Continued police raids on Nimbin’s cannabis market will see an increase in the ice [methamphetamine] trade, warned Sofia Hoeben from the Nimbin Action Group.
Garnering cheers from the 50-plus crowd, Hoeben led a public ‘Smoke in’ on Saturday, where the Nimbin community converged to support the 11 street dealers who were arrested in Rainbow Lane on June 28.
‘Leave our town alone,’ Hoeben boomed into a microphone to applause in Mingle Park – yet the Nimbin police were not present, nor answered when we visited their station for comment.
The recently arrested dealers are known as ‘lane boys,’ and are described by residents as ‘community-minded’, ‘honest’ and ‘polite’. They are a group of young men who staunchly oppose the sale of ice [methamphetamine] in Nimbin.
Hoeben said the lane boys routinely undertake ‘scum patrol’ which identifies and makes ice and ‘hard drug’ dealers unwelcome in Nimbin.
‘Their arrests [by police] were very violent and unnecessary,’ said Hoeben ‘They [police] left the ice dealers alone, only giving them a move on order in the park, and the very next day they busted the boys here for a herb.
‘The sell only marijuana, no hard drugs, and we feel like the police coming down heavily on marijuana is ridiculous in this day and age when we are so confronted as a society with the hard drugs that are killing our kids,’ said Hoeben.
Terminally ill seeking relief
‘Many people come to our town for pain relief, the terminally ill come here, people with cancer come here, from all over the world,’ said Hoeben.
Another local said that the police raids were ‘overkill.’ HEMP Embassy volunteer Francis Moonshadow said, ‘A lot of the locals are protesting and sticking up for the boys because it [the raid] was just overkill. [The police] know they can come to Nimbin and [arrest pot dealers]; it’s easy revenue.’
‘I’ve been here for twenty-five years,’ said one unidentified cafe worker, ‘I know these boys, I’ve seen them grow up. They are actually health-focused and fit. They hate ice. They protect this town.’
At the protest, a group of young men in baseball caps watched the protest from afar, interjecting with ‘free the boys’ when the crowd grew silent.
Hoeben argues that the Rainbow Lane was a ‘safe place’ to purchase cannabis for a fair price as opposed to entering the ‘risky’ and ‘dangerous’ Gold Coast market.
‘We consider hard drugs the problem, we consider the police approaching our town as a problem,’ said Hoeben.
‘Economically, the town goes downhill when the police come in – businesses lose money, tourists don’t come and locals are afraid to come into town for fear of getting caught up in another raid.
‘We’ve been putting up with it for a long time. Enough is enough!’ said Hoeben.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
