Police have arrested 21 people on the first day of the annual Mardi Grass festival in Nimbin in northern New South Wales.
The three-day event in the town is billed as a cannabis law reform rally.
Police say most of the arrests are for drug offences.
Earlier in the week, police warned festival goers that no exceptions to drug legislation would be made and the use, sale or consumption of cannabis would be prosecuted.
Police relations in the town have been at a low ebb lately and Hemp Embassy spokesman Michael Balderstone says things would be no different at Mardi Grass.
"We're not going to leave and people are not going to stop smoking pot, so it's just a waste of money and it's time everybody sat down at the table and talked about it," he said.
Quote: As is the case with nicotine and caffeine, THC in Cannabis, it seems, is to protect the plant from herbivores or pathogens. THC occurs mainly as tetrahydrocannabinol. THC has analgesic effects that, even at low doses, cause a high, thus leading to the fact that medical cannabis can be used to treat pain.
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