Legalise Cannabis Victoria MP Rachel Payne will host a women’s health forum on October 8 to coincide with World Menopause Month, highlighting the growing number of women using cannabis to manage a range of conditions.
Titled In Conversation: Exploring Women’s Health and Cannabis, the free event will bring together medical and lived-experience experts to discuss the role the medicine is playing in addressing issues including menopause, period pain, anxiety and sleep disorders.
Speakers include Astrid founder and pharmacist Lisa Nguyen, medicinal cannabis patient and mother Alice Davy, and Bloomly founder Tegan Scates.
The forum comes amid evidence, according to Payne, that women have increasingly turned to cannabis, with the MP citing a recent University of Michigan study which showed any notion of a “gender cannabis gap” was closing.
Payne, who will deliver the keynote address, said the study showed young women reported using cannabis at higher rates than men in the same age bracket, for the first time.
However, she claimed stigma remained a barrier for many women.
“Stigma around cannabis use is underpinned by prohibition propaganda and when it comes to women, is reinforced by medical misogyny. This needs to end,” she said.
“The truth is women have been using cannabis for thousands of years and we’re finally getting back to a point where we can be honest about it.
“I use medicinal cannabis for managing pelvic pain and anxiety and I would much prefer to use it than other addictive and stronger medications.
“Like many women in perimenopause, I also prefer cannabis to socialise over alcohol as I like (and need) my sleep, and I don’t like hangovers.”
The event will take place in Payne’s electorate of Frankston and will be livestreamed for those unable to attend in person.