Uncategorized – Mata

MICHAEL BALDERSTONE, the original activist

Michael Balderstone was formerly a stockbroker, currently the President of the Hemp Embassy, Legalise Cannabis Australia party and the unofficial Mayor of Nimbin, a small but significant town to the cannabis movement. For the last 30 years, Michael has been the public face of the Northern Rivers Help End Marijuana Prohibition (HEMP) movement. He is a self-proclaimed hippie and the original advocate for all things cannabis in Australia.

Photography ANTONELLA MORELLI Words MICHEAL BALDERSTONE Interview BEE MOHAMED

Bee Mohamed: From a spiritual perspective, how has cannabis helped you find truth in your life?

I think I am fortunate in many ways as I did not discover cannabis until I was 25 and that day had a profound effect on me. It was in Kandahar and a local Afghani invited me to smoke with him. I was smoking tabac anyway so inhaling was easy. I was in an orange groove and everything became liquid.

Different brightly coloured energies flowed up and down the tree trunks from the earth like each had its own multi lane highway. It was a mind blowing experience. Everything was connected, and awesomely beautiful.

That was my first wake up to there is a lot more to life than meets the eye! In a way, this was the ‘start’ of everything and I wanted more. I loved how the smoke emptied my mind and opened up intuitive doorways to the Truth.

A few months prior I had left my job in London with a stockbroker in a search for "whether there was a God or was it a dog eat dog world". I'd been helping the rich get richer in my job but on the way to London from Australia, I’d stop over in Bangkok and had a glimpse of what we call third world living. Inequality amongst people is clearly the cause of so much angst and I needed to know if it was by chance or not.

Interview with Bee Mohamed, 20 February 2024

Interview with Bee Mohamed, 25 May 2024

Bee Mohamed: From a spiritual perspective, how has cannabis helped you find truth in your life?

Michael Balderstone: I think I am fortunate in many ways as I did not discover cannabis until I was 25 and that day had a profound effect on me. It was in Kandahar and a local Afghani invited me to smoke with him. I was smoking tabac, so inhaling was easy. I was in an orange groove and everything became liquid.

Different brightly coloured energies flowed up and down the tree trunks from the earth like each had its own multi lane highway. It was a mind blowing experience. Everything was connected, and awesomely beautiful.

That was my first wake up to there is a lot more to life than meets the eye! In a way, this was the ‘start’ of everything and I wanted more. I loved how the smoke emptied my mind and opened up intuitive doorways to the Truth.

A few months prior I had left my job in London with a stockbroker in a search for "whether there was a God or was it a dog eat dog world". I'd been helping the rich get richer in my job but on the way to London from Australia, I’d stop over in Bangkok and had a glimpse of what we call third world living. Inequality amongst people is clearly the cause of so much angst and I needed to know if it was by chance or not.