Chris Dobney
Police are targeting visitors to Nimbin in yet another campaign of harassment directed against marijuana users.
At least two busloads of visitors were stopped during the so-called ‘Operation Overhaul’ on Nimbin and Koonorigan roads on Saturday.
Police allege they seized $40,000 worth of drugs during the operation, which took place between 1.30pm and 9pm, despite admitting they retrieved just six dope cookies and two grams of marijuana from the two tourist buses.
Additionally they found 1.12 kilograms of cannabis they claimed was worth $13,000 and 44 grams of a white powder, which they failed to identify but nevertheless deemed to be worth $30,000.
And out of 500 random breath tests only ten drivers were issued infringement notices.
Michael Balderstone from the Nimbin Hemp Embassy told Echonetdaily it was time the so-called war on drugs drew to a close.
‘The never-ending waste of everyone’s time and money hunting Nimbin pot smokers is a saga that needs to end, and the police need to support us in our quest to get the laws reviewed,’ he said.
‘And what’s with the police putting a dollar value on every gram of pot they find? Is it to show how much people could have spent on groceries instead of in the black market on a plant they could have grown in their backyard?’
‘America started this so-called “war on drugs”, yet today, 70 per cent of Americans can now grow their own cannabis or buy it from a dispensary. But in Australia we seem to swinging the other way.’
He added that ‘quite a few people driving to and from the weekly Friday evening MardiGrass Organising Body meeting were pulled over, including Tony Bower in his Mullaway Medical Cannabis bus’.
Police recently confiscated Bower’s entire crop, every plant labelled and destined for individual patients, many of them with cancer.
Despite the operation’s debatable success, Richmond Local Area Command warns it is planning to conduct similar actions in the near future.
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