I repeat, we are going to take the Big Joint down to Canberra, by the way, the "we" that "I" am talking about is the "we" who took the Big Joint down to Sydney in 1999, the same we who floated the Big Joint onto Sydney Harbour in 2000, btw, the last time a H*E*M*P delegation went to Canberra and tried to meet with the Prime Minister his name was Paul Keating, they didn't take a Big Joint with them and they didn't  have a website to bear witness.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH Omegas Video of Max Stone speaking about the Big Joint to Canberra Mission and 420 in Peace Park during the MardiGrass

The plan was to build it 'live to the web' during the MardiGrass as Street Performance Art outside the Nimbin H*E*M*P*Bar / H*E*M*P*Embassy Complex in full view of the Police Security cameras. Instead...... "We Made it", we made it in time for the parade, we made it in time to take it to Canberra and we made it starting from scratch "live on the web" as you can see in the construction image banks CAM 1 CAM 2. and those three words "we made it" have a special meaning for the construction crew. Special thanks to David Hallet for letting us use the area between the Nimbin Hall and the Nimbin H*E*M*P*Bar / H*E*M*P*Embassy Complex for the construction.

BIG JOINT GOES TO CANBERRA:

And so it was, that on the last day of may in the year of 2006 that we, Michael Balderstone, the Goddess aka Gerald Taylor, Sam HEMPBar Bernard, a hippy named Pumpkin and me, Max Stone, arrived at the Big House. The sun was coming up, there was frost on the grass and it was cold, cold as cold as Canberra can be and whilst I may have never stood atop Mount Everest, after today, I sure know what it must feel like. Years and years of lead up work, months of planning and preparation just to get into position to make the final assault on the summit.

We had a couple of cameras with us, one of which was used to create the .MOV files you can download, eventually these .MOV's will be edited and available in multiple formats, but for now, .MOV is what the camera made, so if you want to see them you will need quicktime.

CLICK HERE FOR QUICKTIME MOVIES.

need apple quick time?

Naturally we followed the guidelines, brewed up tea, coffee and chai, it was a comfortable space for us to present our case. Compared to previous Big Joint Missions, this one was certainly the least physically demanding. This Big Joint was very easy to assemble, dismantle and transport compared to previous Big Joints and this Big Joint has plenty of life left in it, expect to see it on the road a lot more. After it was set up "on the summit" it didn't take us long to discover that it made a perfect tent / head quarters and many happy hours were spent ensuring the Big Joint smelt right to our visitors and those walking past on the footpath.

We made many friends amongst the Federal Police, they were perhaps the friendliest and most professional policemen I have ever met during all my years as a Cannabis Law Reform Activist. They did their job extremely well, we were never out of their sight and there was always one or more of them talking to at least one of us. Their attitude to Cannabis was no different to their attitude towards tobacco or tomatoes. They were not interested in 'fining' us for cannabis possession or use and whilst they would have arrested us in a heartbeat if we broke a guideline, the feeling amongst us was that they were on our side. We spoke at length with them about their attitudes to cannabis, life, the universe and everything and as I said at the start, we made many friends and we look forward to extending the green carpet treatment when our mates come up to visit us in Nimbin.

Michael and Sam preparing to move the Big Joint into the Authorised Assembly Area, what you can't see in the photo above is the 'addition' to the real life road sign, there is a 2 between the 4 and the 0. Another detail you may not notice is that rope that is used to bind the backbone of the Big Joint, the same rope that we used to tie the 'joint segments' to the ute, the rope in question belongs to NimFm HEMP Hour anchor man Bob Tissot. Bob couldn't be with us due to radio commitments but he was there in spirit. Thanks Bob. I would also like to thank Pumpkin for the use of the yellow rope and Paris for the 2 blue ones. I would also like to thank all the HEMP Embassy staff who worked so hard to raise the money to buy the nuts, bolts, wood, poly pipe and the 420 other things we needed to make it all the way to the Big House. Nimbin Chamber of Commerce president Andrew Kavasilas, another 99 Big Joint veteran, joined us on the day. You can see him in the .MOV files you can download.

Sam and Michael skinning up out side the Big House.

Taking control of the protest space outside the Big House is not as easy as you might think, after all and as I said before, the Big House is the Everest that all political demonstrators eventually have to climb. Its a wide open space designed to accommodate 30,000 or more people and every day of the week there is a line of placard bearing protesters right across the front of the 'Authorised Assembly Area'. Not this day, although, other protesters were there, as soon as they saw the Big Joint they had little meetings amongst themselves and left. Police told us that we were in a totally different league to the 'average protester', they said that heaps more 'photos' were taken of the 'A.A.A' than usual and that more 'real people' wandered by for a chat than for the 'average protest' and as far as they were concerned the Big Joint had lifted the bar as far as political demonstration was concerned.

CLICK HERE FOR QUICKTIME MOVIES.

Sam inside the Big Joint...

Michael and the Goddess outside the Big House.....

CLICK HERE FOR QUICKTIME MOVIES.

The photo above was taken by Sam HEMPBar Bernard, can you see the boat he asked me, No I replied, all I can see is the Japanese Beatles.

From the Inside looking out

Michael Balderstone, taken just before he went inside the Big House to deliver a letter to John Howard.

Max Stone above and the Goddess inside the Big Joint below.

CLICK HERE FOR QUICKTIME MOVIES.

the Goddess Blessing Australia...

 The tranquil scene at sunset above, and the Big Joint returns to base camp after a successful day on the summit pictured below.

So, besides some images that will look great on postcards, what did we accomplish? In the short term, not a hell of a lot, in the rather specific niche that is the world of cannabis law reform, we accomplished what we set out to do, which was to "Mount Everest", speak to the powers that be and deliver information. As we were packing up and preparing to leave the mountain, we mostly spoke about the need to come back with a lot more crew, for a longer time, perhaps BEFORE MardiGrass 2008.......

CLICK HERE FOR THE MARDIGRASS 2007 CLICK HERE FOR THE MARDIGRASS 2007
CLICK HERE FOR THE MARDIGRASS 2007 CLICK HERE FOR THE MARDIGRASS 2007

CLICK HERE TO WATCH Omegas Video of Max Stone
Speaking about the Big Joint and 420 in Peace Park during MardiGrass

If you want to read more words, check out the Big Joint Blogs.

till next update....

peace.

Max Stone

The original plan was to arrive in Canberra during the budget session, in time to point out to Mr. Howard and Mr. Costello the POTential revenue that would be raised by the HEMP revolution, please keep uppermost in mind we are not talking about a government tax on home grown cannabis for personal use, we are talking about the revenue that will be generated by the hemp Agri business - Fibre, Fuel and Food. Hemp is stronger and requires far less fertilizer than, say, cotton; being naturally insect repellent, and having few insect predators capable of effectively attacking it, it needs little to no pe$ticide$. As food, hemp seed is right up there with the Soya bean for nutrition and a lot more versatile. Since a hemp seed is 35% oil, containing the highest oil percentage of all seeds, hempseed is ideal for bio diesel and when the sustainability of a bio diesel industry is compared to the unstable future of the oil business, case closed, I mean the price of oil has never come down in my lifetime, hemp based fuel could save Australia billions and billions of dollars. I should also add that cannabis has a growing reputation amongst cancer patients as a wonder drug, but it's 'miracle cure' reputation is unverifiable and of course, the legal situation of cannabis has stifled research in this area for many years. Another example? How about old growth Tasmanian forest being sold as wood chips for $2.70 a tonne. Irreplaceable forest for a measly $2.70 per tonne. If the government were to legislate a redeployment of the 'woodchip' industry into the 'hemp industry, within a few years the HEMPchip industry will be churning out high quality pulp and what's left of the old growth could stay alive until someone wants to pay its real value; $27,000,000 a tonne. Still yet another example? Hemp is being used in the Ukraine around Chernobyl to absorb radioactive isotopes from the soil.

Bottom Line? We do not want cannabis legalized just so we can sit around and smoke pot all day long, we have common sense reasons why 'out door' cannabis should be relegalized so that all Australians can benefit from this wonderful plant, indeed, from a global perspective, no other country on earth stands to gain as much as Australia does by relegalizing the hemp plant. We have the acreage, the sunlight and the willing workers required to become the earths leading supplier of hemp for Fibre, Fuel, Food and Medicine.

If you still want to read more words, check out the Big Joint Blogs.

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