Australia –
“Educational Marijuana”, a possibility or not?
An Australian museum, Hobart’s Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), defended a multimedia artist, Leon Ewing’s proposal to introduce “educational marijuana” to secondary school students in Tasmania. Ewing, an education lecturer at Western Australia’s Murdoch University, said, marijuana, if used in “regulation and moderation”, can improve the creative abilities and education levels among high-school students in Tasmania. The proposal will be a part of the Hothouse project at the Dark Mofo festival, that begins June 12 in Tasmania. It is an event that celebrates ideas to improve the education among poor.
In an interview, Ewing said, “We already prescribe amphetamine-like medication for focus and docility. What if we medicated for creativity?” “We have to be open to the broad spectrum of creative ideas that may emerge, whether we agree with them or not,” he said.
The curator of the event at MONA’s Dark Mofo festival, Leigh Carmichael, said while the idea was controversial it was “brave and creative.” A voluntary control group will be recruited and will reside at MONA, a private museum located in Tasmania. The group will constantly be screened for “robust mental health” and customized vaporizers will be used to deliver the drug, according to Ewing.
Ewing describes his process on his website as, “…pushes at the boundaries of genre and discipline, effortlessly moving between low art and highbrow pop-culture.”
Art & Culture Featured – Written by Manmeet Sahni
