A marketing campaign called Faces of Nimbin has just been launched with the aim of debunking the stereotypical image of the village as a drug-takers' haven.

Lismore City Council's tourism services coordinator Andrew Walker said the concept was created by the Nimbin Marketing Campaign Focus Group, set up to boost tourism after the 2014 fires that destroyed several local businesses, including the Nimbin Museum.

"Nimbin is a melting pot of dynamic individuals and the reason it's so special is because it celebrates its diversity and individuality," Mr Walker said.

2015 was a big year for weed in Australia, with medicinal use and bizarre sloth-starring anti-drug campaigns taking centre stage.

If you didn't know, cannabis still stands as the most widely used drug in the country, with 35% of Australians over the age of 14 reporting they had consumed it at least once, according to theAustralian National Drugs Strategy Household Survey in 2013, but that doesn't mean it's anywhere near legal.

Plans to grow Australia's first commercial crop of medical cannabis at Christmas Island have met resistance from some locals, who fear that islanders won't see the financial benefits and drugs may end up in the hands of local youths.

The cannabis proposal is the latest of a series of developments that have raised the ire of Christmas Island residents, who say the controversial detention centre damages efforts to grow the island's tourism industry and a reduction in the frequency of government-contracted planes means mail is frequently delayed.

Australian firm AusCann announced last month it will plant trial medical cannabis crops on Christmas Island, 2600 kilometres northwest of Perth.

Number one: Canada elects a marijuana-legalizing prime minister.

The global anti-drug regime has been in place for more than a half century now, but the prohibitionist consensus has been crumbling for at least 20 years, and the decomposition continued apace this year.

The international treaties that make up the legal backbone of international drug prohibition still stand, but they are under increasing attack at the United Nations, which will take them up again next year. They are increasingly being breached (especially by marijuana legalization at the national and sub-national level) and nibbled away at around the edges by moves like drug decriminalization and some harm reduction measures such as supervised injection facilities.

For legalization advocates, 2015 has been a historic year.

Marijuana was pushed further into the mainstream than ever before, and new policies passed at the state level seem to confirm that the public and lawmakers are ready to have a rational conversation about the future of pot in America.

The freakish video shows a "stoner sloth" struggling in a number of everyday social situations, including chatting with friends and eating an evening meal with family after taking drugs.

However, as The Guardian points out, that didn't stop even NSW premier Mike Baird airing his bemusement about the campaign.

The advertising agency behind the controversial "Stoner Sloth" anti-marijuana videos, which cost taxpayers half a million dollars, has hit back at criticism, saying the campaign's message is completely lost on adults.

After a week of relentless ridicule, Saatchi & Saatchi (S&S) has stepped out in defence of the NSW government's latest anti-drugs initiative, which it created.

The "Stoner Sloth" campaign has attracted attention around the world. Photo: stonersloth.com.au

A random breath test and a familiar odour have revealed a cannabis grow house being lugged around in a rental truck.

Police made the discovery at a breath-testing site on Longfield Street in Stawell about 8.10pm on Thursday.

After intercepting the truck a suspicious smell prompted police to search the vehicle.

Inside they found 50 cannabis plants, all about a metre tall, 50 transformers and other crop-growing equipment.

The driver, a 25-year-old Elizabeth South man, was charged with drug offences and will face the Ballarat Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

SYDNEY: An anti-marijuana campaign in Australia featuring a human-sized lumbering stoned sloth acting foolishly has backfired and become the brunt of jokes on social media.

Launched this week using the slogan “You’re worse on weed”, it attempts to warn teenagers of the dangers of sustained cannabis use by depicting those who smoke it as grumbling, oversized “stoner sloths”.

But it has been widely mocked as “ridiculously funny” with thousands of comments on its Facebook page, which has attracted more than 16,000 likes.

“Smoke weed, become one of the most adorable animals in the world. Where do I get some weed?” wrote Andrew Watton-Davies while Scott Hobson noted that: “I literally can’t tell if it’s satire or legit.”