This Artist Wants to Talk About Educational Weed

Last week, a proposal to use marijuana to help revive Tasmania's ailing school system raised more than a few eyebrows. Under the theoretical plan, select groups of the state's most gifted students would use the substance to enhance creativity. It would be administered via vaporizers so as to ensure harm minimization, and participation would be voluntary, not imposed.

Stoned students is a drastic sounding measure but Australia's southernmost state is undergoing a crisis in education, with some of the lowest educational attainment and retention rates in the country. Government figures show that half the population over the age of 15 are illiterate and innumerate, while more students drop out of high school than finish.

On the other hand, high rates of Australian young people already use pot. The 2013 National Drug Strategy Household Survey reported that 34.8 percent of Australians over the age of 14 have tried it and a 2012 study found that marijuana use in Australia is three time the global average. Society also uses medications such as dexamphetamine to treat children with attention deficit disorder, so why not educate with cannabis to improve creative performance in a controlled and moderated manner?

The mastermind of the scheme is Leon Ewing, a teaching artist who works in remote schools in Western Australia and lectures part time at Murdoch University. He'll outline his plan at this year's Hothouse event, part of the Museum of Old and New Art's (MONA) annual Dark Mofo festival in Hobart. A three day event starting June 1, it will involve 48 thinkers coming together to generate ideas about how to address problems being faced within the Tasmanian educational system.

The inspiration for the proposal came when Ewing recently read the biography of Steve Jobs. In the book, Jobs states that taking LSD was one of the most important things in his life. Ewing explains that while there's nothing new about spiritual figures like shaman using mind-altering substances, "What is more interesting are the scientists who have incorporated drug use into their process."

In 1966, a pilot study into the use of psychedelic agents was undertaken in California, involving doses of LSD and mescaline being administered to 26 professional males. It found that the substances did facilitate creative problem-solving and continued to do so for weeks after the sessions.

Two recent papers published in Consciousness and Cognition and Psychiatry Research have also suggested the link between marijuana usage and creative thinking is a very real one.

Tasmania, with a population of only half a million, has small a tax base making it difficult to fund a quality education system. Compounding the issue is a culturally entrenched attitude about celebrating a Year 10 Certificate, rather than going on to year 12 to obtain the Certificate of Education.

"We have a real challenge ahead in relation to literacy, unemployment, poverty, and inter-generational inequality," MONA Creative Director Leigh Carmichael said, adding the Hothouse event is about "stirring the conversation up with new ways of looking at the issue."

In relation to educational marijuana, Carmichael said the merit of the idea should be left to the participants and the public, as the role of the event is to create a neutral space for discussion. "But we love that it's brave," he said.

Related: Watch our documentary 'Stoned Kids'

Ewing—who has used substances in the past to enhance his own creativity while writing music—thinks the most interesting parts of his proposal is the debate it will spark and the ethics around implementing such a program. When asked if he thinks educational marijuana could help the Tasmanian schooling system's low retention rates, Ewing responded, "Well potentially."

According to him, filtering education through engaging activities is a positive approach. "When you use those sorts of processes with young people, their level of engagement—even if it's just attendance—yields extraordinary results."

But his idea won't be receiving the backing of the Establishment any time soon. Tasmanian minister for education Jeremy Rockliff told VICE, "Artists will be provocative, it is inherent in what they do. However, the government certainly does not support the proposition."

According to Matt Owen, acting president of the Tasmanian Hemp Party, educational marijuana is not an entirely new idea in Tasmania, as he knows of other similar proposals. "It's an interesting idea. I've actually come across a few people who are attempting to jump into the market as soon as it's established, once it all becomes legal," he said, referring all forms of cannabis use.

"I haven't actually seen a lot of Leon's work. So yeah, I'm kind of interested to see what he intends on doing," Owen added.

On a related note, it may not be very long before medicinal cannabis production becomes a reality in Tasmania.

On June 1, the Therapeutic Goods Administration will reclassify cannabidiol (CBD) to a schedule 4, making it a legally prescribed medication in all states of Australia. CBD is one of 85 active cannabinoids found in the cannabis plant and has been used to some success in the treatment of epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, and the nausea related to chemotherapy. Unlike the more widely known tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), it has no psychotropic properties.

Failed mining corporation Capital Mining has applied for a license to grow cannabis crops in the Island state. If regulatory approvals are granted, they expect to be planting their first crop in the second half of 2015, which will be used in clinical trials of medicinal cannabis in other states

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