A puff in the park: Melbourne pot smokers’ protest

Melbourne cannabis users lit up in Flagstaff Gardens on Sunday to show support for a proposed centre where they can smoke without fear of being locked up.

By CHRISTIANE BARRO

Melbourne cannabis users lit up in Flagstaff Gardens on Sunday to show support for a proposed centre where they can smoke without fear of being locked up.

Organiser and Free Cannabis founder Matt Riley, who plans to open the safe-haven centre, estimated 3000-4000 pot smokers attended.

“There isn’t actually anywhere to go if you’re a stoner,” he said. “It’s just building the community so we can all stand up and say, ‘hey, here we are, and we’re just having a really good afternoon and it will be nice if you’d just stop locking us in cages’.”

The centre would provide a social space for cannabis users, including a live music venue and cafes where they could smoke the drug without fear of being arrested.

A growing number of protesters at the 420 picnics – held each month at Flagstaff Gardens, part of an international movement for legal cannabis – reflect strong community support for the centre, Mr Riley said.

“If 4000 people are prepared to come out in public and break the law as a group on one specific occasion, than that’s a pretty good indicator that those 4000 people and a whole lot more would be interested in using a facility like the community centre,” he said.

Mr Riley said he was confident he could raise $1 million to rent a Collingwood property for the centre. It would dodge what Mr Riley described as an “oppressive policy” of prohibition that involved elements of prejudice, persecution and discrimination.

As with the rallies each month, where people smoke marijuana without police intervention, Mr Riley said police would not intervene with the centre if it remained peaceful.

The use of cannabis is illegal in Australia. In several states, including Victoria, possession of a small quantity typically attracts a caution, not a police charge.

Victoria is participating in medical marijuana trials and, if successful, the Andrews Government has said it would push for legalisation for medicinal purposes.

Cassie Batten, whose son Cooper suffers severe epileptic seizures which she treats with cannabis, is invited to 420 picnics, but she doesn’t support recreational use of the drug.

“It seems as though they are just trying to get a whole of heap of druggies together and making it okay to use it … if it wasn’t for Cooper we wouldn’t be advocating for legalisation,” she said.

Mr Riley’s son, Callum, said an individual’s right to choose was a priority in the fight to legalise cannabis, rather than its medicinal purposes.

“It should not be [exclusively] medical because you don’t necessarily have to have a problem to want to use cannabis,” he said.

Pain specialist Doctor Michael Vagg said while Victoria mulled over if it should produce marijuana for medicinal purposes, there was a risk users would think it could lead to decriminalising recreational marijuana.

“They are two very different sorts of societal issues,” he said.

“There is evidence that if alcohol is causing so much harm … then I don’t know if it would necessarily help adding free and legal marijuana to the mix as well.”

But Melbourne-based hip-hop artist Steven Juñor Ondarch, an exercise physiology student at Australian Catholic University, said mental health side-effects of the drug – such as schizophrenia or a psychotic episode – were limited to those users with a genetic predisposition.

“It’s not the marijuana directly affecting someone and giving them schizophrenia, it’s a trigger … but not the cause,” he said.

“You just have to be aware of the cautions, just like anything else you take.”

Lawyer Terry Dehghani, who also attended the 420 picnic, said users needed to gauge how they should use the drug responsibly.

“Like alcohol, you need to have that self-discipline. You need to learn to use it to your benefit,” he said.

Lawyer Matthew Craig, who is also a musician, has tailored his use of the drug to avoid becoming anxious. He smokes a joint or from a vaporiser six to seven days each week, because smoking from a bong often triggered anxiety.

“The same way I think people would have their morning coffee because it helps them focus on work, I’m a musician and an innovator, so I will smoke this marijuana, and it’ll open up those thought capabilities for me,” Mr Craig said.

Regular user Charly Dwyer said her uncle, who committed suicide after he used marijuana for six months, “had the bad luck of the draw”.

It’s unknown if the drug directly led him to his death, she said.

“You can't really just say, because some certain people have had these bad side-effects, it means that everyone could potentially have them,” she said.

In the lead up to a rally on April 20 next year that Mr Riley expects will attract 15,000 to 20,000 protesters, a picnic will be held each month except December.

Readers seeking support can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14, or visit your local headspace centre, which can be found here.