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Australia: Police smoked out at the Mardi Grass
Annabelle McDonald The Times
Monday 08 May 2006 A RECORD number of riot police descended on the northern NSW hippie town of Nimbin, but not even the packs of police on foot and horseback could stop the pungent smoke billowing from all corners of the town's Mardi Grass festival. About 6000 people poured into Nimbin -- a former dairy town described by its own state MP, Thomas George, as a "slum" -- bringing their tents, Kombies, bongo drums and fairy wings along for the weekend. Many openly puffed on joints from breakfast onwards, defying thestate laws that prohibit the sale and possession of marijuana and other drugs. More than 30 police patrolled the town at any one time, while competitors in the Hemp Olympix battled to win the bong-throwing and joint-rolling competitions. Shopkeepers did a roaring trade, even selling pre-rolled joints over the counter. NSW Police Minister Carl Scully had promised Nimbin would no longer be "a post-70s hippie no go-zone for police", with officers clamping down on drugs in the town this year. But squad after squad of police dressed in riot gear walked past the entrance to the hemp cafe yesterday, choosing to ignore the clouds of cannabis smoke coming from the pot smokers inside. However, police arrested 11 people in Nimbin on cannabis possession charges. They also set up two road blocks at Uki and Goolmangar on the roads leading into the town, arresting another 32 people on drug possession charges. Richmond Area Commander Bruce Lyons said the increased use of hard drugs such as ice, speed and heroin in the town had prompted police to significantly boost their numbers this year. "Drugs like amphetamines and ice make people a little more unpredictable and they can often turn to violence. As the emergence grows, the community tends to get more violent," Superintendent Lyons said. 'We are not turning a blind eye. But Nimbin is a complex town ... no other town in Australia has shops that, as part of the furniture, have a stretcher so that when someone overdoses they are able to say 'stretcher' and they come out and put this poor person on a stretcher and wheel them down to the hospital." Sniffer dogs were used intermittently at the road blocks, but Superintendent Lyons said he ordered the dogs to be kept away from the town. One hippie joked: "That's because the dogs would have a heart attack -- they wouldn't know where to start." Some residents of Nimbin, a town with a population of somewhere between 300 to 400 people, said they felt intimidated by the strong police presence, but others remained unfazed. "It's like the plains of Africa here and the pot smokers are the wilder beasts," said popular didgeribone (part didgeridoo, part trombone) player Charlie McMahon. "The cops are like lions, and every now and then they just pounce on one of us."
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