EX-COP UP IN SMOKE BUT CHONG STILL SMOKIN'

Nimbin MardiGrass organisers are confident that at least half of the
American comedy duo Cheech and Chong will be in attendance at this
year's marijuana law reform festival.

Tommy Chong and his partner Richard 'Cheech' Marin built their
careers portraying archetypal stoners in the 1970s and 80s, making
several films including Up In Smoke and Still Smokin'. In 2003 Tommy
Chong's company Chong's Glass was raided by American federal police
and he pleaded guilty to distributing drug paraphernalia. He was
sentenced to nine months jail and fined $20,000.

Their Australian reunion tour is scheduled to finish in Brisbane the
day before MardiGrass starts.

"It's too coincidental and too cosmic for him not to come. Tommy is
a big supporter of cannabis law reform," festival organiser Michael
Balderstone said.

He said Tommy probably wasn't going to perform in Nimbin, but he had
indicated he would like to be a judge at the Cheech and Chong
look-a-like competition.

One of the festival's key speakers, former undercover narcotics
officer with the New Jersey State Police Jack Cole, has withdrawn
from the festival. Mr Cole is now executive director of LEAP (Law
Enforcement Against Prohibition), a non-profit organisation with
10,000 former and current police officers and government agents
opposed to the 'War on Drugs'.

Mr Balderstone said he was disappointed Jack Cole couldn't make it
to MardiGrass, but said he was due to come out in late May or early
June and hoped something could be organised with him at that time.

Other activities planned for the festival include the Marijuana
Music Awards, Pot Poetry, Medical Cannabis and Industrial Hemp
Forums and, of course, the Hemp Olympix. There will also be an
international forum on cannabis reconciliation on Saturday, May 2. A
panel of international activists will discuss how their countries
have managed to get around prohibition in a compassionate way.