Key Message Partner
from the Department of Human Services

The Melbourne Fringe Festival is an event that shows Melbourne – and its visitors - just what we can create when we are encouraged to express ourselves, as a community and as individuals.

There is a view that artistic creativity and drug use can often be comfortable bedfellows. This is especially the case with marijuana. Some people believe dope is not only harmless, but actually improves the song they are creating, the picture they are painting or the book they are writing.

Research is telling us, clearly, that marijuana is certainly not harmless – neither mentally, physically or socially. And, because it reduces initiative and enthusiasm, it has actually stopped many potential artists from creating in the first place.

The Victorian Government is pleased to be a key message sponsor of Melbourne Fringe Festival for the first time in 2004.

It is an opportunity to emphasise the harm inherent in cannabis use – from missing out on seeing a great play because you can’t get off the couch, to missing out on writing a great play, to the more serious mental health and social effects.

We hope that you enjoy the diverse range of Fringe festival events around Melbourne.