United in compassion
Last September, the charity my son Dan and I started before his death, "United in Compassion", led a delegation to Canberra to speak to MPs about poor patient access to Medicinal Cannabis which was legalised for medical use almost 4 years ago. I was joined by other significant groups such as the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association, The Country Women's Association, Chronic Pain Australia, Epilepsy Action Australia, Legal representatives and an Afghanistan Vet representing Veterans who have been severely impacted by Australia's laws. All these groups and an ever increasing number of Australians believe the current system is not fit for purpose.
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We invited and met with numerous representatives of many political persuasions and received their support for an inquiry into why so many Australian patients are still forced into criminalisation and access their medicine on the illicit market despite legalisation. The situation is indeed so complex that it is almost impossible to explain in a limited amount of time all the difficulties with the current legislation that negatively impact on those it was supposedly introduced into law to help.
Not surprisingly the Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt declined to meet us and also declined to send a representative. It disappoints me immensely that the person entrusted with the health of Australians is too arrogant to even want to hear what the problems are. The sad conclusion is that there are external influences at play which are directing his focus. It would also fit with our own local Federal MPs complete backflip on support for medicinal cannabis which played out so publicly just a few months ago. Last week the Government opposed a motion for a senate inquiry but our work in Canberra paid off! With the support of the Opposition and minor parties the motion was successful so now the truth has a chance to come out! Australian Patients and Carers finally get a chance to have their say on patient access to Medicinal Cannabis by making a submission to a Parliamentary Inquiry titled Current barriers to patient access to medicinal cannabis in Australia.
I would like to thank you all very much for your support thus far. I know that there are many hundreds of patients in the New England who procure medicinal cannabis on the illicit market because they cannot find a doctor to prescribe, because they do not fit the Government guidances or because of the excessive costs of the products available legally. Your stories need to be told so we can encourage Government to make changes to a system which has lost all sight of compassion for the suffering. Details can be found here https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Community_Affairs/Medicinalcannabis
Lastly I would like to thank the Tamworth community for the support you gave Dan and my family over the years. Next week we relocate to Queensland to be closer as a family. I have felt very supported here and it would be remiss of me to not acknowledge the community of Tamworth who really pushed a controversial topic into the Australian limelight as a show of compassion for Dan and others like him. Your capacity to recognise that the alleviation of suffering was and is more important than perpetuating the untruths of the war on drugs and protection of conflicting commercial interests is indeed commendable and typical of the caring nature of this community.
Lucy Haslam, Tamworth