Christopher Zinn
Olympics with a difference were celebrated in Australia last weekend, opening with a Mardi Grass, to celebrate this region’s highly respected cannabis crop.
The distinctly unathletic Australia Hemp Olympix 2000 attracted thousands of pro- marijuana campaigners to the town of Nimbin, 640km north of Sydney – a sort of sub-tropical Woodstock.
Judges awarded gold medals for bong hurling, the fastest joint roller and the most artistic joint.
Local police turned a blind eye to a marijuana market and the Cannabis Cup awarded to the finest outdoor-cultivated plant.
“The police had to get out of the way or they’d get trampled,” said long-time resident and documentary film-maker Paul Tait.
“Tourists say the cops must be bent here because there is so much dealing in the open. But they’re not, they’re lovely men,” said Nimbin’s Dr David Helliwell, who admits to being a pot smoker and is trying to introduce Dutch-style hash coffee houses to regulate the drug market.
The speed-rolling contest involves making a three-paper reefer as fast as possible, while the artistic competitors have 10 minutes to produce their creations. All joints must be smokable by the judges.
Bob Clarke, from Morree, was speed winner of the past two years and took gold again in 19,6 seconds. “I have been coming here for five years and have never been arrested or hassled,” he said. “I always seem to win a bag of pot, too.”
All competitors and judges passed the mandatory drugs test, to make sure they were all stoned.
But if the Hemp Olympix can teach the Sydney organising committee for the Olympic Games a thing or two about sportsmanship and good humour, perhaps they could learn something from the official Olympics.
The judges of the joint-rolling contest were so out of it, even before the initial heats, that they forgot to bring a stopwatch or even a cigarette lighter.