Well, MardiGrass approaches again, and will be on every year, until the cannabis laws are sane.
WELCOME TO THE 2006 MARDIGRASS!
The clock is ticking...
While we mightn’t expect Australia's cannabis laws to change in a positive way soon, we should not stop trying to change, nor cease to oppose, such laws.
Hopefully, you too will continue to oppose stupid laws of any kind, and strive for a dignity that does not depend on status, wealth, or the diminishment of others.
Join us this May to celebrate your kinship with the rest of the Harmless Herb Smoking Earthlings.
We will continue to fight ignorance, prejudice, and warped ideology. We will continue to hold the most peaceful festival there is to demonstrate the positive side of cannabis, and protest against criminalised cannabis.
Be Here! Be Heard!
The Nimbin MardiGrass Organising Body
has begun this years preparations! This page is stripped down ready for new material.
MOB Meetings
Mondays, 5:00 pm, HEMP Bar.
Any of the previous content you may have missed is now here
To do the Nimbin MardiGrass Drug Law Reform Rally takes lots of volunteers who live locally OR are attending the MardiGrass. We have volunteers from all over the world who come to help make MardiGrass possible, not just stand and watch. It's fantastic to see. Feel free to come and joint in.
If you cannot afford the $20.00 or just want to contribute to the cause, you can register as a volunteer at the Hemp Embassy or the Information Booth in front of the Hall, when you arrive. There is no earlier registration. We want YOU, if you are here for MardiGrass. Four hours volunteering earns you a weekend pass. Volunteering can include manning booths, building stages and fences, repairing stages and fences, distributing extra bins, preparing parking and camping areas, in fact, anything that HAS to be done to make MardiGrass possible.
Extraordinary volunteers get a T-shirt as well....
We need volunteers from as early as Wednesday on, so if you want to join the crew and be part of the preparations, come early.
2006 MardiGrass
2006 MardiGrass Posters
Posters for 2006 (larger versions)
NIMBIN H*E*M*P* EMBASSY – Monday 30th January 2006
BIG JOINT BUDGET BLOWOUT !
:::PRESS RELEASE::: PRESS RELEASE::: PRESS RELEASE:::
Following this years Nimbin MardiGrass, which is on May 6th and 7th, the Nimbin H*E*M*P* Embassy is taking the BIG JOINT down to Canberra to try and get through to John Howard and Co that cannabis users today come from all walks of life and are only criminals because of the extraordinary monopoly on pain management that was given to a handful of Giant Pharmas by FBI Chief Harry Anslinger in the 1930’s.
“The BIG JOINT will look great doing a few laps of the House around budget release time and we want as many supporters of cannabis law reform as possible to join us. History has shown that our protests are good fun and maybe ex-smoker (lucky he wasn’t busted, eh?) Peter Costello will come join us for a budget session. We reckon there’s at least 10 billion dollars escaping his GST net annually, not to mention the staggering potential of hemp agribusiness!Why woodchip our ancient forests whilst outlawing the best papermaker on the planet.
Supposedly the PM is announcing his first ever National Cannabis Strategy in May. We sent in our feedback but comments on law reform or medical cannabis weren't allowed!!!”
"He's so straight you could use him as a middle stump," said H*E*M*P* President Michael Balderstone, "The plush carpets and corridors John Howard walks are a long way from where the real consequences of Prohibition are felt.
“We reckon the majority of people now know drug use should be treated as a health issue and it’s the law that is the real crime. The collateral damage caused in the pursuit of big profits for giant pharmaceutical companies trying to monopolize global pain relief and others who profit from the so called “war on drugs” is getting ridiculous and John Howard wants the States to crack down on cannabis! He needs to hear our side of the story.
“N.S.W. is already building a jail a year and disrespect for good laws is out the window for a lot of younger people because of one big rotten apple in the box called Prohibition. No one in Australia is unaffected by this contamination.
New research is clearly showing the medicinal value of Cannabis and at the very least the government should be monitoring the health of long term cannabis users. How come we aren't mad, or dead?
We reckon Australia now has thousands of cancer sufferers using medical cannabis. It’s ludicrous, incredibly expensive and tragic that they have to face a black market for their supply of pain relief.
Instead of presenting a positive vision, Howard exploits popular prejudice to distract the general population from noticing the deterioration in their circumstances. Scapegoats are his only answer and we’re sick of it.
Meanwhile, for rebellious youth, prohibition has glamorized drug use and the burgeoning black market is a breeding ground for dissent and criminality. For years now the campaign against cannabis has been driving young drug users into less detectable, but more dangerous pills and powders
Regulation of the cannabis industry, perhaps something like alcohol and tobacco, is inevitable. Why can’t Australia, where its use is a popular as anywhere on earth, find the common sense to try something different like Holland or Portugal? In the stroke of a pen Howard could decriminalise millions of Australians and perhaps even better, create legal employment and income for thousands.
The Nimbin MardiGrass Organising Body is meeting at the HEMP Bar and Embassy for the 2006 Inaugural Planning Meeting, this Friday the 3rd of February, from 5 pm. If you want to make a difference, please get involved. If you can’t attend please get in touch and let us know how you want to participate.
Further info…Embassy 0266891842 Ah 0266897525
www.hempembassy.net
The Big Joints previous exploits include:
1999 NSW drug summit www.nrg.com.au/~hemp/bigjoint/bigjoint.htm
2000 The HEMP Olympix Sydney Harbour cruise http://www.peacebus.com/bigjoint
best pic of all is John Howard meets the Nimbin HEMP Embassy in Lismore as printed in SMH http://www.hempembassy.net/hempe/images/bunnyears.jpg
MardiGrass 2006 Pot Art Tatoo Competition
Think you've got good pot tatoos? Not potatos, tattoos with pot involved! This year there is a MardiGrass tatoo competition. Find out more here
This PDF is a model for cannabis regulation. It contains some good historical information, and is very logical in approach. Well worth viewing and reading.
Download PDF
!! NEW CONTACTS !!
mailto:info@marjuanamusicawards.com
www.marijuanamusicawards.com
The 2006 Global Marijuana Music Awards will be held at Weed World's UK
Hemp Expo on 29 July 2006 at 4.20! The Awards will be presented at the
Ricoh Arena in Coventry, UK with pot poet Paul Bullock from Texas as MC
of the event. Have you got the best pot music in the world? Check out
http://www.marijuanamusicawards.com/ to enter the 2006 GMMA.
Entries close 1st
May 2006.
UK TO HOST 2006 GLOBAL MARIJUANA MUSIC AWARDS!
GET READY to ROCK & ROLL at the 2006 GLOBAL MARIJUANA MUSIC AWARDS!!
Being held at the 2006 Cannabis Law Reform Rally in London, the 2006
GMMA is open to all music across the globe with a marijuana theme.
Entries accepted in English, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, German, Japanese,
Greek, French, Hebrew & Arabic. With 14 music categories to choose from
and a cash prize for Pot Song of Year, marijuana is something to sing
about!
Photos of Saturday's MardiGrass 2005
Photos of Sunday's MardiGrass 2005
Parade and PeacePark
MardiGrass Olympix Sports Results
MardiGrass 2005 Program
Check out the 3NimFM radio podcast site at http://nimbinradiomedia.libsyn.com/ This site includes podcasts of many of the 2NimFM radio programs broadcast during the MardiGrass.
"It's ironic but somehow typical that the drug law reform movement should find it's most vocal and public face in a place like Nimbin. The Mardi Grass gives voice to frustrations and problems that are vexing the whole of mainstream society, but most people aren't quite brave enough to express this to their neighbours. In the anonymity of a "freak-fest" like Mardi Grass, many people are quite prepared to stand up and be counted. This is vitally important as a first step, but it's only when there's a Mardi Grass happening in every town and when every pot smoker puts their hand up that the laws will change. It's too easy for the mainstream to ignore protest when it just happens in Nimbin.
So come this year to Mardi Grass, but remember that it's a drug law reform rally and not just a pot party. We're there to make some points not just to get out of it, and remember to take some of the magick, idealism and commitment home with you when you go, there's enough to spare."
Neil Pike 1996
This is still true.
Arthur Pike's 2004 MardiGrass Photos
Cannabis Culture MardiGrass article
Mick Richards' MardiGrass 2004 Photos
-Click on images for larger versions-
To the HEMP Embassy
