For those who came in late...

"In March 1993, after a decade of raids and arrests, and a particularly intensive recent period of random street searches, arrests and rough treatment, a spontaneous demonstration erupted, and marched to the police station, pelting it with eggs and toilet paper. Negative newspaper reports followed. Nimbin Hemp Embassy (formerly "Nimbin Hemp") members decided to hold a peaceful protest in a non-confrontational atmosphere, that ordinary people could comfortably attend, on May 1, 1993. That was the first MardiGrass. (The spelling is that officially used by the MardiGrass Organising Body) The MardiGrass Organising Body (MOB) was formed to manage the event and consists entirely of volunteers. The intention is to hold a MardiGrass every year until prohibition ends."

That's what Wikipedia says and we couldn't have summed it up better ourselves.

2012 MardiGrass is now on with similar venues and programming to last year. We tried to say we were a protest and not a festival to avoid a few hundred pages of Council paperwork and costs, but to no avail, and have now submitted a Development Application for every possibility, depending on weather. We will be back in Peace Park for the HEMP Olympix and music on a big stage, either down on the flat next to the bowling green if it is dry, or if it’s too wet, up on the old basketball court area above the new skatepark. If it’s raining music will be in the Town Hall.
Sunday’s Twentieth Annual Cannabis Law Reform Rally is now planned to march along the same route as last year, starting at the cop shop and marching to Peace Park for speeches and music.

This May-Day in Lismore ( 1st of May 2012) the HEMP Party of Australia will lead a march of concerned cannabis users and their friends from the Court House in Lismore to the Police Station – and then on to the offices of our public representatives in Lismore, Janelle Saffin and Thomas George.

The recent Australia21 Report has called for a re-examination of our attitudes and laws regarding drug use. This significant report, by a panel of esteemed professionals, was unequivocal in its verdict: in the war on drugs – everyone loses! It calls for widespread consultation towards fashioning a rational response to drug taking in our community. However our politicians are refusing to listen to the voice of the majority of Australians. This protest march has been fashioned to highlight this refusal by our politicians to engage in the drug law reform debate.

In a recent poll more than 70% of Australians agreed that our drug laws must change – yet our politicians remain silent. We must wake them up!

Some of the most respected voices in this debate have proposed that we must reformulate our drug policies, or young and vulnerable Australians will continue to suffer and die -yet our Prime Minister simply refuses to even talk about the issue? This is unacceptable.

This protest will be asking our representatives to engage with the recommendations of the Australia21 Report. The local Lismore politicians will be asked to participate in a night of dialogue with their constituents’ in the Lismore Town Hall at the earliest opportunity. They represent a lot of illicit drug users between them and both of their families have been personally touched by the drug war and should understand the importance of changing from a war on drugs to a plan on drugs.

It’s time our elected representatives faithfully represented the views of their constituents and stopped pandering to the drug lobby and other vested interests.

Other western world countries have tackled this issue. More than 70% of Americans currently have access to legally available medical cannabis and many countries around the world are abandoning prohibition. It’s time that Australia caught up with the rest of the world.

The HEMP Party President, Michael Balderstone, was enthusiastic about getting these politicians to engage in a public debate. “The Australia21 report really is a game-changer. Politicians simply have to sit up and take notice.”

May 1st will kick off our annual MardiGrass protestival weekend, May 5th and 6th , where we will be hosting a round table discussion ourselves which includes Dr Alex Wodak , one of the directors of the commissioned Report our PM dismissed before lunch on the day it was released.

The 20th MardiGrass cannabis law reform annual gathering the following weekend finally got consent yesterday for its development application. “Its all go from here on in,” said a MardiGrass Organising Body (MOB)spokesperson. “ The Australia21 Report has given a new optimism to the annual protest weekend.”

“ We managed to get our permits after changing the program. The threat of an injunction in the Land and Environment Court followed up with litigation for the costs in making sure nothing went ahead made us rethink and we are now having a wreath laying memorial service for the victims of prohibition instead of a mass surrender!”

“It’s no big deal and and we are now looking forward to a big weekend no matter the weather.”

There are 2 new Hemp Olympix Events for this year. The Rubbish Bong Race where contestants have to improvise and make a bong from whatever they can find and prove it works. And the “Inaugural Special Distance and Accuracy Alan Jones About Face Bong Throw.” Nimbin is looking more chaotic than ever with practise sessions littering the street daily now.

The full MardiGrass program and tickets are on www.nimbinmardigrass.com

More thoughts!!

Every day the news is full of drug busts, day after day. Sydney has nightly shootings and the cops are raiding bikies and frantically trying to curb their lifestyle. So why do the Police not support a review of our drug war?
These are questions Michael Balderstone as President of the HEMP Embassy would like the NSW Police Commissioner to answer and the letter he delivers to the Local Area Command nest Tuesday will be addressed to Mr Scipione.
“I was really disappointed by his response recently to the Australia21 Report stressing the urgency to change our attitude to drug use. Mr Scipione’s comment of “one pill can kill” was off the mark I thought. Does he believe the propaganda, or what? And anyway how come he is commenting on policy? I remember when Commissioner Ryan suggested decriminalising pot might help he was told to shut up very quickly and his job was to follow orders, not make policy.”
“I wonder if the police aren’t afraid of losing their power if drugs are treated as a health rather than criminal issue. Or perhaps they’re afraid of losing their jobs, which is nonsense.”
“Their relationship with the community would completely change if drug use is treated as a health issue. Respect could return and people would start helping them much more. In Nimbin very few people help police simply because cannabis is illegal and we all either use it or have friends who do.”
“Its a shocking thing to be labelled a criminal when you know you aren't. We urge everyone who feels strongly about the terrible drug war to join us next Tuesday, Mayday, at midday outside the Lismore Court House. We will march to deliver letters to the Police and our local Members of Parliament. Letters asking for a public forum to discuss how best to deal with drug use in the community, exactly what was recommended by the Australia21 Futures committee.”

For further ! Nimbin HEMP Embassy 0266890326 (Michael Balderstone) or 0266218419 (DA Jim Moylan)

Dear Editor,
This year on the first weekend in May is the twentieth Nimbin MardiGrass and Cannabis Law Reform Rally. It began as a group of people marching to the local police station and making speeches about the cannabis laws with music and dance. It has travelled through the years and become more festival than protest. This was a necessity due to the gathering of more and more people each year to join in our protest; to find new and ingenious ways to entertain the people. People who come from all over the globe to gather in our little village because we have been brave enough to not back down.

MardiGrass has always taken its responsibility in ensuring that the celebration is as safe and non violent as possible by training and deploying the "Jungle Patrol" a local security and traffic control outfit made up of local volunteers, to watch over and keep the peace at the various venues and on the street in general. It registers, puts up and feeds over a hundred visiting volunteers for a week, who put up and pull down ALL the infrastructure required, including extra toilets and waste management. It organises two to three days of events, ranging from discussion forums and exhibitions to markets,concert stages and the infamous Hemp Olympix. It culminates in what's now called a 'grand parade' and rally, with tourists coming for miles to see the spectacle. Which brings it back full circle and is what it started with in the first place. Not bad for a bunch of protesters, especially when they're all apparently stoned.

MardiGrass has also had fairly cordial relations with Lismore City Council in the past, usually liaising with someone who is necessarily an easy going person but who can tick all the Council boxes at the same time. Considering Lismore City Council cash in on our 'colourful village' and MardiGrass images you'd think some assistance would be forthcoming from their Event Management department. Instead of assistance this twentieth year however, Council has used threatening letters from their lawyers to force compliance from MardiGrass organisers in completing a development application so lengthy and detailed that it is mind numbing (and that's not just stoned hippies). Consider also that the organisers of MardiGrass remain the same core group year in and year out but that the responsible and paid Council employees have no such commitment or purpose and need a full induction year in and year out.
MardiGrass has used the 'occupy' stamp on its poster this year as an act of solidarity with protests worldwide, but MardiGrass is essentially about decriminalising a herb many people use, and having fun and experiencing our unique Nimbin culture, with lots of humour. The police riot squad are expected to attend again, and organisers trust that they will again not be needed but for the "Tug of Peace" in the Hemp Olympix, a popular event held last year between police and the general public using a hemp rope.

The entire village hosts the MardiGrass now. MardiGrass organisers practice harm reduction to the point of collecting newspapers and milk for disgruntled locals who can't get their cars out of driveways or who are afraid of the crowds. Mail drops go to post boxes every year informing local people of plans, but this protest has grown out of all proportion; it is now twenty years old,and still growing.
The report on the War on Drugs is timely for MardiGrass protestors, but the Prime Minister's recent party line comments disappoint; they show she does not have the spine required to lead on this important issue. And the MardiGrass will continue to grow.
Inez Price
Cullen Street
Nimbin
0427 409 626

What YOU can do
to end drug prohibition

In order to end drug prohibition four things need to occur:
• Reformers need to organize.
• Information about the failures of the current system and potential benefits (and challenges) of a new approach needs to be shared widely.
• Discussions need to happen.
• Politicians and other leaders need to be persuaded that it is in their best interest to talk about ending prohibition.

The battleground for change will be in the media. Journalists and reporters need to be engaged in the process where ever possible.

Get organized
• Join existing drug policy reform groups and / or start new a new group, meet regularly, plan and implement strategies.
• Contribute money, resources and time to existing groups!!!!
• Go to drug policy reform conferences to share ideas and meet people.
• Organize fund raising events.

Share Information
• Educate yourself. Explore the internet, read books, find and understand the research (www.whyprohibtion.ca, www.drugwarfacts.org, www.tdpf.org.uk, www.drugpolicy.org, etc)
• Share the best of the above with family, friends and community.
• Learn the language of change. Talk about the need to regulate and control all currently illegal drugs based on human rights and public health principles – not “drug legalization” and the need to “protect our children – end prohibition now”. See the document “questions, answers and soundbytes at www.markhaden.com)
• Find good books and recommend them to your local library.
• Give research information on the failures of drug prohibition to students and encourage them to write papers on this topic.
• Join email list-serves where you get regular information about what is happening.
• Make distribution lists and then tweet, facebook, email and spam others with the information.
• Start a web site where you share information.
• Develop an information brochure and hand this out widely.
• Come out of the closet – take about your own experiences.

Promoting Discussion
• Hold events which support open public discussions – invite speakers to share their ideas. Invite the media to attend and participate where possible. Be prepared for lots of tears when people speak as prohibition is the source of a lot of pain and suffering in many people’s lives.
• Show up to existing drug policy reform events, offer your support and speak your truth.
• Ask health officials / managers why they are not speaking out about the need to promote of a health perspective to drugs and challenge the criminalization of drugs. Show them that the research shows that criminalization of drugs increases both health and social problems and remind them that they say that their approach is “evidence based”.
• Ask the police what evidence they have for supporting drug prohibition and ask them why they are not encouraging alternative approaches to reducing drug use and associated harms, as the research shows that criminalization of drug users encourages crime.
• Be honest with your children. Teach them about both the harms from drugs and the harms from drug prohibition.
• Buy or make bumper stickers, T shirts, mugs, stickers with catchy slogans and use them everywhere.
• Stage visually dramatic events, take lots of pictures, send to the media and post on the web. Examples: Put up crosses in a park with the names of all the people who have died from illegal drugs, carry a coffin into city hall, hang a drug war dummy, have groups with logo T shirts in interesting locations.
• Call in to radio talk shows after memorizing the soundbytes of change.

Influencing politicians and leaders
• Talk to the leaders. Find people who play a leadership role in a variety of communities (e.g. faith communities, civil rights groups, health groups, citizen action groups, union leaders, aboriginal groups, etc) and share the research with them and ask them to help.
• Write a letter to a politician - “yes” this makes a difference.
• Set up a table in a public place where you have a variety of text / sentences / Q&A’s on small sheets of paper exploring a range of reasons to end drug prohibition. Ask people who walk by to write a letter, either in their own words or using the supplied text supporting the cause. Keep and copy the letters and meet with politicians and the media and give them the letters. Save the copies and repeat.
• Write letters to the media.
• Participate in online polls and sign online letters and declarations and share the links to these widely (e.g. Vienna Declaration)
• When you see an article in the news about drugs, prohibition or HIV, etc find the article online and contribute a thoughtful, compassionate response in the comments section. Assume politicians are reading what you say and present yourself as a concerned member of mainstream society who wants to reduce the damage done to our children by drug prohibition.
• Organize peaceful public demonstrations or go to existing protests. Take professional looking banners, signs to be waved, brochures and bullhorn (with new batteries). Memorize catchy chants.
• Vote for politicians who support freedom / liberty and against politicians who promote fear of others.

Be prepared to be persistent as lots of polite repetition is required.

This document is available at www.markhaden.com

MOB HANDBOOK MOTTO>>>>"Don't panic."

The MardiGrass Organising Body (MOB) has struggled to have clear
decision making discussions with Lismore Council about this years
protest. The weekend has run at a substantial loss the last two years
and we tried to simplify the program for this year. Also because we
have a terrific new skatepark in the middle of the HEMP Olympix Arena
now and it is so wet we well may not be able to use Peace Park again
like last year.

We suggested the protest does not need a Development Application(DA)
and in fact police perhaps are supposed to manage traffic in a
protest. We offered to not fence Peace Park or close Sibley Street to
avoid the DA.
A DA is needed for camping at the showgrounds and that has been submitted.

We now have until this Friday to submit a DA for other activities and
traffic management plans, parking, toilets, rubbish, and a million
other things like emergency plans and signs everywhere etc. We have an
appointment to meet with Council on Thursday morning and we will
submit our DA then, with CLOG to the rescue with technical know how!

Council has had 2 meetings with Police about MardiGrass without us
which we think is very uncool. Police have objected to several of our
ideas without us even being there to discuss the issues involved. Of
course the Police are as keen on MardiGrass as the Pope is on condoms.
Insurance companies have the Council by the nuts good and tight it
seems, with the police helping them to twist!

What we want to know is who is putting in the Easter DA for Nimbin,
because there will be huge crowds, traffic jams, music on the streets
and parking dramas. But we'll have a great time and very few troubles
no doubt.

Sir Joseph Banks and the Question of Hemp Book Launch

Drew Hutton, Green historian and activist, will launch Sir Joseph Banks and the Question of Hemp by Dr John Jiggens at Avid Reader, Boundary Street, West End, on Tuesday April 24 at 6pm.

Sir Joseph Banks and the Question of Hemp examines the way the hemp question directed Britain’s colonial policy and naval strategy between 1776 and 1815, a period when Britain lost its first empire in the US and began a second empire, centred on the Pacific.

It argues that New South Wales was intended as a replacement hemp colony for the US. The convicts were a cover story. ‘The Father of Australia’ Sir Joseph Banks was a cannabis zealot, who, together with his protégé Governor Philip King, was responsible for the cultivation of tens of acres of cannabis on the banks of the Nepean and Hawkesbury Rivers in the 1800s.

Although Banks was primarily interested in hemp as a fibre crop, he was also intrigued with drug cannabis or ganga. Banks was regularly sent quantities of hashish from James Matra, the British consul in Tangiers. The poet and early drug enthusiast, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, found out about Banks’ stash of hashish and got Banks to send him a quantity. Coleridge later wrote an account of his experience, which is the first recorded use of drug cannabis in England. This, of course, makes Banks the first supplier of drug cannabis in England.

If you can’t make it to the launch, ask your book shop to get Sir Joseph Banks and the Question of Hemp.

Or ask your library to get a copy of Sir Joseph Banks and the Question of Hemp.

John will be attending MardiGrass this year to promote his book. Meet him there!

MULLAWAYS MEDICAL CANNABIS PTY LTD

PRESS RELEASE 15th March 2012

NSW POLICE SEIZE MEDICINE

The NSW Police have hit a new low by descending in an expensive tax-payer-funded operation with a police chopper and confiscated the medical cannabis crop needed to make Mullaways Medical Cannabis Tincture. The medical cannabis crop was a strain of cannabis specifically bred by Mullaways Medical Cannabis Pty Ltd to be extracted into a medical tincture. Each medical cannabis plant was labelled for specific patients. Through the confiscation of this medical cannabis crop, the NSW Police have deprived many Australians their medicine. It is a form of discrimination against sufferers of chronic illness and pain whom need this medicine – Medical Cannabis.

300 plus chronically ill and dying patients will now be deprived of this indispensible medicine used for the relief of pain and suffering

Many of the patients have been using Mullaways Medical Cannabis Tincture for years and have letters of support from their doctors to use the tincture. Mullaways is the only company in Australia providing medical cannabis. The only other avenue for patients to access medical cannabis is through the Commonwealth Government's Special Access Scheme. This is a long and expensive process as this product is required to be imported from an overseas medical cannabis company and many patients are unable to afford it as it is unavailable on the PBS.

Tony Bower, Managing Director of Mullaways Medical Cannabis Pty Ltd, says he has maintained clear accountability and transparency in his business. Both State and Federal Governments have been fully aware of Mullaways Medical Cannabis operations for years.

Mullaways Medical Cannabis Pty Ltd has been open and forthright with all parties, especially the Government. Tony has complied with all government requirements for the past three years to get his company up and running and to get this medicine to the dying and chronically ill people who need it free of charge. Federally approved, where is the Federal intervention?

Director of Mullaways Mr Tony Bower says, “My culture does not allow me to refuse help to people who ask for it and where I know I can help, as it is, and surely should be, in any civilised culture. I could not have been any more honest and open about what I am doing. I know that I can help and even heal people with my medicine, a medicine that doesn't get people stoned. Almost half of Americans now have access to legal medical cannabis now. We need to urgently address the issue here in Australia.”

Tony Bower said “I have worked tirelessly to try to please people in government but continue to be treated with disrespect. The patients need their medicine daily. Does the NSW Department of Health have a plan for the dying and chronically ill medical cannabis patients in this part of country?”

Anthony D Bower, Director & Founder Mullaways Medical Cannabis Pty Ltd. http://www.mullawaysmedicalcannabis.com.au/

Medical Cannabis Treaty Demonstration Photos

The Obama Visit

Some Wars are more important than others.....

2011

2011 HEMP Olympix Results:

Growers Iron Man:

1st - Luca (Italy) - 31 seconds
2nd - Clemont (France) - 33 seconds
3rd - Ollie (France) - 37 seconds

Growers Iron Woman:

1st - Karen (Sunshine Coast) - 51.06 seconds
2nd - Hannah (Sunshine Coast) - 51.45 seconds,
3rd - Sarah (Aratula) - 55.23 seconds

Mens Bongthrow:

1st - Hayden (Bongchucka Heads)
2nd - Garry ( Nimbin)
3rd - Luke (Caboolture)

Womens Bongthrow:

1st - Rachael (Ipswich)
2nd - Sallie (Nimbin)
3rd - Lisa (Dublin)

Joint Rolling:

Speed Roll:

1st - David (France) - 24 seconds
2nd - Bob the Joint Builder
3rd - Sally (Nimbin)

Blindfold:

1st - Bob the Joint Builder - 53 seconds
2nd - David (France)
3rd - Sarah (Aratula)

Adverse Conditions:

1st - Raphael (France) - 36 seconds
2nd - Bob the Joint Builder
3rd - Selina (Brisbane)

Artistic Roll:

1st - Tobias (Germany) - "Orchestral Triangle with Striker"
2nd - Sarah (Aratula) - "Tulip"
3rd - Bob the Builer - "Prince William" & Sally (Nimbin) - "Kate Middleton" - a Joint Effort.

A New Perspective for people opposed to ending Prohibition. By WGH.

Imagine if you will, that you are eating a nice meal and drinking the best red wine in your collection, or maybe just an medium priced bottle of good Aussie wine. In front of you is the newspaper you picked up on the way home and suddenly with disbelief you read the headline on the front page, “Alcohol Prohibition Now a Certainty, New Laws Passed!”

You read it again and look at the wine bottle on the table. This is the first you have heard, but for weeks now, the new government has talked constantly about the need to tackle the huge social cost of this legal nightmare drug, alcohol. Violent crime in the city is up nearly three hundred percent, alcohol related health costs are soaring as the population ages, and the number of chronic alcoholics has reached epidemic proportions.

“We had to do something drastic” claims the minister of health, a newly elected Christian anti drug campaigner and active member of the Drug Free Australia organization.
You read on, “During a tumultuous parliamentary session lasting all night, the bill to add alcohol to the list of already illegal drugs, such as cannabis and heroin, has passed with a very narrow majority through both houses of parliament”. “Production and consumption of alcohol will now be a criminal offense with possession of up to a litre (in any form) punishable by a maximum of a two thousand dollar fine, or two years in prison”.

After your disbelief settles, you get angry, “How dare they do this!” you think and “screw them, I will make my own wine and beer and they can go to hell!”. You are not alone, Many, otherwise law abiding citizens, make the same decision to use the drug of their choice. After all, what right has the government to tell us what we can and can't put in our own bodies? Lots of legal rights, as it turns out. You feel it is a little like the censorship of your thoughts, and you would be right. It turns out there are millions of fellow Australians who are willing to break this ridiculous law in the privacy of their own homes. Most think, “they can't lock us all up”. What you soon realize though, is that the law enforcers, at the behest of the government, are prepared to violently invade your home and your basic civil liberties, to search for this newly added contraband.

One year into total prohibition and now the zealots have added tobacco to the list of prohibited products. Taxes have risen markedly to cover the black hole created by the loss of tax revenue. There has been a huge increase in spending on law enforcement and the prison budget has blown out by billions, with fifteen new private prisons planed to house the nearly four million expected inmates. There are now thousands of people, who the previously legal industry employed, out of work. Some get new jobs, others have joined the ever growing black market entrepreneurs, to supply a huge number of illegal drinkers.

This large black market industry of very unsavory types controls every aspect of the supply of alcohol and other drugs, except that is, the safety of it's users. They don't ask our kids for ID, they don't care as long as they have the money for the product. Prohibition supporters are now claiming a link between alcohol and harder drugs such as heroin. The so called “gateway drug” status is now associated with alcohol. Over seventy percent of all prisoners, are now inside for a drug, alcohol, or tobacco related crime, at a cost of $65,000 per prisoner, per year. Some members of the public are pushing to have the law changed, but powerful vested interests, are now lobbying the government to retain the status quo.

Police remain stretched to the limit. Rapes, murders and burglaries go unsolved as priority is given to “drug crimes” because the tables laden with cash and contraband look so much more glamorous in the media. The drug lords of the black market now just sit back and watch the “tax free” dollars flow in like a river in full flood. They now have no other means of settling disputes over territory so violent turf wars are a regular occurrence in the streets.

You have also decided not to deal with street dealers. You are prepared to take a greater legal risk to do so by using your shed to produce beer or grow tobacco for your own use. You also install a carbon exhaust filter system to clean the smell from the air, to reduce the risk of your neigbours reporting you to the police. You still buy illegally distilled spirits from street dealers, risking possible blindness from high levels of wood alcohol. You feel a little paranoid whilst watching news reports each night showing raids by heavily armed SWAT teams on suburban homes suspected of producing alcohol or growing tobacco illegally. You think “I could be next”.
Each day, normal people from all walks of life - teachers, police, lawyers and doctors, are arrested. In many cases they become unemployed because the criminal record for “drug production” never really goes away - it is a actually a life sentence. These newly created criminals also find out when they go to travel that many countries refuse them a visa based on their criminal record. Those who can't find work further burden tax payers through welfare payments.

As the penalties increase over the next twenty years, due to lack of impact, or any real reduction in “alcohol crime”, drinkers and smokers become more and more cautious and scared to speak out.Politicians are now afraid to suggest bringing an end to prohibition for fear of being labeled “soft on alcohol”. Action groups are forming all over the Internet, claiming this law has to change and the issue treated as a health problem - not a criminal one, but this cry falls on deaf ears.

There is a major annual festival in the former wine growing district of the Hunter Valley to draw attention to the heavy handed approach by the Police and lack of evidence behind this failed and costly policy. Helicopters circle the area for months each year, searching for clandestine grape crops hidden in state forests, or grown hydroponically under lights in many suburban homes.

The recently elected Prime minister admits to “having a few drinks” at university and no one bats an eye, I mean, who cares, everybody does it, don't they? Just don't get caught.

ooOoo

Entirely fictitious, the above scenario sounds quite ridiculous and far fetched by today's standards. It is however, the very real and unjust situation many of the world's millions of cannabis users live with every day of their lives, and have done for the past forty or fifty years, simply for choosing to use a drug now well known to be much safer than alcohol or tobacco, but unfortunately illegal and considered a serious criminal offense. In the USA today, a cannabis user is arrested every thirty seven seconds, think about that for a minute.

The penalties cannabis users and small time growers face do far more harm than the drug itself. Self righteous anti drug campaigners would rather see thousands of people's lives and families destroyed by overly draconian penalties maintaining a failed and costly policy, for doing nothing more than getting a little high in the privacy of their own homes.

Welcome to the evils and the nightmare that is cannabis prohibition.

2010

2010 HEMP Olympix Winners

Women's BongThrow:

1. Rachael - Ipswich - 43.8 metres
2. Liddie - Bong Chucker Heads - 37.6 metres
3. Emma - Bong Chucker Heads - 35.1 metres

Men's Bong Throw:

1. Brendan - Bong Chucker Heads - 51.5 metres
2. Zac - Newcastle - 51.3 metres
3. Voss - Sydney - 46.6

Men's Iron Grower/Person:

1. Scott - Sydney - 1minute 14 seconds
2. Ghost - Coast - 1 minute 17 seconds
3. Mark - Tasmania - 1 minute 19 seconds

Women's Iron Grower/Person:

1. Andrea - Victoria - 1 minute 31 seconds
2. Jakira - Nimbin - 1 minute 35 seconds
3. Rachael - Ipswich - 1 minute 44 seconds

Joint Roll - Speed:

1. Bob the Builder - Australia - 25 seconds
2. Sally - Nimbin
3. Matt - France

Joint Roll - Blind:

1. Bob the Builder - Australia - 44 seconds
2. Matt - France - 1 minute 14 seconds
3. Sally - Nimbin - 1 minute 15 seconds

Joint Roll - Adverse Conditions:

1. Bob the Builder - Australia - 31 seconds
2. Sally - Nimbin
3. Ash - Sunshine Coast

Joint Roll - Artistic:

1. Matt - France
2. Bob the Joint Builder
3. Groover - Sydney

Saturday, 4:20, Million Man Marihuana March.

2010 Mardigrass Photos

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Jann Subiaco Photo Gallery Adobe

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Kathwa's Photos Flickr

Gallery by Byron Bay Photographer Tao Jones Porta

Dr Bob Melamede and Mark "Moose" Heinrich at MardiGrass.

The winds of change blowing on cannabis law reform

Global cannabis prohibition dates from a League of Nations meeting in Geneva
in 1924. The arguments put up at that meeting made no scientific sense but
were accepted by the delegates. Australia was represented at the meeting so
the Commonwealth then wrote to the states advising that cannabis should be
prohibited. NSW wrote back saying that the drug was not known in this state
but if the Commonwealth wanted NSW to prohibit the drug, then NSW would
comply. More than three score and ten years later we still prohibit
cannabis. But an edifice built on sand is slowly getting unstable.

It is hard to keep the same attitudes to cannabis prohibition when Obama and
the two previous US Presidents are known to have smoked cannabis. Perhaps
cannabis is a gateway drug after all * the drug that young Americans have to
try if they want to become President of the USA.

Public opinion on cannabis prohibition is changing rapidly in the USA. In
1969, the national Gallup poll recorded 84% opposition and 12% support for
the question ‘do you support the legalization of marihuana?’ But in 2009,
opposition had dropped to 54% while support had increased to 44%. At this
rate of change, supporters will outnumber opponents within a few years. In
several other national US public opinion polls, supporters already outnumber
opponents. Medical marihuana is already legal in 14 states of the USA
(representing a sizeable proportion of the population of the country). The
number of states starting to allow medical marihuana is steadily increasing.
The Obama Administration is allowing state law to prevail ov er federal law
on the question of medical marihuana. In November, the citizens of
California (and possibly some other states) will vote to decide whether or
not cannabis can be taxed and regulated. The global financial crisis has
bankrupted several states (including California). Taxing cannabis provides a
new revenue stream while abandoning prohibition promises to cut law
enforcement costs. The need to increase government revenue while cutting
expenditure is likely to grow in other countries, including Australia.

In Europe, several countries have either directed police to not enforce laws
against personal possession of drugs including cannabis (the Netherlands,
Germany) or removed legal sanctions against personal possession (Portugal,
Spain, Italy and the Czech Republic). Similar developments have occurred in
half a dozen South American countries.

Attitudes to medicinal cannabis are also starting to more closely reflect
the scientific evidence in a growing number of countries. The evidence for
benefit keeps growing. It is scandalous that Australian men and women in
2010 continue to suffer from symptoms that could be made less unpleasant
with cannabis.

The proportion of Australians consuming cannabis is among the highest in the
world. But in Australia the health damage from tobacco is 40 times greater
than cannabis, alcohol is eleven times greater than cannabis and all illicit
drugs is ten times greater than cannabis. Concerns about possible mental
health problems in people smoking cannabis are discussed a great deal in
Australia and the UK. There is still no evidence (or even arguments) to
suggest that these possible health complications are decreased while demand
is largely supplied by criminals and corrupt police.

The debate on cannabis law reform in Australia is now way behind the debate
occurring in other developed countries. It’s high time (no pun intended) we
started asking whether prosecuting minor cannabis offences is an appropriate
use of scare law enforcement resources in 2010, or whether we would be
better off treating cannabis more like alcohol and tobacco * and therefore
taxing and regulating it. many senior police now favour a more rational
response to cannabis.

The safest way to use cannabis is not to use it at all. But if you are going
to use it, please follow the Nimbin Health and Medical Research Council
(NHMRC) guidelines on safer use.

Let’s work together to achieve the taxation and regulation of cannabis and
its medicinal use to ease suffering.

Dr Alex Wodak,
President,
Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation

Ganja faeries have started meeting each Tuesday at 5.30pm at the market stage. All welcome

"Drug Lords" vs "Drug Czars": Cut the ground out from under both of them!

Prohibition is a sickening horror and the ocean of incompetence, corruption and human wreckage it has left in its wake is almost endless.

Prohibition has decimated generations and criminalized millions for a behavior which is entwined in human existence.

Based on the unalterable proviso that drug use is essentially an unstoppable and ongoing human behavior which has been with us since the dawn of time, any serious reading on the subject of past attempts at any form of drug prohibition would point most sensible people in the direction of sensible regulation.

By its very nature prohibition cannot fail but create a vast increase in criminal activity, and rather than preventing society from descending into anarchy, it actually fosters an anarchic business model - the international Drug Trade. Any decisions concerning quality, quantity, distribution and availability are then left in the hands of unregulated, anonymous, possibly ruthless drug dealers, who are interested only in the profits involved.

Many of us have now finally wised up to the fact that the best avenue towards realistically dealing with drug use and addiction is through proper regulation, which is what we already do with alcohol & tobacco --two of our most dangerous mood altering substances, the two with the most deaths caused. But unfortunately policy is dominated by those who will no doubt remain sorely upset with any type of solution that does not seem to lead to the absurd and unattainable utopia of a drug free society.

There is an irrefutable connection between drug prohibition and the crime, corruption, disease and deaths caused. If you are not capable of understanding this connection, then maybe you're using something far stronger than the rest of us. Anybody 'halfway bright' and who's not psychologically challenged, should be capable of understanding, that it is not simply the demand for drugs that creates the mayhem; it is our refusal to allow legal businesses to meet that demand.

No amount of money, police powers, weaponry, diminution of rights and liberties, wishful thinking or pseudo-science will make our streets safer; only an end to prohibition can do that. How much longer are you willing to foolishly risk your own survival by continuing to ignore the obvious, historically confirmed solution?

If you still support the kool aid mass suicide cult of prohibition, and erroneously believe that you can win a war without logic and practical solutions, then prepare yourself for even more death, corruption, terrorism, sickness, imprisonment, unemployment, foreclosed homes, and the complete loss of the rule of law and human rights.

"A prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded." (Abraham Lincoln)

The only thing prohibition successfully does is prohibit regulation and taxation while turning even our schools and prisons into black markets for drugs. Regulation would mean the opposite!

From: Malcolm Kyle

Hello Australia and the fine folks at Nimbin Hemp Embassy

Greetings from Canada’s 2nd Annual Treating Yourself Expo!

Treating Yourself magazine is excited to host the upcoming 2nd annual Treating Yourself Expo in June of 2011 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. We want you to be a part of it. Mark June 3rd - 5th, 2011 on your calendar and join patients, their friends and loved ones, professionals, distributors, manufacturers from the Alternative Medicine , Hemp , and the Medical Cannabis industries from across North America, Europe and other parts of the World. Showcase, demonstrate, educate you about their products.

Counting patients, vendors, medical and professionals from the alternative medicine and hemp industries among it’s expected attendance of 20,000+. Treating Yourself Magazine’s 2nd annual Expo promises to be a world stage like no other seen before in Canada, offering three days of networking, learning, advertising, and vending in an interactive, inclusive environment.

Don’t miss your chance to be a part of this extraordinary event!

Treating Yourself .Com was founded in May 2002 by Marco Renda. In 2005 we started our publication and is now distributed in countries world-wide, Treating Yourself is a journal written for patients, by patients. Our mission is to build awareness, generate interest, educate and provide our readers (which include medical cannabis, alternative medicine users, members of the hemp community, their caregivers, professionals in this and related industries) with conscientious, ethical, and reliable information to assist them with the management of their wide and varied health needs and provide them with access to safe and reliable products.

To help us achieve this goal, the 2011 Expo will be hosting a series of workshops, seminars, documentaries and short films on subjects like alternative medicine , medical cannabis, activism, security and safety, nutrition, hemp, cooking, and more.

This one-of-a-kind event will also have a government-approved 4000 square foot vapor lounge to accommodate medical cannabis patients who can feel comfortable and relaxed medicating. While there is absolutely no selling or distributing of cannabis permitted at the Expo, we encourage patients to bring their own medicine along with them, as vaporizers of all makes and models will be available for use. These include, but are not limited to the HerbalAire, and the De-Verdamper. Our hope is to give patients an opportunity to determine which type is most suitable for their individual needs.

Go to our event website for more information or to purchase tickets.
http://www.treatingyourselfexpo.com/

Take Care and Peace
Marco Renda
Federal Exemptee
Publisher
Treating Yourself
The Alternative Medicine Journal

This webpage prior to MardiGrass 2010

This webpage prior to 27th January 2008

This webpage prior to MardiGrass 2007