The long-running Fix Dan’s Law petition calling for simpler and cheaper access to medicinal cannabis has been relaunched, with the Labor government now being urged to support a pilot three-year compassionate access scheme to help Australians obtain the medicine they need.
The change.org petition has amassed almost 440,000 since it was started by Lucy Haslam in 2014, two years before her son Dan lost his battle with bowel cancer.
It has become one of change.org’s most enduring campaigns.
As the eighth anniversary of Dan’s passing approaches, the petition has been updated with a fresh appeal from the veteran cannabis campaigner.
Writing on the website, Haslam said that while the initial aim of the petition succeeded and medicinal cannabis was legalised, “politicians failed us”.
“On his deathbed, Dan asked me to keep fighting until all patients that needed access could achieve it, so here I am in 2023, coming up to Dan’s 8th death anniversary, still trying to fulfil that promise,” she wrote.
“The previous Coalition government regulated medicinal cannabis via the Special Access Scheme which meant that it was tightly controlled, access was restricted and full costs were to be borne by the patient.
“I’m calling on the new Labor government to help us #FixDansLaw by launching a three-year pilot program of the compassionate access scheme, Compass, for patients unable to afford medicinal cannabis for serious conditions.”
Compass was launched last May by the Australian Medicinal Cannabis Association (AMCA).
Medicinal cannabis remains a “medicine for the wealthy”, Haslam added, something that would be addressed by a government-backed launch of a compassionate access scheme.
Meanwhile, an email has been sent from change.org to the 440,000 people who have signed the petition asking them to urge their MPs to join the newly reformed Parliamentary Friends of Medicinal Group.
So far, 250 emails have been sent by signatories encouraging their MP to get involved.
