Mayday mayday mayday is an international signal of distress and Nimbin’s MardiGrass organisers and supporters will march tomorrow to highlight their distress about what they say is a war on drugs.
Michael Balderstone president of the HEMP Party and NSW Senate candidate, says the annual Mayday March is to invite local Members of Parliament to MardiGrass. ‘We want to remind them we are just like them, only we prefer weed and vote HEMP,’ he said.
The march will begin at 1pm at the Lismore Court House and visit the offices of Janelle Saffin and Kevin Hogan with hand delivered invites to Nimbin’s big weekend.
‘Greens local Dan Reid might join us and march along now the Greens say that pot is okay and they’ve come out of the Cannabis closet,’ says Balderstone.
‘Janelle Saffin is sympathetic to at least medical use we know but is the National Party’s Kevin Hogan ready to shrug off the Nat’s drizabone and support us? We’ll find out tomorrow.’
Balderstone says the big issue now for cannabis users is, do any of the major political parties realise that roadside drug testing is preventing medical cannabis even getting off the ground? ‘Until we decide to focus on impairment as the driving issue, the rest of it is hollow words.
‘Next month in May, in NSW, there are new laws to be enacted which mean an instant on the spot loss of ones drivers licence for three months if your saliva registers positive that you have cannabis in your system. And by now I think everyone must know cannabis is uniquely fat soluble and stays in your system for a month or two.
‘So who is going to speak out against such ridiculous unfairness?’
The full MardiGrass program can be found at: www.nimbinmardigrass.com.
‘about what they say is a war on drug’
Yeah? Is this the most astute perception one can make? Not very clarifying. Of course there is a war on drugs.There is a pretty good reason for that. Drugs are, generally, a destructive force in society.
There are a variety of issues at hand here and they generally get thrown all together, when they need to be distinct. Individual freedom to choose to take drugs is distinct from ‘ones right to operate a vehicle whilst intoxicated’ which is distinct to the over zealous laws and policing attempts. As for drug dealing however – profiting off the weakness of others – that has no place in a civilised society and should be dealt with severely.
While it can be argued that policing and prosecuting of drug users is highly disproprtionate, and saliva drug tests are so inaccurate as to be a total joke [just see what the rest of the world thinks of them – they have a very low opinion]. Don’t conflate this why the idea that drugs, including cannabis, are safe and healthy.
One of the worst things about cannabis is how it destroys motivation, will and discipline. This also compounds the difficulty in stopping when you decide you’ve had enough. We need to be strong. If drugs are making you weak, then you are less of a human, less effective, less responsible and more of a burden on others, That’s a pretty good litmus test. Is this choice making me a weaker person?
i certainly don’t want to be sharing a highway at 100km/h with someone under the influence of drugs – any drugs. Challenging the disproprtionate nature and ethics of the law and policing vs cannabis is doesn’t make cannabis any safer. It’s the harm you can do to others, don’t be selfish, if you choose to get high then that’s your call but don’t operate a vehicle at the same time.