Naharnet

Plans for Giant G20 Joint Up in Smoke

Pro-cannabis supporters planning to rally at a summit of world leaders in Australia have been stopped from taking their giant inflatable joint, but said Tuesday they plan to still push for medical marijuana.

The HEMP Embassy, based in the New South Wales town of Nimbin, had planned to bring its 10-meter (33 foot) joint to the site near the G20 talks in Brisbane at the weekend, with U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping attending.

"It's a really good prop but they said they would confiscate it if we took it," spokesman Michael Balderstone said, explaining that police felt it was too big.

Balderstone said the group of "a couple of carloads" would instead take smaller, one-meter inflatable reefers to press their point that with America relaxing laws on marijuana, it was time for Australia and the rest of the world to consider the same.

"I actually think the whole war on drugs is a giant mistake... and should be on the agenda," Balderstone told Agence France Presse. "But the first step is medical marijuana."

The HEMP Embassy rally is one of many protests on issues such as poverty and asylum-seekers planned to coincide with the summit, where Australia is deploying its largest ever peacetime security operation.

Balderstone was unfazed.

"The Queensland police I've spoken to so far have been cool," he said.

Source: Agence France Presse


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