cannabisnews.com: NORML Aotearoa New Zealand MMM Report NORML Aotearoa New Zealand MMM Report Posted by FoM on May 11, 2000 at 05:30:06 PT Norml J-Day in the Octagon was a great success Source: NORML Aotearoa Well the media have done us South Islanders in again so don't believe everything you hear. ( I was too depressed by our coverage to write until now...) But the facts are that,The Norml J-Day in the Octagon was a great success and the biggest ever in Dunedin. Norml was in the Octagon from 12.30 to 4.30 and attracted a cloud, sorry crowd, of supporters that at its peak numbered around 250. (Bear in mind we have 110,000 citizens so its comparable to an Auckland turn out of 2500!)Brightly coloured displays were erected aound the octagon. The council gave us a permit and no complaints were received from the public. Only one plain clothes cop attended and he left at around 1.30 pm after identifying himself. Not a single uniform was seen all afternoon. This after the Police inspector for the Octagon had been in the ODT twice during the week saying "people would be foolish to attend the smoke-in".The crowd was entertained by drummers, jugglers, dub sound system and each other's pleasant company. Over fifty green helium filled balloons were distributed each containing a ripe cannabis seed. Once they were all handed out people were told that they were all possessing cannabis and breaking the law but if they didn't want that they just had to let go of the string and the balloon would float off to grow wild. Not one released theirs.Smoking had informally started at noon and at 3.00 pm the official smoke-in took place and a sizeable crowd of enthusiasts gathered in front of the stage. Clouds of smoke could easily be seen.During the smoke-in the microphone on stage was available for people who had become inspired to get up and say something. Well they sure did. Quite a range and all with a different point. Good ranting. An old skin head got up with a HUGE stunt doobie and then gave me a shottie on stage. This all in the centre of town! Only one of our invited speakers turned up.Five activists organised the event which raised $28 and signed up one ex member. (Fund raising and membership drives in the south island are notoriously difficult.)The local media, the Otago Daily Times, did write it up in a bizarre account. It stated that "no one appeared to have organised it" despite the article correctly calling it a NORML event. It also said we had 100 people. The photo accompanying it appeared to have been taken at 12.00 but another phto was taken at 2.30. Who knows what the journalist was on, may be that evil, anti-social, faculty-diminishing substance alcohol!TV3 said numbers were low in the "other three centres" but only showed Wgtn and Chch which did appear low. TV1 didn't even mention the other centres.Maybe Dunedin is just too far for journalists to bother to go. I hope we were mentioned in the press release, in future we'll do our own one. But for all that only the media was a disappointment, the day went off!Congratulations to Auckland for your event too. All seemed to be enjoying themselves.Love from the Dunedin crew,Richard, Duncan, Paul, Nicole and Gabes.Richard ArachnidSouth Island RepNorml Aotearoa-NZOtago NormlDunedinAotearoa-NZ7 May 2000 ADOtago NormlDunedinAotearoa-NZ7 May 2000 ADChris FowliePresidentNorml NZAuckland021-295-4622"get up, stand up, stand up for your rights"CannabisNews Articles & Photos As Of May 11, 2000B.N.N. BulletinDateline...Tuesday May 9, 200http://www.bertisevil.com/indexa.htmlPaul Cornwell's Shots of the Atlanta March:http://www.cannabis2000.com/mmm/mmm1_052.htmPictures:http://www.techno.cz/party/report/2000/mmm/"Portland's Million Marijuana March"(May 6, 2000)http://www.crrh.org/hemptv/misc_pm2000.htmlSeattle, Washington, USA. 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