POLICE REMOVE ARTY DRUG

Detectives have confiscated marijuana used as part of an exhibition in a
Hamilton gallery.

Platform01, a gallery run by Waikato Institute of Technology graduates,
displayed a cannabis bud as part of the exhibition, Smells Like Art.

Detectives removed about 2g of cannabis from the gallery - two weeks after
the exhibition opened - after a complaint from a member of the public,
Detective Sergeant Chris Page said.

No charges were laid.

Platform01's curator, Laurie Steer, said more than 200 people visited the
gallery, most because they heard marijuana was being exhibited.

"We had no complaints from anybody," he said.

"It's popular culture - it has to be there or else we ignore a huge part of
our society.

"They took our art."