| 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.
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
In the Adobe photo galleries below, clicking on an image
makes it BIG, ok?
Gallery G1
Gallery G2
Gallery G3
Gallery G4
Gallery G5
Gallery G6
Gallery G7
Gallery G8
Gallery G9
Gallery G10
Gallery G11
Gallery G12
Gallery G13
Gallery G14
Gallery G15
Gallery G16
Gallery G17
Gallery G18
Gallery G19
Gallery G20
Gallery G21
Gallery G22
Gallery W1
Gallery W2
Gallery W3
Gallery H1
Gallery H2
Gallery H3
Gallery H4
Gallery H5
Gallery H6
Gallery H7
Gallery H8
Gallery H9
Gallery H10
Gallery LR 1
Jann
Subiaco Photo Gallery Adobe
Jann
Subiaco Photo Gallery Picassa
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
 "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
On behalf of everyone at Treating Yourself magazine, I would
like to congratulate everyone involved in putting together the
Mardi Grass celebration at Nimbin. It is inspiring to learn how
you have educated people about the benefits of marijuana to a
broad spectrum of people. The more we break down barriers and
highlight this information, the closer we are to gaining acceptance
and hopefully one day, legalization. I am also encouraged to hear
that you have been running this event for seventeen years now
and hope that this event continues to thrive.
It is also important to thank you for the continued support you
have shown the magazine and myself over the last few years. The
philosophy behind your event is close to my heart. The rich culture
you have developed behind the Mardi Grass is one that gets back
to the grass roots level of using marijuana. In a world where
most people fixate on the almighty dollar, it is refreshing to
see a union of compassion and love for a plant whose purpose is
to help people lead a fulfilling life.
This summer, between July 16th and 18th, 2010, Treating Yourself
will be putting on our own event in Toronto, Ontario. We will
be taking over the Metro Toronto Convention Center, which is located
at the base of the CN Tower. It will break barriers by being the
first ever Medical Marijuana Exposition in a country that put
together a legal medical marijuana program. My dream would include
representatives from Health Canada attending and taking the time
to educate them selves, which is something that Canadian readers
believe is sorely lacking.
Since this is the first ever event, I believe that I need to set
the bar high and not discredit the patients Treating Yourself
continues to fight for. While meeting the wishes of sick people
and patients, I would also like to take the opportunity to break
down barriers for the non - user to attend. This means that I
have laid out a busy program that is comprised of a series of
seminars, cannabis related documentaries and a Hemp fashion show.
We will also provide the venue for the 2010 Marijuana Music Awards.
In addition to this, we will be hosting a Medical Marijuana Cup
and the number of entrants is growing thick and fast. Finally,
we have the John Bassett Theatre where we will host a comedy show.
We hope that we will be able to help educate more uninformed individuals
in order to eventually get marijuana legalized. For further details
visit the expo web site http://www.medicalmarijuana-hempexpo.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 |
