Pubdate: Fri, 18 Jul 2014
Source: Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
Copyright: 2014 The Sydney Morning Herald
Contact:  http://www.smh.com.au/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/441
Author: Andrew Taylor
Page: 20

CANNABIS USERS PUT FACES ON THE LINE

Now in her late 20s, Jessica has smoked cannabis since she was 19, 
describing it as a "creative drug" and a mind-opening experience. She 
strongly favours legalisation of the drug but rarely consumes it these days.

"I only smoke a little now because I discovered I have a heart 
condition and I tend to get heart pains when I smoke too much," she says.

Jessica, who asks that her last name not be disclosed, is one of 16 
long-term cannabis users whose portraits feature in an exhibition at 
a Sydney gallery next month.

Simon Bernhardt's Gateway features portraits of eight men and eight 
women, including a teacher, a computer programmer and the father of a 
young child, all of whom are photographed using cannabis except the 
latter, who smoked tobacco during the photo shoot.

Their names are withheld and clouds of cannabis smoke obscure their 
faces but Bernhardt says the 16 illicit drug users in Gateway have 
taken a risk.

"They've really put themselves out there on the line," he says.

The exhibition, which opens at Black Eye Gallery in Darlinghurst next 
month, aims to explode stereotypes about cannabis users, while 
exploring whether the drug is a gateway to other illegal drugs.

"I want to break the stereotypical stoner tag that these people are 
hippie losers living on their parents' lounge," Bernhardt says.

He shot the portraits in his Sydney studio in January and asked his 
subjects about their drug use, including whether they hid it from 
family and work colleagues.

He says some were open about it and were not concerned about being 
judged as potheads. All his subjects supported the legalisation of 
cannabis use, with most regarding it as less harmful than alcohol. 
Premier Mike Baird suggested in May that he may support a private 
member's bill to decriminalise the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes.

Jessica, who is identified simply as subject 16, says her family and 
friends are aware of her cannabis use but she does not "flaunt" it in 
front of work colleagues.

"I have tried other harder drugs but I do not think that cannabis was 
the gateway," she says. "Some of these harder drugs I had already 
tried prior to experimenting with cannabis. I think maybe every drug 
can be a gateway to try other drugs, not only specifically cannabis."

The director of the National Cannabis Prevention and Information 
Centre, Jan Copeland, says there has been vigorous debate about 
cannabis as the first step to illicit drug use, given the vast 
majority of injecting drug users reported using cannabis first.

"The obvious point is that most cannabis users do not go on to use 
other illicit drugs and the first drug tried is usually tobacco or 
alcohol," she says. "The scientific debate largely moved on some 
years ago to recognise that there are a cluster of risk factors and 
that the most important aspect is that use of cannabis in 
adolescence, when the brain is still developing, does influence the 
likelihood of a range of adverse outcomes including use of, and 
addiction to, other drugs."

Bernhardt, a commercial photographer, says illicit drug use is rife 
in advertising and the arts but he does not use cannabis regularly.

"If it's at a party or somewhere like that, I would occasionally try 
it but I'm not one of these people that do it every day," he says.

Two years ago, photographer Jesse Willesee, the son of retired 
journalist Terry, reportedly had his 22 girls smoking weed exhibition 
of photos of people smoking marijuana shut down by police.

But the police do not appear concerned about Bernhardt's show. "The 
view of the NSW Police Force is that cannabis use can seriously 
impact a person's physical and mental health," a spokesman says. 
"[We] have no plans to launch an investigation."
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