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Byron Shire
March 29, 2024

Nimbin raids ‘will lead to an increase in ice’

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A photo distribute by police of officers apprehending two men in Nimbin. (supplied)
A photo distribute by police of officers apprehending two men in Nimbin. (supplied)

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.

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‘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.

 


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4 COMMENTS

  1. they have stopped me using marijuana for chronic back pain because I need my drivers license to visit my doctor , so now I am becoming addicted to prescription opiates

  2. When will the police and or the politicians start listening. Marijuana isn’t the big problem. Alcohol/ICE/Tobaccio are. They’re far more burdensome on the health system than marijuana ever was or will be.

  3. I lived in Nimbin , and know all the boys and there parents, whom were some of the founders, / all solid fit approachable and also very talented , Artists/ Rapers/ and Muso’s ,,,,
    Ive watched them bolt across the street to assist any one in /need /or trouble !!!!
    and they dont deserve to be drilled like this, when this goes on every day 24/7
    and as all locals know there is a camera pointed at the lane 24/7 so ? what about all the other days ?????
    leave them alone ? go to the coast and “Pardon the Pun ” -” Crack ‘ d0wn on ICE !!!!!
    horrible , Non organic , Man made, Mind & Environment ,Destroyer!!!!
    Get a grip,,,, time for real change!!!! stop !!!! look both ways ,then cross the road ???
    Big Fist High !!!! to “The Lane Way Boys!!!!
    Djahgarri,,,,

  4. Liars. Nimbin is a theatre. My ancestors turn in their graves over what it has become. It THRIVES on PROHIBITION. When the sun goes down and the tourist buses return to Byron for the evening, the locals show their true colours and the ugliness of violence dominates. It is a myth that Nimbin is funded by centrelink. The town (both businesses and dealers) make millions, possibly billions, each year from the tourist dollar. Touted across the world as “the cannabis capital of Australia,” the town lives a very exclusive lifestyle compared to elsewhere in the country … and people believe Nimbinites to be against prohibition? Ha! Go to a medical cannabis forum there …. discussion doesnt move much past what it was twenty years ago. A stagnent cesspool of lazy washed up virtual hippies. Legalise the weed and Nimbin wont be so exclusive anymore. Noone will need to visit it for their pot anymore … not the tourists or out of towners, nor the medical cannabis patients. Nimbin and it’s violent underbelly are deliberately sabotaging the anti-prohibition movement with their multi-millionaire drug gang boys. The locals are lying about the rainbows and magic for tourist profit. Dont believe the farce. Peace to all who truely want to the weed.

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