In 1984 at the age of 14 a friend at school bought a 'stick' because he was going to a party the following weekend. I asked to look at it and saw a seed which my friend happily gave to me. I grew the plant down in the park that my parents house backed on to. Every day I went down and watered it and just sat there looking. I watched it grow and then saw the first flowers appearing, the buds thickened up and seeds appeared, it was exciting stuff. I never even picked a leaf, just watched it through it's entire life cycle until it died where it grew but I did collect some seed for the following year and my love affair with cannabis was well and truly alive, although it wasn't until 2 years later that I actually tried smoking some. Busted growing in 1998 and again in 2011. Have had all sorts of grief from family and Family Court over the years due to their attitudes about cannabis. Decided enough was enough and began my activist work in 2010. I began with facebook and got encouraging feedback so I arranged the first rally with the help of Fiona Patten and the Australian Sex Party which took place on the eve of the Victorian State election in November 2010. Have been involved with all the Melbourne Rallies since and with helping the Adelaide events get off the ground.

Matt Riley