost both my kids for just possesing a plant 10 years and guessing 20 grand later i still dont have my son or daughter my wife did nothing wrong i possesed the plant- the cps ladies put my wife through hell she was crying for years the kids are now with both sets of grandparents who look at me as a horrible drug user — i only smoke weed — one kid in Missouri and one in florida they dont even know eachother or me as long as i stay out of the picture they let my wife at least speak to the kids — our 3td kid my other son who lives with me asks about his brother and sister all the time the whole thing is so twisted man i did nothing wrong but possess some weed wtf
this happened to me luckily my kids are not in foster care but with my parents and my wife’s parents who view us as loser drug addicts because we smoke weed my son is in florida and my daughter is in missourrii we live 30 minutes away from our daughter and as long as i stay away they will let my other son our 3rd kid and my wife see our daughter – they took both my kids for just possessing a plant its over 10 years and im guessing 20 grand later as long as i stay out of the picture they will at least let my wife speak to our son and daughter they are with both sets of grandparents who view me as a horrible drug addict – i only smoke weed – the kids are in two different states and don’t know each other or me – my wife did nothing wrong i possessed a harmless plant and the cps ladies put her through hell she cried constantly for years they dragged it through the court system to drain our money till they knew we couldn’t do any more and when they knew they were winning they confronted us like we were criminals and insulted my wife i got mad and yelled at them then they claimed i was violent these people played us good at the time going to court losing time with our kids and seeing my wife sad plus diruption of life had takin such a toll i told them off i am not violent these people are so sick — our other son who lives with us asks about his brother and sister alot his biggest joy was playing xbox live with his brother in florida when they found out they took my son in florida off of xbox I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I DID TO DESERVE THIS all i did was possess some weed i never harmed anyone the whole thing is twisted man wtf
I grew up in foster care, and I’ve testified about this before on this web-site. Kids end up in abusive homes because CPS sees the foster parents as upstanding, church going, parents who will bring discipline to incorrigible kids. This could have been me. My first foster father took me down in the basement one night, and beat the living hell out of me because I had run away from school. It’s lucky that I didn’t have to go to the hospital. And It’s not just physical abuse but mental abuse as well. My second foster home with people of the Mormon faith was a little better but not much. They will say such things as,” I know all about your tricks I’ve read your rap sheet.” Or if your parents get visitation rights, after they are gone, they will tell your child such as; “Your mom is an addict I can tell by the way she acted that she hasn’t had her fix today. And I still got the hell beat out of me because I didn’t want to go to the Mormon church! Well I’m not Mormon and have no obligation to attend the Mormon church, you got that prohibitionists?
I believe in this case it was not marijuana prohibition that was directly responsible for the death of the 2-year-old girl, but rather the abusive foster mother who had not been given a proper background check by the CPS.
“According to court records, Alexandria’s mother has a medical condition that does not allow her to be left alone with her own child and Hill’s marijuana use had become so bad he almost dropped his daughter down the stairs.”
ALMOST dropped her? Because of pot use? Somehow I suspect this guy was NOT using high grade concentrates. So I really question his pot use being so inebriating that he almost dropped her.
“The TDFPS concluded that ‘Through the assessment of the Department and family members of the parents, it appears the parents have limited parenting skills and need to develop their understanding of being protective of their child. Until these services are offered, the Department does not feel either parent can be the sole caregiver for the child.'”
The Father says they took her because they smoked pot, but the state says CPS became involved because “the family disagreed who should take custody of the girl and decided to involve the CPS themselves”.
If involving the TEXAS CPS in your child’s life is your only option, you likely have much bigger problems than a weed habit. This seems to be the case implied here.
R.I.P Alex.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2385159/Foster-mother-beats-toddler-seized-biological-parents-social-services-discovered-smoking-pot.html
This is appalling! This happened very close to me and hits home. I have children and to think they could be taken from me for being a responsible mom is very scary. I have a neighbor that drinks excessively. He even has a court ordered breathalyzer in his car. Most nights the whole house including 4 young children stay up till early morning while the adults get drunk in the garage. The youngest even told me his mother let’s him drink beer! If I called CPS it would be ignored. Alcohol is legal. Does that make any sense? These caring parents lost their beautiful daughter for no reason while my neighbors can raise mini alcoholics and get away with it! Obviously our country needs a huge revamp of priorities. This makes me want to stand outside of that CPS office and protest the extreme penalties they have brought on. Those parents will never get a second chance. How can this country prove parents unfit then place them with murderers. Seems to me it is the government is unfit. Just think how much money the government paid for the life of that little girl. They paid for the investigation, the professionals involved and not to mention the monthly allotment the foster mom was given. The government took this beautiful girl from her parents where she would have remained happy and health and instead paid someone to kill her. This must change! We must let the government know this is not OK!
Julian, I would love to be a part of the march if we can get it together. Also how can I get involved in these poker games??
This is heartbreaking, along with others’ previous personal comments. Another case of “The-Powers-That-Be” using marijuana misinformation and paranoia to dictate public welfare policy, with FATAL results. This should’ve NEVER happened!
Look, there are many things marijuana helps with, including depression (which I suffer with daily). I am quitting smoking marijuana now so that I can find a job that will afford me the opportunity to truly and properly care for my son, but it is going to be a challange, as I cannot take most antidepressants due to the side effects (which range from extreme dizziness to insomnia to actually causing suicidal thoughts to extreme migraines)…I can’t have these side effects and care for my 8 month old (single mom). There are many many people who don’t use it to get high, the use it for things like depression and anxiety (which is what I have been doing). How can you take away a child from a parent because of this? I don’t understand the system at all, and doubt I ever will!
Complete, utter BS!
What i want to know is if the foster mother/father is in jail for abuse and child endangerment and I’m sure a few other charges after an investigation, if they aren’t in jail why NOT!!!!! I also think the actual parents did the right thing by smoking after Alex went to bed I personally think that is called adult responsibility!!
I respect all views, even though I might not agree with them. As they say “I might not agree with your view but I would fight and die for you to have the right to express your view.”
A comment above said that a more thorough background check of the murderer who solicitited the privilege and responsibility of child care not out of genuince concern for the welfare of those abused or neglected.
I would respectfully disagree with this. Think of all the serial killers / shooting rampagers who had no criminal record and so could purchase firearms en masse to commit some horrid final crime/atrocity/massacre.
These sorts of individuals can’t even be profiled to try to pick them out, to prevent tragedies that we hear about sporadically and attract almost complete media attention, make our stomachs churn, and worry about the future of this country and the world.
Yet in the land of the free, a drug conviction can stigmatize a person forever, even when they are non-violent, non-criminals who happened to get dragged into a legal quagmire, that is exasperating, costly, and demoralizing, simply for possessing a plant that all the founding fathers grew, that buttressed the growing independent economy of the states, and has been medicine and companion to humans for millenia. As most can observe firsthand and from documents, cannabis is about as relatively harmless as substance can be. Even drinking too much can cause a water intoxication that disrupts electrolyte balance so much that people can die from it.
Yet weed is “schedule I” in a BS scheduling charade, non-scientific, even blatantly dishonest, and this has gone on for decades. Nixon did not start the CSA drug war because of concern, he did it because of another reason.
Harvard professor Timothy Leary had been caught in possession of cannabis in Texas. His case went all the way to the Supreme Court. In order to get a “marihuana tax stamp,” a person had to disclose how much they had in possession or planned to grow. This is self-incrimination, self-entrapment, and an unjust pile of nonsense. Leary won this Supreme Court case, making cannabis prohibition UNENFORCEABLE, period.
That’s why that corksucker Nixon, passed the CSA fraud, causing social problems on a scale so large that people are not able to link the drug war together with the PROBLEMS IT CAUSES DIRECTLY. Liar, Nazi, war criminal, and sycophant to wealthy elites, Nixon was controlled by American Nazi Prescott Busch, father of GHWBush, and grandfather to the GW Bush. (source: Dark Legacy: George Bush and the murder of John Kennedy).
I would wager that it was specifically cannabis becoming legal, that panicked the biggest, greediest, racist a-holes into making a handful of drugs “illegal” with cannabis topping the list as if to mean it’s among the worst substances. And that is most absurd about all of the drug war nonsense. Without a guise of “concern” for public safety, people would see that it’s simply TRANSPARENT CORRUPTION and human rights violations. Therefore, to continue for decades, they had to LIE and also fund agencies made up of liars and well-meaning ignoramuses. They don’t give a sh*t about people, which they probably believed was the case, at one time, to HELP people. IMO a person would need to constantly engage in self-lying and rationalization to not realize that they are working in roles that makes them the ACTUAL scum of society. Get real jobs. The lie is ending. Contribute to society instead of making a mockery of justice while terrorizing people for a NON-CRIME.
Douchebag narcs, career politicians, prohibition lobbyists, prohibition fanboys (includes all drug dealers), and other mental defectives who “support” oppression and injustice….YOU don’t do any good for anyone. Your views were handed to you, not the result of examining the facts, using critical thinking.
These sorts could all go DIAF and the world would be a better place. (sorry if you have to look up DIAF).
This is nothing short of appalling. Those responsible for placing this child in the care of an abusive foster parent should examine their screening, placement, and checkup processes.
I don’t disagree with many people here, I think marijuana is generally harmless. With that being said, I would not touch it being that it is illegal and I do have a daughter that I couldn’t live without. Come on people, if you can’t give up your weed to ensure that your child has the best life with their own parents…then what’s wrong with you? Risk your child’s welfare to prove a point that pot should be legalized? Prioritize…
[Editor’s note: You’re a prohibitionist’s and an authoritarian’s dream. This discussion about a dumb govt prohibition regards cannabis. However, if govt bans coffee (again), tobacco (again) or alcohol (again), should parents abate from using these substances too when made illegal?
Parents should ‘prioritize’ for freedom and stand up against these illogical laws, like previous generations of parents did re the above listed dangerous and addictive drugs, rather than be subservient to failed laws. Why deny parents’ stake-holdership in reform?]
I don’t like to drink. It makes me stupid, gives me a headache and makes me feel nauseated. I have smoked pot all my life since the age of 15. I used to drink also when I was younger but haven’t had anything to drink for many years. It’s a sad world with so many people in it yet hard to trust anyone and make good friends. Pot sometimes is my companion. It soothes me, stimulates my mind and calms my blood pressure and my rheumatoid arthritis pain. It does many things for me without filling my body full of man-made chemicals. I choose to smoke pot for many reasons and do not see it causing harm to anyone. I do it in the privacy of my own bedroom or sometimes out on the patio.
I know that if you took any city street and lined one side with bars that sold alcohol and the other side with bars that sold pot, the results would be violence and anger and car wrecks on the alcohol side and none of this on the pot side. People don’t get angry when they smoke pot. Only if they add alcohol with it. And pot is not man-made and doesn’t have the physical side-effects of alcohol. Yet alcohol is socially accepted.
I can’t understand why the government doesn’t want to make the money they could from pot. I think it’s simply because they are too embarrassed about legalizing alcohol and all the problems it has caused that they are afraid that somehow pot would be the same. It’s not the same at all and shouldn’t even be compared to alcohol or even to the other man-made drugs it is lumped with. Pot is all it’s own and has very unique and positive benefits. Besides being relaxing for the mind, it is medicinal for the body in many ways. There is all kinds of proof of this yet people have such a mind set and are so stupid to not take advantage of what God has given us.
Now, look at what these idiots have done to this little girl because their parents would rather smoke pot (not to make a statement or because their priorities were screwed up!) because of medicinal purposes and to not give into the social mores of others by instead drinking alcohol.
I think it’s ridiculous, stupid, unwise of the government and people in general, to pass up such a useful and purposeful plant because some asshole government person said it’s the same as crack-cocaine. Pot is it’s own category and should be given the respect it deserves instead of being used for political power and taking the lives of little children just to prove a point!
God help us. Forgive us for our stupidity. And bring change to our world. Bring peace, intelligence and love.
Hein, let me point out to you that she wouldn’t have been placed with an abusive foster parent if,… you guessed it! Marijuana wasn’t illegal. Oh gee. I did have a good roll on the floor laughing at your comment, though. It’s clever.
@ Cass
Well, unfortunately even in a four-man poker game one of my older brothers is a constant source of argument over drug prohibition. And the bastard won with a 7 as a high card for a pair of Kings in Texas hold’m. Can’t win’m all, but I sure would like “Texas hold’m” to stand for a poker game, and not innocent children.
Here is a post I sent to Cheyanne@norml.org from the Texas Chapter of Norml in Austin:
Hi Cheyanne,
My name is Julian, I am a general contractor and father of two in Blanco TX. I met my wife in Austin and have friends in Round Rock, so the story of Alexandra Hill’s death hit very personally to me. I have been active with Norml on a national level for many years. I have even more recently discovered the Drug Policy Alliance, LEAP, the Marijuana Policy Project and donate when I can to votehemp.com. This is the first time I have attempted to contact the Texas Chapter of Norml. Like I said, Alexandra brought it home. This time, something more than donating or writing to our Congressman must be done.
But in order to organize a march, I believe the appropriate thing to do is to contact the grieving parents and approach them on how they would feel if Alexandra’s picture would be planted on signs in front of the capital? After all, it is appropriate to let the Hill’s lead the march should they choose to, and for us to follow. The protest would have two very clear themes:
1) End cannabis prohibition
2) End the privatization for investigative authority of private foster care contractors.
We need to establish a department that investigates state sponsored foster parents without the corruption of programs like the DEA’s SOD evidence fabrication from preventing investigations of private foster care contractors and phony treatment centers.
But ending cannabis prohibition is much more to the root of the problem.
If we achieve nothing else we can shut down Texas Mentor Child Placing Agency, the private agency responsible for (not) investigating Alex’s foster care contractor for abusive behavior. They are located here in Austin:
Texas MENTOR
4150 Freidrich Lane Building N
Suite G
Austin, TX 78744
Tel: 512-804-2338
The walk is too far in this heat from the State Capitol; unless we organized a bike-a-thon with water stands up and down Congress ave. then down the access rd of Ben White (290) to end up at the Austin Texas Mentor facility on Freidrich Lane. Or vice-versa. The cameras from KVUE will follow.
I’m beginning to like the bike Idea. People could park at the bike trails near Barton Springs, Zilker Park or the park and ride near 35 and 290 and we could start at Texas Mentor Facility and end up at the Capitol. We could set up donation stands with water and education literature for Texas Norml. We could contact the ACLU, votehemp.com, Dr. Bronner’s Soaps or anyone who would like to sponsor the event.
BUT WE NEED TO CONTACT THE HILLS FIRST. And that’s what I am asking for you to do. How would they feel about this? We don’t have to do this right away. We could let them feel out what they want to do for Alex first. The most important message I want to relate to the Hills is that THEY DON’T HAVE TO GO THROUGH THIS ALONE. The community wants to help. We need to change the laws that caused this tragedy from ever happening again.
I was disgusted when I googled their name and found out that there’s a private adoption agency in Texas called “T.A.R.E.” …As in, “tear” families apart. Don’t get me wrong; we need to shed light on the fact that there are children who DO need foster homes.
ALL the more reason why our state and federal tax dollars can not afford to be wasted on punishing non-violent cannabis users while using precious resources on privatizing child custody into a state-sponsored, fundraising child-trafficking industry… instead of providing adequate oversight into foster-parent abuse.
In light of the recent disclosure of the DEA’s SOD evidence fabrication program, the fact that CPS would use the corruption of the Controlled Substance Act to tear non-violent families apart is not only appaling, it happened to me 25 years ago.
For further detail, read my post at the Norml blog on Alexandra’s death. I myself at the age of 10 was a victim of state custody detainment using trumped up drug charges that held myself and 6 of my siblings for nearly two years. Even though my stepfather, the antagonist of drunken violence, was arrested the day we were separated into state custody, Comal County ignored the alcohol or the house we were in the middle of building as the root of our problems, and instead focused on finding drug-related offenses to keep us detained and charge my mother with drug crimes. I spoke with my mother about this after my recent post, and she told me that the F.B.I. was investigating us because the DEA was watching our bank accounts, charging that we were purchasing materials for a new house from laundered money. (Guilty conscience, DEA?) My grandmother was wiring money to my mother to help us build the house we were almost finished with when CPS became involved. My grandfather was a successful Doctor and had the money, but the money transfers were turned into evidence for CPS to fabricate a case. As much as CPS, the banks and the F.B.I. couldn’t understand we were not a crime family much less money -launderers, I myself never could put the puzzle together until the story of Alex helped me put it together again; the owner of the subdivision we were in knew some law enforcement in the County and wanted our land, now that the house was almost finished. It’s almost too incredible to believe, except I remember the people invloved; Mr. Sutton, the crooked land developer; The undercover agents that lived next door that were always offering my stepfather drugs; and the banks are obligated to flag any transfer over $10,000. So there it was; Crooked banks and enforcement agencies looking for assets and drug money landed my family in CPS. All that money could have paid to finish our house and send my stepfather off to some rehab. Instead, CPS unconstitutionally deported my stepfather “for life,” and invested all of Comal County’s budget for that year in fabricating evidence, switching judges and bribing our lawyer while they tried to catch my mother on drugs. Except for one thing: My mother doesn’t even smoke weed. She drinks a glass or two of wine a week, and a shot of tequila a year for as long as I’ve known her. CPS was outraged they couldn’t press more charges on her than assault on a police officer. She was arrested for taking down 3 police offers who attempted to detain her while social workers took us into custody. (She helicpotered a grown man into another cop and sent them flying. Guess the cops were just doing their job, but it was pretty cool). At ten years old, I complained to the judge “this is not a case of neglect or abuse with my stepfather out of the picture; this is a case of profit-motivated discrimination by separating my siblings from eachother into private detention centers. By what right does the state have to take a 10 month old child from his mother’s breast?” Judge Pritchard dropped the assault charge and CPS switched judges. The word was CPS “somehow” fabricated evidence that Judge Pritchard was beating his wife, so although he sympathized with me, he refused to hear the case out of intimidation. It was only after nearly two years when the statute of limitations ran out (to sue)…(And the CPS annual county budget ran out) that we were finally returned home. I remember telling my friends when I was returned to my old school; “I wonder what happens to all those families that really needed to be adopted… What a waste…”
After reviewing what happened to me, this case with Alex Hill, and the testimony of countless others, clearly allowing the DEA to write our drug policy of spending more on drug enforcement and interdiction while privatizing prevention and treatment has corrupted any government accountablity and oversight of the safe and healthy state custody of a child. If even Child Protective Services under the Department of Human Social Services can be corrupted by unjust drug policies from the DOJ, then what Department HASN’T been corrupted by the DEA’s SOD program?
Privatization of state funded child custody must end until accountability can be ensured and cannabis use is not permitted to determine child custody. And the world needs to know why.
How is it best to approach the Hills? Should we contact KVUE and ask them to speak with them and cover the march? Should you contact them directly?
Please let me know how we can support the Hills through this to be sensitive to their loss during a peaceful, educational protest.
Sincerely,
Julian,
Blanco, TX
You know, 300 years ago it was AGAINST THE LAW to worship any God you chose in England. That was a DUMB law. In alabama, you used to not legally be allowed to have sex in any position but missionary… hmmm. 2000 years ago you weren’t allowed to do basically anything on a Sunday,… punishable by – crusifixtion. Now those are some dumb laws. Now translate that to marijuana being illegal- the result? Another dumb law that SHOULD NOT be upheld. Our sanity and good times/feelings are more important than what some redneck alcoholic thinks we should or should not put in our bodies. Especially if it’s no bad effects and only good ones.
@St. Nick and Dime: Nope, she wouldn’t have been placed with an abusive foster parent had the foster parent been given a proper background check by the CPS – or for that matter had the biological parents not smoked marijuana. Arguing that the 2-year old wouldn’t have been placed with an abusive foster parent if marijuana wasn’t illegal, is like trying to argue that she wouldn’t have died if she wasn’t ever born! Correlation does not imply causation. The title of the article “Marijuana Prohibition Responsible for Death of 2-Year-Old Girl” is a somewhat sensationalist title in my opinion, is based on a logical fallacy, and attempts to play on the emotions of readers in order to further certain aims, i.e. to reform marijuana laws.
[Editor’s note: “Correlation does not imply causation.” Unless the underlying ’cause’ is prohibition-related…
Stripped down to the basics: this couple committed a supposed ‘crime’ as either being malum en se or malum prohibitum.
NORML and most of the commentators view the stated reason by the govt for the removal of the child from the home is malum prohibitum, which speaks to the fallacy of the law more so than the moral turpitude of the parents’ choice to consume cannabis during the govt’s declared 75-year-old prohibition of cannabis. This ‘forced choice’ by the govt has made millions of parents into ‘criminals’…maybe your parents too at one point in their lives?]
Hein, I dont care what you have to say. You are obviously not knowledgable about pot and therefore dont know that feeling good is MORE important than obeying a crappy law. Ill be sure to file your opinions under: disregard completely. You and other unhappy uncool people are the problem, not the solution. Why dont you mind your own business and keep your crappy opinions to yourself and stop trying to bring other quality people down. God!
See the father of that daughter has every right to kill those involved with taking away his child. An eye for an eye right? If anything like that happened to my boy all parties responsible would get a few kisses with a knife.
[Editor’s note: Is there a “right to kill”? “Eye for eye”? Hardly, as the world would be half blind…]
Update on the Alexandra Hill Story. I spoke with Cheyanne from the Texas Norml chapter and had a wonderful chat with her today.
As for the Hills, and a proposed march, Cheyenne contacted the Hill’s uncle and was advised that a march is not advisable until the pending prosecution of Alexandra’s former foster care provider is complete. The Hills have an official facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/justiceforalexhill
They are accepting donation to cover some legal fees, and are interested in possibly creating a non-for-profit, primarily concerned with reforming the rules of foster care. Although they are concerned with not interfering with evidence until the jury is out, this provides time to get other groups organized.
The Hills sound positive over potential pro-cannabis support; even though they wish to primarily reform foster care laws, there is a consensus that non violent use and posessions of cannabis should NOT be considered evidence to separate families, much less into a broken foster care system.
I will be contacting the Hill’s lawyer tomorrow to communicate protest strategies and schedules.
It feels good to help other people; when government failures occur that cause tragedies like this one we just need to learn how to get involved instead of pointing the finger at our leaders or society. I’m very glad I contacted Cheyenne first because there are legal implications that I hadn’t fully considered that give us an opportunity to plan and organize. Plus I got the scoop on how mpp.com can work together with norml.org to get things moving.
Then I get home and hear the Attorney General’s speech at the Bar Association’s annual meeting in San Francisco? Reduce the number of arrests on non violent minor offenses? Hell yes!
Then the Stop and Frisk law was shut down in New York Court today? Score!
All we needed to top the day off was to send someone to jail who really needed it; like a crooked government informant to get life in prison; Oh yeah; Bye bye Whitey Bulger! Say hi to your former corrupt FBI boss.
The longer the struggle the sweeter the victory.
If this was my child,I would be in ail right now.Fock this bullshit.
REMEMBER…there are people that are PAID to write comments.. I suspect “Hein” is one of these people.
The reason for this THEFT of children is obvious:MONEY ..in the name of the illegal “war on drugs” the government STEALS THOUSANDS of children to SELL to PEDOPHILES and wanna be SLAVE-OWNERS!!These stolen children are categorized and “cherrypicked” through as to what attributes the child has to make the most money..little girls are chosen to be raped&used in kiddie porn,while others are used for slave labor..EVERYTHING confiscated is selected and diverted to maximize PROFIT..just like the millions of TONS of confiscated drugs seized from raids,ports of entry etc.. It ALL goes through a screening process..you really think they DESTROY a shipment of 97% pure cocaine/heroin..somthing with an intrinsic value 3-4 times the weight of gold??..its the same principle with confiscated children..there is a reason child pornography is a 50 BILLION dollar a year industry..its all about maximizing profits.
There are people out here who are scared to death to say they are for marijuana because they are afraid this will happen to their children as well. It is so wrong that in this country people are living in complete fear of our own government. And a child who had never even been sick or hurt in her life was murdered not only by the foster parent but also by our government. They have this child’s blood on their hands.
Here is an email I sent to Cheyanne this morning, regarding a phone conversation with the Hill’s lawyer.
Martin Cirkiel (sir-keel); attorney for the Hills,
Said to me (Julian Olinick, this morning)
“This never should have happened. The Hills were not violent to their child. The child has no bruises.. she was happy. Healthy. State custody of children by CPS should be reserved for emergencies, where the child’s life and health are in danger. Essentially CPS took Alexandra away because the Hills had “a bad day.” A bad day does not warrant the state custody of a child. Its that simple.”
Mr Cirkiel went on to explain that there is an investigative story in process and an official statement from the Hills will follow its release next week.
I introduced myself as a representative from Norml and gave him (Cheyenne’s) email. His first response was “oh shit! Are you tape recording? Fuck!” –We forgive mr Cirkiel:) …he’s a busy man.
“No,” I replied, “I’m not even a full member of Norml, mr. Cirkiel, were all just helping out. I want to extend my deepest sympathies to the Hills on Norml’s behalf for their loss… For those of us that have experienced discrimination and violence from a flawed, privatized foster care system, we would like to see some protest. With that said, as Cheyenne explained there is an ongoing investigation and we do not wish to interfere with the process to the grand jury. If we schedule a protest it will be peaceful and on topic. The topics are two tiered: 1) to end the flawed and privatized authority to investigate foster parents for potential abuse. 2) to end the unconstitutional laws that allow CPS to take state custody of children for the use of a non violent drug– and then place children in a violent and harmful environment of unregulated foster parents.”
I went on to tell him we will be passing the Hills facebook donation link around “to help out with legal fees” while we await his advice and response. “Were at your service.”
It was a friendly, productive chat (after I told him he wasn’t being recorded). We have to understand if there is an ongoing investigative journal going on this story could go national next week. Norml has to prepare a statement.
Gotta get to work,
Ill catch up with you later Cheyanne,
Thanks for the good lead.
-Julian.
Amen to all the people voicing their opinion! Something needs to be done with these BULLSHIT laws and people being sent to prison and even beeing KILLED for them. NO WONDER PRISONS ARE ‘OVERCROWDED’ WITH ‘VIOLENT’ OFFENDERS! Its times like these EVERYBODY needs to take a stand, even if you are against using marijuana and think its bad. People are being taken from loving parents and given to the wrong people and BS marijuna laws are to blame. STAND UP EVERYBODY AND MARCH! OR RIDE A BIKE WHICH I THINK SOUNDS GREAT!
I found this story today with a highlighted custody battle going on between Oaklahoma and North Carolina today, and felt obliged to comment on it here. Here’s the link:
http://news.yahoo.com/oklahoma-governor-seeks-end-native-american-adoption-fight-223121582.html
As an American citizen with some Cherokee ancestory, I find that our priorities are all screwed up when it comes to state custody battles. Cherokee people have been adopting white and black kids for centuries. So have Cherokee kids been adopted by Americans… but to be fair, with the greater percentage taken to U.S. boarding schools. There’s so much American history about adoption it makes me wonder if we’re making legal decisions with the right priorities. If anything, talking to the Hill’s lawyer made me develop a decision over state custody:
State custody should only apply where the child’s life is in danger. Period.
Now I’ll admit, from groing up in a wild country family, one man’s definintion of “risk of life” is different from another. Most kids wouldn’t grow up like we did riding wild horses through brush and cactus.
What we must agree on as Americans is a definition of state study– a definintion of what we define culturally as “home.” Is home an expensive house? Or is home a loving family? Who gets to decide what is healthy and what is not?
A house may be destroyed either by alcoholism or a tornado, but the “home” must be defined by the living members of the family. Can we put the home back together and treat the illness in the home of the family and repair the house?
Or do we continue to break our homes apart by fueling private industry whose goals may not be in the best interest of the child?
Should the U.S invest in the health of families so they stay together, or prioritize the exploitation of federal funding to tear families apart?
The question then really isn’t about how “native” we are, or “who” we are as much as what we agree in law as U.S. citizens, such as investing less in drug prohibition ( a regime which should NEVER determine state custody) and using the revenue on education. I think we can all agree on that.
“Is there a “right to kill”? “Eye for eye”? Hardly, as the world would be half blind…”
Well, this is one of our government’s functions. People go to court to get justice, instead of doing on their own in the streets. But is one left to do when the government are the people causing the problem and also denying you justice when you do get to court??? The system becomes a sham and you then have to get justice for yourself. Government officials are to blame and if they don’t get arrested for these actions, things will just continue to get worse.
yeap, defenetly your country is sick, much more than mine and i thought mine was crap… :)))
I have lost several friends and loved one’s to drunk drivers. I have never lost a person to marijunia. I don’t think that peopel should drink at work or smoke cigerrettes or marijunia at work. But at home, in moderation, alcohol and marijunia should be legal. I have never known a child or person to be beaten by a person high on pot, but I have known far too many abusive drunks. I am tired of alcohol getting a free ride while marijunia is evilized!
shows you what time of f’d up world we are living in,from garland tx legalize bud!!!!
Illegals were rewarded today for breaking our laws and given driver licenses. Legal citizens have no rights what so ever. Rhinos are trying to keep the poor legal American citizen from receiving food stamps. But, they will give to the illegals hand over fist. Sick of our laws,this country is not free any more.
Alcohol Abuse is extremely worse!! How many people drink & drive with their kids in the car !!!??? Smoking marijuana is a natural relaxer and not once have I heard of an over dose of weed, or an accident because of it. Yes the background check blah blah, but they shouldn’t have taken the child to begin with.
MINDY: if your country wasn’t providing your family safety nor could you find work, I’m sure you would move around to where you could provide for yourself and family. Our four fathers were immigrants. People are on a path God provides. Opportunities can’t be shun simply because its not the right thing. We as Mexicans are hard working individuals. The real whole heated familias that come to better themselves. Have a little compation and faith. If your door leads to a better life I’m sure you’ll step foot inside. Instead f talking about illegal immigrants have some respect for this injustice of a law that cause this death, and let those who live a respectful, hardworking life enjoy peace of the few benifets that are being offered. Every race has their bad seed, don’t be so close minded!!!!!
*** hearted ** families
This is a very tragic story, and i feel for the parents that lost their innocent child. There is no reason any foster parent should ever lay a hand on a child for any reason. It sickens me to think about how CPS does not keep a better eye on its foster caregivers, but i also have to dissagree with people who support marijuana abuse. The bottom line is, its illegal.. you may have a clean house and food and take care of your child but a good parent should never use illegal drugs when their first priority is their child. Would you people be ok if this was the same story but instead the parents were crack heads? Or shot up heroin daily after their child was asleep? I dont think so, but just like crack and heroin are illegal so is marijuana. It alters a persons judgement tremendously, that is a fact. Having said that, i do not think a child should be taken away immediately, i believe any parent should have the right to get their act together and prove to cps that they can make the better choice of being clean and staying clean and be able to keep their child. No love is stronger then a parents love for their own child, and no foster parent could love a child as much. A lot of foster kids do end up with mental problems and have difficult lives so i do believe every parent should be able to prove to cps their ability to be better.
Other articles on the same story have mentioned the mother having a medical illness that didn’t allow her to be alone with the child. http://www.inquisitr.com/892429/foster-mother-charged-in-murder-of-2-year-old-alexandria-hill/
This site is obviously using the story to side with the pro-pot activists, however, failed to mentioned that the child might be in danger in both situations with either custody. I mean…At least put all the facts available when putting a story instead of using it for your own personal agenda.
@Syrin,
Speaking of “facts available” you might want to dig a little deeper. The child was living in the mother’s parent’s house who initially called CPS while the father looked for work and his own apartment. (Rent in the Austin metro area has doubled in the last 4 years; most young people have roomates). The decision to take custody of Alex Hill however, was based in the parents’ admission to smoking marijuana after hours. Which is to say nothing about whether the mother was smoking to treat her medical condition so she could care for her child.
Bottom line, as I have posted here before, state custody of a child should take place ONLY when the child’s life us in danger. Period. Non violent use of marijuana myst never qualify for removal if a child from their home.
Mr. Hill complained repeatedly about bruises and a moldy backpack, even threatening his own arrest before little Alex was forced back into private, unsupervised, violent, state funded foster care… For the last time.
We need to call our representatives. Call KXAN, in preparation of primary elections, and ask:
“if youre elected, will you continue violent cannabis policies that take state Custody of children and babies from parents who use nonviolent marijuana and place them in unsupervised, potentially violent, state-funded foster care for profit?”
Cut paste and send. This cant go on any longer. When we break apart other families we break up our own communities. Lets change this now together.
I rather someone smoke marijuana the reason why it makes laughter happiness and even helps your nerves which that helps on being playful that is sad that loving parent’s were judged for that when you can see that was one happy child it makes me mad everyday i see children that does need a loving family like that and you no what happens not a dame thing they want to take kids that are taking care of and have parents that put there children before them what i dont understand what the hell there job is!!!i am so sorry for your lost that was a happy beautiful girl the cps aren’t to have to pay for that even though nothing in the world could be no amount for your baby girl???