Nimbin MardiGrass

The “Good Weekend” recently carried a story on Hydro, and I was disappointed with the writer’s uncritical acceptance of some of the dodgy opinions and ideas expressed in the article.

The line “zonked out kids selling dodgy hydro” particularly caught my eye. A marvellous line from a creative or even a biased view, but unfortunately untrue. The author has fallen prey to the ideological divide between Bush growers and Hydro growers.

With respect to cannabis of any form actually causing psychosis, there is still no credible scientific proof of that.

With particular respect to hydroponically grown plants, the Department of Agriculture feels there is no connection between hydroponics and psychosis, so yes, you can keep eating the unblemished supermarket tomatoes and vegetables …..

The “Bush” versus “Hydro” is all marketing hype, like “Pepsi” versus “Coca-Cola”. Older cannabis users prefer the Bush they grew up with, and Bush growers are not averse to spreading negative rumours about their hydroponic rival. More recent smokers that started with Hydro have stuck to it, and Hydro growers are not averse to suggesting that Bush is weak pot. This could be equated to a Holden versus Ford mentality , and you know how many otherwise intelligent human beings can take such things seriously.

Bush pot can be just as strong as Hydro if grown in good soil with full sun, good weather, and no diseases or insect pests. That is very hard to do with helicopter surveillance, thieves and Acts of God. Growers usually select a compromised growing position to reduce the chances of detection. Hydroponic growers get to expose their plants to the equivalent of full sun for as many hours of the day as they deem appropriate, and all while they remain hidden from view.

This can give a consistent higher potency, but no higher than that achieved by good Bush. There is no Hydro (choose a number >1 ) times stronger than the best Bush, but the best high potency Bush is harder to find. Dedicated Bush lovers accept the best Bush available, but there are also plenty of smokers who will smoke both Hydro and Bush, depending on budget and availability. Obviously, Hydro is the better commercial path in terms of consistent potency, harvest predictability, and ease of care and inspection.

This is not to say all Hydro growers are commercial. There are those who grow hydroponically for personal or medical use.

There is a significant proportion of the cannabis community who do not want an end to prohibition. They are mostly growers or sellers, and the thinking is that their livelihood actually depends on prohibition remaining. They feel they would get locked out of the growing and marketing, and even if they were not, even if prices remained high, the government would take the biggest cut of the take.

Some feel that the independent rebel image associated with cannabis use would evaporate, and cannabis use would be reduced to the mundane. “It would not mean anything anymore…”

The HEMP Embassy feels that people should not be discriminated against for use of cannabis, and that there should be no criminality attached to cannabis use, or growing cannabis for personal use.

When cannabis use started in the late sixties/early seventies it was contained in the community of use, but by the mid seventies criminal enterprises entered the distribution system, and “deals” by them with police became more common. The user chain was contaminated, and at the same time a greater than usual number of police were corrupted. This situation remained as the status quo. Prohibition of cannabis provided the fertile ground, and to no good social effect.

If prohibition were ended, we feel society would be a little more just, with a little less opportunity for corruption and exploitation.

It is unfortunate that misinformation on cannabis does not only come from its opponents, and that even cannabis users can be uncritically accepting of misinformation, all the more easily if it suits their circumstances.

It is very difficult in this political climate to even establish an unbiased study, so contaminated is the field already. Successive governments have stonewalled all positive findings or recommendations by internal committees and inquiries since 1970, and, for an individual researcher, making positive findings on cannabis can be damaging to your career.

In the USA, only research looking for negatives is funded. It appears that the USA has an ideological commitment in its opposition to Cannabis that precludes any pesky scientific facts getting in the way.

Personally, I would prefer the issues be decided by scientific enquiry rather than by political or religious ideology, personal faith, or marketing. I can only hope there are enough others who feel the same way.

The pendulum swings away from minorities, and we have already watched in stunned disbelief as it pulled out of the station and departed for intolerance. We have our protest, and we will continue to demonstrate against overkill and oppression. Already drug testing regimes may be the forerunner of a truly Orwellian culture where no person who has taken a drug will have a job in 2015. That is of course unless the "Economic Rationalists" resort to something unspeakable to purify society, and fall into revulsion at themselves. That may be what is needed before the pendulum can come back to the place the horrors of WW2 sent it, to a time where the vision of a better world was genuinely sought,and not cynically derided. As memories fade, the dogs of
the right grow boldly malicious, and even if it does end as badly as it has usually done, there will always arise new generations with the hope and optimism to try once more to transform the killer apes in our midst, and quell their nameless angers with that compassion so often seen as a weakness to be crushed or exploited ....a pox on alpha males that lead men into death
to feed their self righteous egos. (� 2004)

Think about it...

Pot Paranoia- chicken or egg?
Ever since the days of Reefer Madness, self-styled drug experts have been demonizing cannabis and cannabis users. Is the tragic, shuffling spectre of the pot-addled teen psychotic just the latest in a long line of government-generated media myths or is there some truth to it? Does cannabis lead to schizophrenia or is the supposed current rise in mental health problems just a chicken-or-egg symptom of the pressures of modern life? Who wouldn't get depressed in today's world?

War on Terror/War on Drugs
The 21st Century has seen a conservative resurgence unequalled in our lifetimes. Civil liberties and human rights have been increasingly eroded in the name of internal security and the war on terror. Police powers have been expanded and personal freedom has been reduced. The concept of "Big Brother" has been reduced in the public mind to a cheesy reality TV show. How do the new police powers impact on our lives? With helicopters, sniffer dogs, saliva testing and anti-terrorist laws, where do pot-heads stand in all this?

Just how organic is organic?
Various indoor cannabis-growing techniques have been developed worldwide over the last 20 years. This has resulted in a supposedly "new" type of drug- hydroponic marijuana. The media, politicians and police have seized on this and generated much hysteria and a whole battery of new laws based on very little hard information.

But what exactly defines "hydroponic"... both from a gardening and a legal point of view? Is it possible to grow "organic hydro"? Are there really strains of pot that are "seven times stronger" and if so, where can we get some?

The way forward- zero tolerance or harm minimalisation.
While Australia blindly follows the American model of zero tolerance to drugs, the UK is in the throes of a pot renaissance. A few years back, the British Police Union refused to process any more pot possession charges, claiming they had more important things to do. Cannabis was de-scheduled and now Britain rivals Amsterdam for both sensible laws and high quality pot. The Prime Minister Tony Blair recently admitted that his father-in-law liked the occasional joint. If John Howard is such a Queen-lover, why on Earth are we playing by Uncle Sam's rules? When will someone turn on Johnny's father-in-law?

Neil Pike 2006

Dear Reader,

Western society is in an extreme state of decay. Governments look for scapegoats as a vehicle to aid their re-election. People everywhere are disenfranchised and disillusioned. Love of the mother whether it be the earth or the female human being is probably lower than ever before.

The legal drug consumption in our society is astronomical. Just one example are the large numbers of children and adolescents who are on dexamphetamine for their supposed condition of ADHD, with side effects including mood swings, weight loss, depression, nightmares, aggression and anger. It’s not a good example to set in a culture coming to terms with the use of Ice, another form of amphetamine.

Western medicine is now based on the simplistic notion that giving people drugs for everything will cure them. It is extremely expensive, ineffective, self-indulgent and sometimes terminal. At the same time we have politicians who are totally lacking in knowledge making decisions about what herbs are allowed to be used.

Nimbin is a centre of alternative medicine. Even though the doctors can’t keep up with business and there is a methadone clinic put there by the medical system, a large majority of the population, especially in surrounding rural areas, are well versed in alternative medicine and looking after themselves.

Part of that process for some is growing marijuana and using it as a mild social lubricant or painkiller. The cult of greed and consumerism that has taken hold everywhere on the planet in the form of conspicuous consumption of hydro is not the fault of Nimbin. It is the grim result of determined prohibition of a herb used by humanity for thousands of years.

Drug addiction as opposed to drug use is on the rise everywhere. The cumulative despair of western culture as it turns its back on the enlightenment that once made it great, the effect of war, famine, climate change, multi-national controlled economy, the insensitivity of governments to their citizens and the worship of money is all contributing to people switching off from normality and consuming drugs, legal or illegal to send them into oblivion.

Who knows if our leaders making crucial decisions for the future of our country are free from this affliction and govern with a head free from any substance abuse? Do any politicians take medicine with mental and emotional side effects? Quite incredibly, they can drink taxpayer subsidized alcohol while in parliament. Can they be accused of drink driving?

The police forces let loose in Nimbin preceding the Mardi-Grass can definitely be accused of thuggery. There were a lot of people quite brutally treated by police, including young women. In their desire for action they were gloating in their power over the caged local beings and goading them into conflict.

The presence of large groups of burly men with multiple weapons sticking out of their uniforms hanging on street corners is an overwhelmingly fearful, agitating and adrenaline stirring experience. There was no effort of community policing. Instead, it was like being occupied by the army.

The police created such a bad feeling, interfering greatly with the social and business life of the town, scaring away locals and tourists alike for a whole month. For those who live in town it was a nightmare.

Goodwill creates peace and harmony in Nimbin as much as anywhere. Mardi-Grass is our town festival full of music and fun .Too much dancing to need your anti-depressants. There never has been any violence during a Mardi-Grass festival. I’m sure Beef Week will not have the same level of interference.

YOURS SINCERELY,
LYNNE OLDFIELD.