| Media
Release 18 May 1999
The Obstacles are the Journey from Graeme Dunstan at the NIMBIN HEMP EMBASSY in the Domain The second day of the NSW Drug Summit, and I compose this as I sit in the Hon Janelle Saffin MLC's office late at night looking over the Domain and the parliamentary offices including that of the Premier Bob Carr. From the balcony the Peoples Drug Summit presents as a beautiful assembly of Nimbin HEMP Embassy banners and flags. The Nimbin Mardi Grass Parade is on display in the Domain as an art installation.  Around one of the smaller fig trees is a circle of lanterns lit in remembrance of the casualties and prisoners of the war on Drugs. Against the trunk of the tree is a small placard reading: "The US Alliance is killing our kids again"! We are a constant reminder to the NSW Drug Summit that bad laws are the problem and that reform is an urgency.  We have
worked all day to get the banners rigged and we have entertained a steady stream of
visitors some who have come to ask questions, some who have come to link up their cannabis
law reform efforts with ours.Amongst the visitors was the avuncular Harry Woods, member for Grafton, who brought with him an advisor from the Premiers office. "What's going on for Bob Carr?" we asked him. "He's listening," they replied, giving the official line in the abrupt heavy-handed manner for which the NSW Labor Party right wing is known for. "Will he come and speak to us about cannabis law reform?" we asked. A flat "No". Still at work rigging banners, I lost interest in the conversation at this point but Gerald Taylor hung in there and told us later that the point of the visit was to ask what we, the NSW People's Drug Summit, wanted. "Decriminalisation for small amounts", said Gerald. And legalisation for compassionate use.  Ian Cohen MLC and Richard Jones MLC have also come to visit. Steve Bolt, director of the Northern Rivers Legal Service, has been our "suit" at the Summit, keeping us up-to-date with the politics and giving us excellent advice.  At 2.30 pm today we took the
Big Joint off the Cannabus and paraded it around to the front of the NSW Parliament to
make the much promised approach to NSW parliament. A 12-metre long (symbolic) battering
ram for cannabis law reform at the gates. We did it for the media. We also did it for the
folk back in Nimbin, a giggle reference to the Mardi Grass Parade tradition which has the
Big Joint knocking on the door of the Nimbin Police Station each year. And we did it for
our own morale.The Police were totally cooperative, guiding us and holding the traffic for us. The officer in charge guided us as we came to a low tree saying: "Careful, I don't want you to squash your joint." We are getting so much cooperation and good will from the Police.  The NSW Police Commissioner Peter Ryan
made the point to the NSW Drug Summit that not even the largest heroin bust his Police
force had made in the last year had any impact on the quality, price or availability of
heroin. When it comes to supply, he says, prohibition policies are clearly not working. So
let's try a different approach to the problems of drug abuse.It seems as though the Nimbin HEMP Embassy and the NSW Police Service are comrades-in-arms in hauling up the white flag on the War on Drugs. It seems like we are here to negotiate the terms of the peace. What an epic journey it was getting here though. Today Greg Bearup, the Sydney Morning Herald journalist who travelled with the Cannabus came to show us his photographs of the journey. He greeted us all warmly as old friends, the laughter and the magic of the journey of our Ship of Fools still tugging at the corners of his lips. Greg left the bus at Coffs Harbour after the brakes failed, personal safety being preferred to the risks of investigative journalism with old hippies in an old hippy bus. Even so he wrote a funny and sympathetic report that got page 2 of the most influential daily in the country.  There is a giggle inside of me when I think about the trip too. At 4 am on Monday morning we were on the F3 Motorway cruising into Sydney with only 60 km to go. For a while there I thought our timing was going to be perfect to get to Hyde park and set up the Big Joint and the flags and banners for the protest action that was supposed to take the Big Joint to the gates of the NSW Parliament at 9 am. Then clunk — the Cannabus stopped again. First it had been the fuel pump, then the brakes and now the universal joint had fallen to the road. Where does one find a universal joint for a 1964 Viking Leyland bus at 4.30 am on a Monday morning? A small crew stayed with the Cannabus to solve that problem while the others boarded the Peace bus and went on with what banners they could carry to the action. Gary Gray, aka Glitter of the Big Bong Theory and web adviser for the Peoples Drug Summit chose to stay with the bus. The breakdowns of the Cannabus, he assured me, were the best media opportunity we had been presented with so far. Thousands of cars going to work would see us, he said. He was right. By 7 pm the cars slowing down to see the Big Joint had caused a traffic pile up that stretched back 6 km.  A reporter for Radio 2WS appeared out of the traffic and arranged
live-to-air interviews with two different Sydney radio stations. The radio folk found the
failure of the universal joint vastly amusing. I recall sitting astride the Big Joint
laughing in the morning sun, giving media interviews via a mobile phone, sharing a smoke
with Gary and waving to drivers who recognised the Joint from the media reports and honked
and waved at us in support. Exhilarating!I had thought our departure ceremony to Ganesha for removing obstacles on the journey had failed. But I came to realise that the obstacles were the journey and it was the breakdowns that they were creating the media interest for us. Our mission was to get noticed and we certainly were. A wheel bearing was screeching when we finally limped into the Domain 6 hours late. We were greeted with cameras and media people galore. It was the biggest cannabis law reform action in a decade and the most visible. Success! Thank you, Lord Ganesh! Graeme Dunstan 18 May 1995 UNDERSTANDING FREES YOU! |