23rd Jan 2021 12:00 AMFor almost three decades, the annual MardiGrass festival at Nimbin has been held as a protest over cannabis laws.
And this year will be no different.
The first meeting to start work on MardiGrass 2021 was held this week.
President of the organising body, Michael Balderstone, said they were planning the event “like there’s no corona (virus)”.
“But who knows what will be going on with COVID by the first weekend in May,” he said.
“It could be jabs all round or rampant corona, so obviously we have to wait and see.
“There will be a big focus on the ridiculous saliva testing by police of drivers searching for minute traces of THC.
“These driving laws show clearly just how serious the government is about not supporting medical cannabis.”
Another focus of this year’s event will be veterans with post traumatic stress disorder and the need for them to access medicinal cannabis.
“The suicide rate of ex-military people is shameful and we know cannabis could help many enormously,” Mr Balderstone said.
This year’s MardiGrass will be the 29th annual event, which was started as a protest to “end the war on cannabis”.
“Now they agree it’s good medicine for a wide range of issues, yet still we are not allowed to grow our own and they control the supply and we must access it via a doctor,” Mr Balderstone said.
“They say our outdoor organic home grown weed is not safe and they wonder why people don’t trust the government.”
Anyone who wants to help organise MardiGrass should visit www.nimbinmardigrass.com or phone the office on 6689 1842.