Media Release: MardiGrass missed opportunity

MARDIGRASS MEDIA Tuesday 8 May evening. POLICE MISS OPPORTUNITY TO ARREST THOUSANDS! MARDIGRASS AND POLICE PROPAGANDA! Reading the media it looks like MardiGrass was a massive police feast! The picture they paint is a very misleading image. In reality it was incredibly mellow with very few problems. We do admit the NSW Police media releases listing every detail of their weekend was all the press had to go on, because the organisers were still having too much fun to put out any news! Anyway, journalists had been ignoring MardiGrass mostly and we didn’t anticipate the police putting so much negative spin on such a successful weekend. One assault, ten thousand people, no wonder many police prefer the mellowing affect of cannabis at festivals. Some real stories are starting to emerge. The injuries sustained by police which sounded on the television news like they were sustained in battle, came from them recklessly chasing someone through a crowd, knocking over and injuring a bystander, and eventually hurting themselves by running headlong into a car. You can imagine how they sought revenge on the person they were chasing that had surrended with his hands up. The big crowd watching, including many children, was less than impressed. There are several accounts and complaints about the police horses knocking people about, and even over, as they chased people through market crowds. The horse’s manure has also raised several other concerns, often watery crap was splattered in front of Sibley Street food stalls attracting many complaints by festival goers and stallholders. Some angry stallholders are preparing formal complaints about the health concerns this type of police activity raises. The smell was disgusting bringing dozens of complaints from upset diners. Supt Lyons stated that he was encouraged by the new roadside saliva testing! Hundreds of festival goers were tested on their way to the MardiGrass and on their way home, yet not one positive saliva test was recorded! How could anyone be encouraged at such a gross waste of tax payer’s money. Each of the Drug Wipe tests costs $40. They did not get anyone going to and from Nimbin’s MardiGrass… hello, hello, hello!!! All the research on the saliva testing, including our own, shows they are very unreliable. Supt Lyons said “they must be getting the message…”!!!!!!!!! He also said that operation Maloo “made a substantial impact on supply” when it captured 15 kilos of pot, which was actually mostly flour, water and dried fruit being a 12kg cake, plus other “cookies and muffins”. All very misleading, like the sixty cannabis cautions being including as arrests! At one point Police were writing cautions one after another like raffle tickets as tourists willingly surrendered their tiny stashes. They could have written thousands! There is no evidence from cannabis users that the presence of the police or the Winnebago is going to make anyone stop smoking pot. And, ten thousand at MardiGrass being so peaceful is surely the best possible example of how cannabis does not create psychosis or pose the health risk John Howard, Pyne and Abbott keep trying to say it does. While they have been blaming cannabis for mental health problems, they should have been watching the ice age coming. Still their own revenue raising drugs, alcohol and tobacco, remain the most damaging physically, mentally and socially. Further information contact Nimbin HEMP Embassy 02 6689 1842