HIPPY CULTURE PUT OUT TO GRASS

WANDER past the Stoned Fish and Chip cafe towards the Bring-a-bong
shop, directly across the road from the Hemp Embassy, and a young man
will approach and ask, "Would you like to buy some marijuana?"

Interested shoppers will be directed down the lane that runs alongside
the Rainbow Cafe.

The "lane boys", as they are known, are local Nimbin High graduates
who have turned their backs on the dreadlocks and rainbow colours of
their hippie parents, opting for buzz cuts, blng and sneakers, but the
business is still the same.

"We're still hippies at heart," one said, before offering a half-ounce
for $140. It is just an average day in the marijuana capital of Australia.

"We do have a street trade here; you'd have to be blind to miss it,"
said Andrew Walker, 42, who runs the tourism information centre.

The new police chief in town, Superintendent Greg Martin, 49, who
started in December, has refused to turn a blind eye to the drug trade
any longer.

"Is it acceptable to not do anything about Nimbin which is
internationally known as a place to buy drugs; do we turn a blind eye?
We are police; we are here to enforce the law," he said. "They say I
am trying to make a name for myself, but it is just business as usual."

Along with immigration officials, he is targeting backpackers and
visitors who travel to Nimbin on buses called The Happy Bus or The
Grasshopper specifically to buy pot.

Such overt displays of drug tourism often end in raids, like last
weekend when 50 police, sniffer dogs, immigration officers and RTA
officials blockaded the town, boarded tourist buses, demanding
passports and frisking locals.

The raid netted two ounces of marijuana.

"They are trying to crush the town," said Paula Vanvas, 62, a
confessed hippie and pot smoker who works at the Hemp Embassy selling
all things hemp. "Marijuana is just a herb and we'd like Nimbin to be
a little slice of Amsterdam."

Ms Vanvas said the raids were getting heavier and it is driving
tourism away.

Justin Smith, who runs the Stoned Fish and Chip shop, agrees. This
week he won't be able to pay himself, let alone his employees. "They
emptied the town, and when there are no customers I don't cover
costs," the 42-year-old long-term local said.

After the raid, even conservatives in town were rattled. "There are
heaps of us who don't grow it, don't smoke it, so we feel very
targeted," said Andrew Walker. "The international visitors were upset
going through cordons and having to show their passports, it affects
business for weeks."

Like many locals, Mr Walker thinks the street trade overshadows the
other positives the picturesque valley has to offer.

"It's always about the drugs; I get disappointed the positives never
get in the paper," he said.Supt Martin is unapologetic about the
perceived heavy-handedness and the futility of the raid given the
trade was back in full swing when The Sunday Telegraph visited.

"I wouldn't say nothing changes. We are sending a message to the
greater community: if you go to Nimbin to buy drugs, you could get
arrested," he said.

The raid worked on one level this week: trade was down with few
backpackers on the streets, but a busload of missionaries from Perth
arrived and after eating cut lunches with cordial, started singing on
the streets and pushing a different message.