ARTIST SAYS DOPE EASES HER PAIN

Lisa Wilkins-Pirika, 34, suffered years of sexual abuse as a child.
Three decades later she is in counselling and coping with
post-traumatic stress disorder with the help of cannabis.

She said she smoked cannabis in the evenings as a "reward" for coping
with stress. "It helps to relax my head, to stop those thoughts racing."

Last year she was convicted of possession and cultivation of cannabis
and sentenced to 150 hours community service. She used her time to
paint a mural of a Maori legend on a playground wall near her home in
Birdlings Flat.

While her community service was "a positive experience", she disliked
being treated as a criminal. "I don't like the stigma, of thinking I'm
doing something really bad. I feel it's a health issue rather than a
law issue."

She said making cannabis available on prescription would make the drug
less likely to be abused.

The artist, who had been drawing for "as long as she can remember",
advocated decriminalising cannabis. This would make it possible for
young people such as her 13-year-old son to get better
information.

"I was told it was bad and evil but when I tried it at 13 and nothing
terrible happened I stopped believing anything I was told by adults."