World Service Conference of Cocaine Anonymous
Daily Minutes
Day 1 – September 1, 2022
Session to open at 4:30 PM CDT
Russell S. calls to order at 4:32 PM CDT
Welcome to the 38th conference of CA
Jackie R. – recites serenity prayer
Nicole L. – recites serenity prayer in French
Morten V. – recites serenity prayer in Danish
We sing happy birthday to Russell
Please turn off your cellphones.
Magnus R. – reads who is a Cocaine Addict
Amanda T. – reads Who is a CA Member
Eileen C. – reads 12 Traditions
Amanda H. – reads 12 Concepts
Russell S. – start rollcall – we are tight on space. Please be mindful on your way to your row. If you have mobility issues, please approach the center mic. Speak clearly into the mic. DO NOT APPROACH THE DAIS AT THIS TIME AND KEEP YOUR NOISE DOWN
Votes: 175
Quorum: 116
I have been to a few conferences and that is the best roll call I’ve ever experienced.
Announcements: 38th conference. Of CA
Maria K., Albina K., Duane M. and Russell S.
This is a demanding role, please stay off the dais. If you want photos, please wait until we wrap up.
Please STAY AWAY FROM US.
Phones off please.
This is my first year as conference chair. This gavel belonged to Steve E.. He was a nutcase but he inspired me. I had question after question and he taught me something of service. There was no technology at that time and that gentlemen always answered any questions I had regarding anything. Those of us who have been at conference for a few years and we get caught up in business. Please let’s help the newcomers here with their questions etc.
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2019 was our last in person conference. Some of us are rusty and old. Thank you to the Conference Committee. The planning that went into this and the fact that we were fragmented last year, we have pulled together under the delegation of Justine K.. It is remarkable that we are at this stage. Thank you Lolita and WBOB. Thank you to WSBT. First year delegates stand up. Any last year delegates? World Service Board of Trustees and World Service Office Board? Thank you all.
I asked certain people to do the readings. We are recovering and participating in all languages. Please consider assisting anyone that needs it. Try to slow down debate. Don’t debate for the sake of. Rollcall was fantastic. If you cannot attend the full day or have to leave early sunday, consider proxying your vote. Talk to me, Duane M. . We have a seating chart. Do not move. You are in that spot for the duration of the conference
Breaks are regular. Please be prompt. Smoking only in designated areas. Vicki R. & Misty C., any announcements?
Vicki R. – the hotel has had issues with broken glassware so they have replaced glass with plastic. There is not any vaping indoors. Please conduct yourself accordingly. Please refer to the sheet in your welcome package. Password CAWS2022 for Wifi.
Russell S. – please provide us with any other updates before the start of business each day, Vicki.
No sale of merch on this floor please. Take it out to the tables in the hallway when we are not in session.
Flyers can also be distributed out in the hall on the tables. Nothing on this floor please
Archives is an incredible resource regarding facts and information about this fellowship. If there is some research you are doing, please refer to Cameron Freeman.
AV guy is Steve – please don’t pester or muck about his equipment. We had some issued but it seems all problems are sorted out.
There are positions available on the dais. Those will be addressed at the end of conference.
Do not approach the secretaries and utilize Duane M. when needed. Do not approach me.
Points to remember: Rule 62, enjoy yourselves and I am going to read an excerpt from Dr Bob.
First thing on the agenda is new area petitions.
Sarah T.:
Motion 1: to recognize the petition of the Sussex area to be recognized as an area of CA.
seconded
Debate: none
for / against
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Passes unanimously
Johan T.
Motion 2: the conference recognize the area of Greece as an area of CA
seconded
Debate: none
for / against
Motion passes unanimously
There are no delegates from these areas at this time
Barry H.:
Motion 3: That the Colorado area and the Southern Colorado to be consolidated into one area to be known as the Colorado area.
Seconded.
Point of Order – Aurora L. – the maker of the motion did not introduce himself.
Recognized.
Debate: None.
Henry A. – Point of Information is anyone here from the Colorado area?
Yes
Prepare to vote
for / against
Passes unanimously
Jackie R.
Motion 4: to approve the 2021 conference minutes
seconded
Debate: none
for / against
Passes unanimously
Is there any old business?
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None
Russell S. – at the last conference we found ourselves rushed into a time slot as our chair had to leave and it was unfair to the PI committee. This is not old business, but I wanted to apologize to the committee.
Jason L. – I’d like to thank the other committees for dropping some of their motions so that we could get through business.
Russell S. – it’s 5:45. To utilize the time we are going to do the TEC slate.
Objections? None
Motion 5 to approve the anrc slate: Alan Seigal, John R., Richard B.
All in favor: approved
Sarah T.
Motion 6: to approve Atlantic South regional slate
Randy M.
Discussion
All in favor
Opposed
Motion passes
Motion 7: to approve the european regional slate
Stuart J.
Seconded
Discussion
All in favor
Motion passes
Motion 8: to approve mainland regional slate
Greg B.
Seconded
Discussion
All in favor
Motion passes
Motion 9: to approve Midwest regional slate
Norma Jean L.
Patrice F.
Rodney D.
Seconded
Discussion
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All in favor
Motion passes
Motion 10: to approve Pacific regional slate
Gary P.
Maria K.
Robby S.
All in favor
Motion passes
Point of Information – Jason L.
This slate doesn’t seem to be the same as the people who came forward or it hasn’t been updated. There’s one person who either withdrew from the slate or are removed from the slate
Russell S. – is this correct?
Sarah T. – This is correct
Taylor F. – Point of Information: The top 2 nominees go to the slate where there are regions where there were 3 nominees.
Russell S. – Thank you for your point
Motion 11: to approve TAL 1 slate
Seconded
SLATE:
Richard B.
John R.
Randy M.
Stuart J.
Gregory B.
Norma Jean L.
Patrice F.
Gary P.
Maria K.
Henry A.
Jessi G.
Greg T.
Seconded
Discussion
Motion passes
Russell S. – Sarah T. would you like to finish your report?
Sarah T. – we are in the process. Thank you.
***Break for Dinner***
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6:02pm we are back at 7:00pm
Russell S. – Please check your phones that they’re on silent
Session to reopen at 7pm CDT
Russell S. calls to order at 7:06 pm CDT
Kim C. – recites serenity prayer
Russell S. – Before we get to business, the hotel gave feedback — smokers: they picked up two bucket loads of butts. They don’t have enough ashtrays yet, can we please put our cigarettes in the trash. The committee rooms haven’t been that well kept, so we’re asking to please clean up after yourself.
Next on the agenda: World Service Board of Trustees their report is in the box, please bring it up and read it, it was submitted well in advance.
Jason L.: our report is 33 pages long. We’ll only read half of it. There are a few bits we would like to point out, just not all of it. We’ll touch on Long Term Planning and developments.
Jason read from the report.
Motion 12: to start the process of Changing the wording of Tradition 11 as follows: Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, television and films all public media. Seconded
Russell S.: do you want to clarify your motion?
Russell S. – This is to begin the process to change the wording of this tradition, is that correct?
Jason L. – can I please read out the rest of the information regarding the motion?
Barry H. – reads change.
Henry A. – That is not the motion that I heard the first time. Can you please reread the motion as it reads?
Russell S. – the motion has been seconded, let’s allow them to reread the motion.
Barry H. – the process on page 18 was approved at conference last year and 2 referrals that allowed changes to tradition 11. The process was conference approved to bring the change back with the wording of tradition 11 and we have approached AA and we believe these are the referrals that the fellowship is asking for.
Russell S. – the motion is open for debate
Henry A. – I speak in favor of this motion as this is a step in the right direction and I believe this change is needed.
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Stephen C. – I speak in favor. We don’t take changes to the traditions lightly. This is forward thinking. We are including whatever might come our way for years to come with listing all social media.
Jason L. – I speak in favor of this motion. We had a meeting last year with CA World and AA. We discussed this at length and we want to work this through. We continuously receive letters and pressures around the topic of public media. It’s a moment on how we can provide some guidance to the fellowship. This has become a topic of consideration and I don’t know about the rest of you but my anonymity has been broken. I was congratulated on facebook for being a trustee at Cocaine Anonymous and my aunts and uncles asked me about this at my sister’s birthday party. It’s about time we considered this and bring it forward. We’re offering the fellowship an opportunity to have a discussion about this. If we approve this motion today we can go to Structures and Bylaws to review this and then come back to the conference for a vote. It’s still coming to this conference and with ⅔ of the vote, I think it’s a pragmatic approach.
AJ R. – I speak in favor of this motion. We took this to our area and everyone was very supportive. Many of us had our anonymity broken and we do need this change. I’m excited to take this to our areas. Everyone is stating what I wanted to state.
Wesley B.: I am opposed to this motion, I understand what we’re trying to do and feel that everyone thinks this will solve the problem. What concerns me is that the people who pointed this out would reflect the kind of things we’re trying to touch here. Changing this doesn’t solve the problem that people’s anonymity is being broken. They are ignoring the 11th tradition. People have been very open about their journey. We have provided guidelines to people about the 11th tradition and I don’t believe this will solve the understanding of the 11th tradition. This just isn’t about what’s happening on social media, I love that we’re trying to do this but rewording it won’t solve it.
Daniel S. – I am speaking against this motion. The fact of the matter is that when someone shares their time and when and if they fail, Cocaine Anonymous fails, people say that program doesn’t work. It still has to be changed and said because times have changed but something has to be done and it’s a process. When we send out a mailing, almost always things don’t make it back to us. We can’t go after each person, every group. There has to be another way to streamline this without going to every group.
Tom T. – I speak in favor of this motion. When I see the wording “recovered” I see that it works. It is simple and effective.
Johan T. – I speak in favor of the motion, I know it’s hard to ask all the fellowship to follow this but we recently did this in Europe and we asked all the areas to vote on this. It worked, it’s effective, it does the job at this moment. There might be new things in the coming years but let’s see this through now.
Aurora L.: I speak in favor of the motion. I would like to remind this body we’re voting on the process. In doing this we’re going to open the conversation on how to protect anonymity. We looked at the wording and social media and the public media is unknown and not predictable. If you think this won’t address the problem, think about it, it is to address the process.
Michael C.: I speak in favor of this motion. Anonymity is the one of the most sacred things we have in this fellowship. We need to set something up with this process. It’s going to happen, we just have to start putting it together.
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Ruby C. – thank you my point has been made, I pass.
Tammy L – I am in favor of the motion as it’s written. In my opion things have changed since this has been written. Adding the words media is good
Susan B. – call question
Henry A. – point of information – do i need to get in line again to ask a question?
Russell S. – yes, there are certain rules to follow. When you put your hand up a second time, everyone who needs to speak for the first time should speak first, I’m happy to allow you the opportunity to ask a question. It’s just difficult when people are raising their hands twice.
Henry A. – Am i right that the AA tradition was press, radio, television and films?
Russell S.: Yes, you are correct.
Russell S. – the question was called.
Russel S. re-reads the motion.
All in favor
All opposed
Motion passes with substantial unanimity
Russell S. – can you please refrain from clapping when a motion passes?
Point of Order – Edward M. – I thought we were voting on the question called.
Russell S. – there was no one speaking against the motion.
Jason L. – we are asking to defer our next motion until the conference committee brings their report. We are asking for a new item agenda for later, is that ok?
Russell S. – there is no problem to bring a motion to new business. You do not need to ask that.
Jason L. – we are not bringing a motion at this time. We will take questions at this time. There is a presentation available for questions at this time.
Russell S. – any questions?
Misty C. – on our committee, we have two trustees, when we have discussion throughout the year, we ask them for their opinions and when they respond, we feel, are they acting in one unit or are they allowed to have different opinions.
Jason L. – the trustees are entitled to go back to the rest of the board and come back with a revised opinion. Maybe someone gets attacked at a meeting and they seek the guidance of the rest of the board
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and come back to the committees. The World Service Board of Trustees comes to a consensus as well. If it’s a matter that they should take back to the board, that’s at their discretion. If it’s a matter of principle or policy, the more we speak with each other the better.
As the guidance of the traditions, we review the traditions and that’s what we’re supposed to do as a whole. We review it and we try to turn things around as quickly as possible. We don’t have trustees doing only one thing, we review many things.
Russell S. – that’s not the question i heard
Misty C. – when we have two trustees sitting on a committee, is there a way to get the opinion of the other trustee’s.
Jason L. – we have two trustees that sit on the committees, if we feel the need to take it back to the trustees we do
AJ R. – maybe the trustees are seeing that this is what the trustees as a whole are thinking.
Russell S. – any other questions?
Justine K. – thank you to the board of trustees, back to the point you raised, delegate mailings: why and when has the interpretation changed?
Jason L. – it hasn’t changed, your interpretation changed.
Justine K. – we now require a full review of the delegate mailing?
Jason L. – Not to interfere with that review.
Justine K. – Before 2019 that wasn’t the process. Where does it say that the board of trustees review this process?
Jason L. – it says in the SR14 does this want to be mailed out, we then decide that we do review the process, it is the responsibility of us to review this. Why is this a problem when we do it quickly? It’s simple, and only takes a matter of a few days. It’s the same as always, we do our due diligence. If we don’t follow our responsibility fully, then it’s everyone’s problem.
Tammy L – the Board of Trustees reviews the guidelines?
Jason L. – No but we do read the guidelines.
Tammy L – Last year we made a few revisions to the guidelines, they weren’t reviewed by the board of trustees.
Justine K. – do you have faith in the standing committees?
Jason L. – we have faith in everyone.
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Russell S.. Any other questions? No, thank you World Service Board of Trustees for their input.
Russell S. – world service board of trustees – please present.
George M. – as you’ve heard we have a long term planning committee that we’ve been discussing
George M. – read off the powerpoint presentation in its entirety.
Johan T. – the pie chart is divided in pies, the first thing is the division of each region, the second is the number of meetings, the 3rd is the number of regions as a whole. This will be the 3 regions of P, C, A the next part is region b, then europe, then the open region (the rest of the world). We flipped the map so that it would be confusing.
George M. – We’re not looking to report any motion today. We’re hoping to get this in the process. We’re not the only folks on this side of the world.
George M. – I will entertain questions. We have no motion
Russell S. – the doc is available – great presentation – do you have any questions, please go ahead. Take a day or two to substantiate questions if you’d like. We can discussed later as well.
Susan B. – concern with the restructuring is that I never want to see more trustees than delegates on the TEC. This seems to bring an equal number of trustees and delegates. You are reducing the trustees and regions.
George M. – you can only appoint 1 delegate per region, so the balance is the same
Henry A. – doing away with regional identity will help the fellowship to grow, idk if I like this. What does that look like
George M.. – it is not a specific part of the USA and identifies as US sentric.
Jami D. – how would you like to receive feedback?
George M. – take this to your areas, meetings, fellowship and we will provide a way to communicate with us.
Susan Loth – could you explain what is going to happen with South America?
George M. – that would be part of the Open region.
Jason L. – we expect there to be more regions. The idea is to reduce the number of regions we have now so that when new countries become regions, we are not adding more and more trustees. Please take this back to your areas, send in referrals, or email the world service board of trustees. The ratio of delegates is a good point. All these things are a starting point. Please refer to the pie chart. 45% of the fellowship is outside of North America and in 2 regions.
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Wesley B. – I want to thank you for the transparency. It is helpful. In the 30% that is when you break it up into your new sections do some go away
Johan T. – South Africa and Thailand will go away, your region will still be a huge region.
Wesley B. – where is the OSA in all of this
Johan T. – Pacific south.
Jenn S. – did you consider having Canada as its own region?
Jason L. – yes we did. We had 4 regions, we have a host of maps I can show you. We considered how many groups, travel, the ability for a region to get together, the thing about canada is that we have tried to divide into 2 regions. We tried by time zones and it is the same number of groups.
My opinion is that its great and the proposal to reduce the trustees, but how will you manage the workload
George M. – we get things done with technology. Travel, zoom allows us to work not always face to face.
It may be a little rough but I think this can happen.
- – do you have figures regarding how many groups will be in each region in each area with the proposed changes?
George M. – yes we have that on the chart as it is now.
David C. – congratulations on attacking this. A move in this direction is great. Areas that have been in Europe such as SA and Hong Kong, would they be given the option to stay with their current regions?
Aurora L. – how are you considering the size of meetings? Meetings are different sizes – 150 people at some meetings. How are you considering this?
Jason L. – we did look at that. Arizona is even larger. The number of groups, some groups meet 21 times per week. It is based on number of meetings instead of number of attendees.
Russell S. – may suggest we discuss this at a later time?
Jason L. – i have the numbers for the areas
Ernest M. – does the conference need to approve this?
George M. – definitely need the approval of conference. This is merely a proposal. We are not making any decisions to make changes.
Jason N. – to change a region – if this became a motion, is this a similar process as changing a tradition?
George M. – please take this back to your areas. We are giving a proposal. We need feedback from the fellowship. We are looking at growth and need to make changes.
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Russell S. – they require your feedback and your permission’
Taylor F. – was language taken into effect for the British isles etc?
Laughter
Russell S. – please thank the trustees for bringing this power point to us. If you have questions over the next few days, please come and let me know and we can open this back up.
We are in a situation now. We are to finish business in 9.5 minutes. We have several standing committees that are prepared to present
Earl H.
Motion 12 – to extend the session to allow the world service office board report
seconded
Debate?
Henry A. – Earl, will you accept a FA to accept a time limit?
Earl H.- no
for / against
Motion passes
**** BREAK ***
Russell S. – before we get the WSOB up, can I please ask you to consider something, it’s a short break I know, but for some people it’s 4am as they’ve traveled from other time zones. When we have a short break, it’s a short break, please be mindful of getting back to the conference floor in a timely manner. I’m doing the best I can and I haven’t sworn once. That’s a remarkable achievement. WSOB you are up.
Earl H. – Reads the introduction WSOB report as written.
Russel S. – any motions.
Earl H. – no motions
Renzo P. – You say you have no referrals or no motions but I count many – 23 open referrals. Can you please explain this?
Earl H. – that is a very good question and those referrals have been provided to use from an open conference sheet but the information is incorrect. We are aware of what the current ones are.
John B. – you’re not wrong. Earl and I and the rest of the board are reeling from this issue discovered earlier this year. We began to see referrals that went dormant. Our predecessors failed to report their
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work as completed or notified the conference committee. We have had to come to terms with what was going on. The answer is that we have this manifesto of inventory and each of these will be riding along with our agenda and some are easier than others to deal with. The documents were not compiled correctly and it has been a challenge. It is embarrassing. I’m glad we now know where we are and need to get current. Before the end of the year we will deal with most of this.
Edward M. – you talked about the Freedom Fund and its successes. Will you have the ability to sign up here at the conference?
Earl H. – yes we will. It’s been renamed the Freedom Fund and this is a safe way to transmit funds.
David C. is spearheading the project.
David C. – yes you can sign up for the Freedom Fund during this conference. You can find me outside at the end of the sessions Friday and Saturday and if you sign up you will get a free t-shirt.
David L. – the supply chain for chips and literature – what are you doing to streamline the issue with receiving our chips?
Earl H. – we are looking at other vendors and we have not found what we need yet. We will not run out of newcomer chips but we have to ration the rest and they have to go on backorder. There is an issue with the chips.
Miram F. – in regards to the shipping errors on chips and literature errors, is there a timeline of when it can start to improve and when is the extra staff being brought on?
Earl H. – the timeline is as soon as possible. We do need to do a quality check. We are working on this process.
Russell S. – we used to have a document that we referred to as annual orders and they were useful documents and useful to those of us on the floor. I cannot find where there is a requirement to provide these documents, not sure why they stopped though. Is there any benefit to revisiting this? It is a healthy practice and was wondering if you would return to a procedure as this was very helpful?
Earl H. – Roger Brown used to perform our audits and it was a good practice. I don’t know why it doesn’t happen anymore. Perhaps it’s not affordable. I would entertain what an audit might run. We will look into that.
Ernest M. – with the current issues, do you anticipate cost increases to chips and literature?
Earl H. – we are not sure at this time but there may be some minor increases required for chips and literature.
Susan B. – why that practice went away is clearly archived and it may only take 10 min to figure out.
Gregory B. – in your report you state that you are contacting local translation committees. Which one?
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Earl H. – we are working on the process of contacting them at this time and will contact local fellowship chairs to find out who that might be.
Gillian M. – when is HFC 1 going to be available in print?
Earl H. – I am not aware of any request to re-print. We would love a referral on that.
Russell S. – any other questions?
Kurtina R. – do you have info on the income (how much money was made) on the companion books?
Earl H. – I don’t know off hand but we can find that information.
Russell S. – any closing comments?
Earl H. – thank you for allowing me to be of service.
Russell S. – thank you world service office board. We are down to reconvene at 9am. I will try another day of no profanities. Jen please close us out with the serenity prayer.
Jen R. – recites serenity prayer.
Session closes at 9:37 pm
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