Mardi Grass Mind Candy

Join pragmatic visionaries and solipsistic psychonauts at the 2013 Mardi Grass Mind Candy Community Forums, Workshops and Talks all happening in the Nimbin Town Hall over the weekend. Come debate, discuss & enjoy the occasional stoned rave as well as share your ideas on the burning issues surrounding our favourite plant ally.

Saturday 4 May 2013

12:30 � 2:30pm

Enlightened Activism: How to be an effective campaigner and activist for cannabis law reform? How to coordinate plans among different drug law reform groups for future action?

Facilitator: Aidan Ricketts [Author The Activist�s Handbook] Panelists: Bill Bush [Family & Friend for Drug Law Reform] Steve Bolt [Solicitor] Cate Faehrmann [Greens NSW MP] Deb Felton, John Jiggens [Writer & Journalist] Jim Moylan [Australian HEMP Party] Fiona Patten [Australian Sex Party] Matt Riley [HEMP Party Victoria] Alex Wodak [Australia21/Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation]

A host of organizations and individuals have been arguing for an end to prohibition, or other changes to drug policy, some for decades. Besides the focused Australian HEMP party, other parties serious about drug law reform include the Greens, the Australian Sex Party and Pirate Party Australia, as well as a new single-issue party that has emerged in 2013, Drug Law Reform Australia. This forum will cover experiences and approaches to drug law reform, with discussions towards resolutions or ideas for coordinating our energy and resources for future action.

2:30 � 4pm

Imagining Nimbin after Weed is Legal! Mind Candy Community Brainstorm

With: Brooke Bell, Bill Bush [Family & Friend for Drug Law Reform] Miss Guidance [Entheogenesis Australis/HEMP Party NSW] Sandra Heilpern, Mark Heinrich [Cannabis Science Australia], Ivan, Erik van Keulen [@EGApolicy] Neil Pike [Pagan Love Cult]

It�s 2023 in our magnificent Land of Oz and cannabis in all its delightful forms is legal� for recreation, medicine, industry and food � and undoubtedly many other uses as well. Come tap your ganja green slippers and time travel into the great-unknown future to explore via a big fun open discussion what life would be like after weed is legal.

6 � 7pm

Cannabis as an Entheogen

Speakers: Annie, Neil Pike [Pagan Love Cult] Dr Des Tramacchi [Psychedelic Research in Science & Medicine]

Psychoactive plants and substances that promote a sense of the spiritual element of human life are known as entheogens. Is Cannabis an entheogen? Do some stoners get more out of their weed than others? While there are many ways to use Cannabis, this session explores the spiritual context, including: getting �out of it� by �putting into it�, the merits of intention and ritual in optimising the stone-zone, and Marijuana and institutionalised religions such as Sadhus or Rastafarian, as well as more recent Cannabis Churches.

Sunday 5 May 2013

12.30 � 1.30pm

Is it Medication Time? Cannabis Medicine in Australia in 2013

Facilitator: Steve Bolt Panelists: Tony Bower [Mullaways Medical Cannabis Pty Ltd] Cate Faehrmann [Greens NSW MP] Mark Heinrich [Cannabis Science Australia] Dr Graham Irvine, Dr Andrew Katelaris, Fiona Patten [Australian Sex Party] Matt Walker, Alex Wodak [Australia21/Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation]

Medical marijuana has transformed drug politics in the United States. This year, NSW Parliament is seriously examining the efficacy and safety of using cannabis for medical purposes; if and how cannabis should be supplied for medical use; and the legal implications and issues concerning the use of cannabis for medical purposes. If Cannabis is a medicine, does it follow that the same rules and processes apply as for the use of insulin or penicillin, or should regulation allow for self-medication? Should regulation restrict access to medicinal marijuana to pharmaceutical products consumed in nasal sprays, tablet or other forms? Just a few of the issues to be covered during medication time.