No Joke.

On April Fools Day 2008 over 70 Police, some in full riot gear like Star War storm-troopers, accompanied by Lismore Council Officers, raided the Museum, Hemp Embassy and Hemp Bar seeking something strong enough to close these premises down. They wouldn't use that many police to arrest a murderer, so the politics are obvious. News services were told not to attend as the Police Media Unit would provide footage.

Museum Search: 11:40 am to 2:10 pm
Hemp Bar Search: 11:45 am to3:35 pm
Hemp Embassy Search: 3:15 pm to 4:35 pm

Lots More Photos - Click on thumbnails at bottom to view

2nd April: They're claiming Five Kilos? What? No way. They weighed the cookies and cakes to get that. What a little fraud for the media. They have yet to discover that a large quantity of their hemp food is just that, made with hemp oil or hemp meal, and with no THC whatsoever. Stock was confiscated on suspicion. "If we're wrong it can be sorted out later." Sure, after the exaggerated Press Releases...... Our estimate was 1.5 kilos max for the whole staged fiasco, most of it found discarded on the Museum floor. (New info to hand that there was a 680gm confiscation makes it 2 kilos) The attack of the Media Unit and Bong Squad, no less! Four boxes of bong stems were taken (to defuse our bongs no doubt?) They took some Damiana we use in the Hemp Olympix joint rolling too. There was only one scrappy mutant male seedling found behind a toilet struggling for light, not "a number of plants"! We reckon there were five cautions for personal amounts, two small cannabis charges and one young Aboriginal male who was in breach of bail conditions by being in Nimbin. How is that eight arrests? They did that at MardiGrass 2007, counted cautions as arrests to help justify the overkill. We have headline hunters about spreading false info.

(See copies of seizure documents further below)

Just had a phone call asking if we were going to have a protest at the Courthouse for those arrested. We cant do that yet because we have no court dates. Mostly cautions were issued.

JUST SAY KNOW!

Neil Pike's Video of the Raid

Google his other videos on YouTube and Google Video...

http://video.google.com.au/videoplay full size

http://www.paganlovecult.com/

http://www.youtube.com/user/paganlovecult

Who's Neil? Between 30 and 106 years of age, based in Nimbin since the Seventies, peddling an act called the Pagan Love Cult inc., and looking like an out-take from an old Furry Freak Brothers comic, Neil Pike long ago gave up any ambitions for mainstream credibility. Despite this, he's led a colourful and varied career managing to carve out a healthy but highly specific international audience for his unique brand of claptrap.

Folk singer and ex-busker, in the 80s Neil worked the Australian pub-rock circuit with the band Secret Society, released the world's first indie CD and gained notice for his innovative use of an early model macintosh in performances.

He has worked on numerous videos for the Rainforest Information Centre in a long term collaboration with John Seed that extends to the present day.

In 1996, he released a multimedia CDRom, marketed it via the web and somehow slid onto an international lecture and performance circuit. He successfully toured the US with a period as Nimbin Cultural Ambassador or "weirdo in residence" at the Woodstock museum and in '98, was an invited speaker at the 5th Annual International Cyberconf in Budapest where he also walked wolfhounds in the snow. Following this with shows in London and Kathmandu, he's subsequently successfully toured India and Amsterdam. In amongst his travels, he has edited and directed several documentaries (one of which won an award in a European environmental film festival), been a principal character in a couple of others, maintained a niche net-based market, performed many gigs and recorded an album with his band.

An unassuming performance and media warrior that fights the never ending battle against truth decay, Neil admires Jack and Hunter S. Thompson, Robert Crumb, Gilbert Sheldon, Albert Hoffman, and Timothy Leary among others, has an acid wit and is an open advocate of guerilla media.

The Hemp Embassy salutes Neil's effort in quickly producing the video above and getting it out there, while our camera and equipment were trapped in the Embassy.

PRESS RELEASE - PRESS RELEASE - PRESS RELEASE

NIMBIN APRIL FOOLS’ DAY POLICE RAIDS

Michael Balderstone, President of the Nimbin Hemp Embassy, was sitting in the backyard of the Museum. “I thought it was the musicians arriving for our “Fossil Fools’ Day Event”, but the van door slid open and police poured out in riot gear screaming like on American TV – ‘NOBODY MOVE – IT’S A CRIME SCENE’ etc etc……”

Possibly seventy police spent the day in Nimbin trying to make a difference in our village. But they can’t be here every day, and hippies are never going to stop smoking pot, so when do we start talking and creating real solutions?

The most distasteful part of today is that police co-ordinated their raid with Lismore City Council (LCC) departments….the crudest way possible for the LCC to communicate with this community. Clearly they are keen to make us as ‘normal’ as possible, which will sterilise the thriving tourism industry here and kill the Aquarian spirit which has brought so much colour to the north coast.

Ironically today our planned event was to ask LCC to let us be nothing like normal, because ‘normal’ has nearly killed the planet, as our press release said. It also appears they want the Museum closed, if not the Hemp Embassy and it’s incorrect of Commander Lyons to say he has the community’s support for his operations. Nimbin asked for late night policing to curb late night violent individuals, but got more daytime pot policing instead. The majority of this community is sick to death of the consequences of cannabis being illegal and he needs to lobby Sydney for us to trial something different instead of just getting more and more police. His job, above all, as I understand it, is to keep the peace.

Our annual MardiGrass and Cannabis Law Reform rally, on the first weekend in May will show him how much support for change there is in the community. Many people in the large crowd witnessing the police today were galvanised for the coming rally. Many other people in the crowd were asking “Where are you when the pub shuts” or “Where are you on Friday night”?

We all know these days that respect is the critical ingredient. When cannabis users are respected for their choice of medicine, the laws and lawmakers may start to be respected again.

If only government employees could speak their mind. Many of them know what we all know - drug use is a health issue and I have no doubt many of the police in Nimbin today quietly questioned the morality of their operation and how worthwhile it was. They know the difference between a pot smoker and a real criminal, and they know pot is the least harmful of all the illegal substances. They also know pot is the easy bust and the harder they target cannabis in Nimbin the more people will use easily hidden powders and pills and drink a lot more alcohol.

In California today there are about four hundred vending machines which spit out a bag of pot if you put in a fifty dollar note, and this in the country which started the war on drugs.

Hopefully Kevin Rudd’s closer look at youth binge drinking might lead him to some understanding of all youth drug use. Why are they so reckless? Why is disrespect for authority a growth industry? Why don’t the police lobby for more leeway with cannabis users as has happened in the UK?

Making cannabis illegal has created widespread generational disrespect for the laws and lawmakers, not only in our community but throughout the land. Unfortunately the police are the meat in the sandwich, ‘just doing their job’.

MEDIA RELEASE NIMBIN HEMP EMBASSY SATURDAY 5 APRIL 2008

HIPPIES INVITE THE POLICE TO SMOKE THE PEACE PIPE and NIMBIN APRIL FOOLS DAY RAID, WAITING FOR THE TRUTH TO COME OUT

“The last two evenings in Nimbin have seen mini convoys of up to six police cars cruising the deserted main street of Nimbin’s tiny village. The cost must be prohibitive but the propaganda to justify targeting Nimbin is the real joke”, said Michael Balderstone, Hemp Embassy President. “Instead of this waste of money we need Senior Police to join us at MardiGrass for sane discussion on alternative strategies for dealing with cannabis use. But will anyone take us, the users, seriously?”

“It is not the Police’s fault, they are the meat in the sandwich, ’just doing their job’ so to speak, but we need their support in making legal changes, as has happened in the UK. Policing Nimbin with a National Party local MP has been costing a fortune for years, you’d think the Labor Party might be a fraction different.”

“One option is a trial of a decriminalised supply of cannabis and at MardiGrass this year Dr. Alex Wodak from St. Vincents Hospital will be presenting a model for regulated and taxable cannabis supply. He will be supported by Paul Wilson, Professor of Criminology at Bond Uni. There are several working models overseas to consider and in the MardiGrass “Beyond Prohibition Forum’ we will have visitors from those countries to give us first hand accounts of how it works”.

“We are especially inviting the law makers, the politicians, to come and hear these ideas borne of necessity out of desperation from worlds politicians rarely see. We also invite parents to the MardiGrass forums and it is worth remembering the Al Capone era in America ended when mothers marched against prohibition. Of course everyone is welcome, but we would especially love to see the gag taken off government employees like police and health professionals so they could join in the Forum”.

At some point even the most hard headed must come round to seeing some merit in sitting down and talking a different approach to Nimbin’s unique situation. A few facts to consider please:

A fast growing indigenous population in Nimbin would rather smoke yarndi, than get drunk. The local police would rather they did too! It’s impossible for the police to bust all these people who rarely possess anything.
Many backpackers come from countries where cannabis use is regulated.
The current situation is teaching young people bad habits to say the least. No wonder disrespect is a boom industry. We notice young people in and out of jail lose their fear of it and even enjoy the gangster rap with police. Jail offers credibility in some cases, as well as study opportunities and a reliable bed and food.

On April Fools Day the police ( with Lismore City Council inspectors} came with their media unit and supplied all the footage for channels Seven, Nine & Ten’s news stories that night, but the raid netted so little the story barely made it into the Sydney or Brisbane news.

“The police media release announcing the raids came out at 11.41am. At 11.30 the search began in Nimbin. They arrived in riot gear, screaming and yelling like it was Nim Bin Ladin’s very own cave. They were in full battle dress and surrounded Nimbin’s two primary off the street (which is covered by cameras live to the copshop) tourist attractions, the Nimbin Museum and the HEMP Embassy, and cordoning them off for searches until well after the many school buses had unloaded. Hippies love their children and are angry about this insensitivity. Unable to answer back the battle dressed riot squad were fair pickings for some cheeky Nimbin kids who have grown up in a “criminalised cannabis culture”, other kids were shocked and scared at the show of force in their village. Many in the village think it is just anti-terrorist training on harmless hippies.”

Property Seizure Forms are reproduced below.

“Many of the items were not prohibited and might be returned when the police discover they are not illegal. Many of the food items were just that, with no cannabis in them.”

“The cash collected, around five thousand dollars from so many sources was clearly no big deal. The Hemp Bar Activist’s Kiosk run by volunteers has no bank account but gets donations for drinks, etc. It apparently had ice cream containers full of ten and twenty cent coins. Perhaps this is the ‘large quantity of cash’ seized by police from our study of money listed on their Property Seizure forms.”

“The eight arrests were in fact mostly Cannabis Cautions. We reckon five cautions for personal amounts, two small cannabis charges and one young Aboriginal male who was in breach of bail conditions by being in Nimbin. Even if it were EIGHT ARRESTS! BIG DEAL!”

“The five kilos of cannabis they claim to have seized was in fact mostly cookies and THC-free hemp foods making up the weight. FLOUR AND WATER! The “plants” they seized were in fact one tiny straggly male plant no one had noticed in the back yard of the HEMP Embassy! The cannabis ‘suppositories’, (ouch!), seized from the Hemp Bar we hear are tobacco plugs!”

Questions to Lismore City Counciul:

1. Who initiated the raid on the Hemp Embassy and Museum last week?
2. How did Council get involved?
3. Who authorised Council's involvement?
4. What was Council's purpose?
5. What did Council find?
6. What will Council do now?

Responses:

1. Police
2. Police informed Council that they (police) believed there were breaches occuring within Council's jurisdiction
3. Council is duty bound to act following such information and had food services inspectors in Nimbin at the time.
4. Council does not share the Police view. Council is supportive of Nimbin and understands the importance of Nimbin for Lismore tourism and acknowledges the limitations of Nimbin's timber buildings etc in compliance for some issues. Council wants to work with property owners to come up with ways forward in the interests of public safety.
5. Fire risks, food safety issues and non-compliant land use activities (eg a place with a permit as a bakery now used as skin penetration business) are examples.
6. Council will develop protocols with Nimbin businesses

Seizures

Museum Search: 11:40 am to 2:10 pm
Hemp Bar Search: 11:45 am to3:35 pm
Hemp Embassy Search: 3:15 pm to 4:35 pm

Hemp Embassy Official Version Part A ...click image for larger 1.5meg copy

Hemp Embassy Official Version Part B ...click image for larger 1.5meg copy

Hemp Embassy UNofficial Version

List of Hemp Bar Seizures

List of Museum Seizures

If you check the lists for GVM (Green Vegetable Matter) weights you'll see that only Museum confiscations were weighed on-site.

Wow! What a haul. Bet the world is a safer place tonight?

Ever get the feeling you are being had?

I think that there is much learning to do when it comes to law making, police training and the activity we generally call policing. One of the best authors internationally Tom Tyler has written a book called Why do people obey the law (1990?), and another on restorative justice and lawbreaking
Basically he indicates that when people are included in a fair and just process, and regardless if they agree or not on the outcome affecting them, they are more likely to comply with authority. Conversely, should people be excluded from the process (such as making the rules, establishing the laws) then they show disregard for authority. What we see on our streets and what is reported here makes good sense, people will not change their behaviour just because the police say so. They will not give respect to authority until they are welcomed to participate in something that appears to them to be fair and just process.

[7] Tyler, Tom R., (1990:172) Why People Obey the Law, Yale University Press. New Haven

[19] Tyler, T (2006) ‘Restorative Justice and Procedural Justice: Dealing with Rule Breaking’, in
Journal of Social Issues, vol 62, no 2, pp307-326.

Hi Michael and other Friends in Nimbin,

It is a fundamental battle for respect and democracy that you are fighting.

You can be assured of our and a large percentage of the world’s population’s appreciation and support.

Our solidarity and resolve is with you!

Brett
Brett Collins
JUSTICE ACTION
Trades Hall, Suite 204, 4 Goulburn St, Sydney NSW 2000
PO Box 386, Broadway NSW 2007[]

T 02 9283 0123 ext 14 | F 02 9283 0112
E brett@justiceaction.org.au
http://www.justiceaction.org.au/

A terrible event no differerent than the Chinese attack in Tibet, and the planned US invasion of Iran. War is not the answer. Our tribe needs to wake up and take notice that what is happening affects all of us. It was the hippie mottos of "peace and love" and "drugs, sex and rock and roll" that brought light, solutions to impending world challenges, spiritual reawakening and a portal to finding our own humanity that the mainstream has chosen to persecute in the name of greed and ignorance. Now more than ever, the sleepers need to awaken and help the cause of survival for the planet and its life forms. The invasion of Nimbin is nothing less than an assault on freedom and life.

George

For 35 years Police have been sending out the same press releases! Meanwhile the world has changed dramatically. In California where the war on drugs started they now have 400 vending machines in the street where you put in $50 and get a packet of good weed! Nimbin in 30 years has boomed to be a thriving tourist village, but the law on pot hasn’t change, cautioning if anything made it easier for dealers to take risks.….

Of course 99% of pot smokers can’t grow their own so they have to score somewhere…..and in the blackmarket there’s no rules, no regulations, no quality control and of course no legal employment, no respect for authorities, and no tax for the government. In fact disrespect is a boom industry for young people and who can blame them. They’re well educated on what a mess we’ve left for them and they’ve been lied to about drugs. Pot will send you crazy they are told…but when they try it the majority have a good experience……………

From: Dr Keith Bolton [mailto:keith@ecotechnologyaustralia.com]
Sent: Wednesday, 2 April 2008 7:43 PM
To: Hemp Embassy
Subject: The police raids in Nimbin are unethical, and are an example of the repercussions of laws that cause people harm.

It should be illegal for legislators to pass laws that cause people or the environment harm.

People should be able to do what they want until the point at which they cause other people or the environment harm.

The police raids in Nimbin are unethical, and are an example of the repercussions of laws that cause people harm.

Prohibition laws do not reduce the consumption of drugs, and they create a mostly unregulated marketplace with few checks on quality control or moderation of consumption.

Legislators need to accept that people do choose to use drugs, and that people should have the right to consume drugs - with well researched age, driving and public place restrictions - as long as they do not cause harm to people. Drugs should be allowed to be sold in a regulated marketplace, with taxes that are used to reduce and to pay for the harmful effects of drug consumption for example educational and support programmes and medical facilities.

Dr Keith Bolton

Founding Director, Ecotechnology Australia.