Individuals and companies who gatecrashed ticket-only sessions at the United in Compassion symposium have been told they should be ashamed of themselves.
Reports emerged that “a number of people and organisations” pushed their way into the regulatory and compliance talks on the Friday of the event, leaving those who had paid with nowhere to sit.
Organisers stressed the event website clearly spelt out that the Friday sessions came at additional cost to the weekend program.
Writing on LinkedIn, the Australian Medicinal Cannabis Association (AMCA) told the offenders: “If you pushed your way into sessions (e.g. the regulatory and compliance session) that others had paid for, shame on you.
“It was very clear on the UIC ticketing page what the cost was for each training session and no, they did not come free with your tickets for the Saturday and Sunday sessions.
“You left people who had paid good money without seats.”
Responses to the LinkedIn post included calls to name and shame offenders.
It is unclear how many people gatecrashed the sessions, but organisers said that double the expected number of delegates turned up for both the healthcare practitioner and regulatory compliance sessions.
So packed was the room that UIC’s technical team had to hastily set up a live stream in an adjacent hall.
UIC co-founder Lucy Haslam, who is handing over the baton for organising the event to AMCA next year, said the training sessions were kept separate from the main industry sessions, and a separate cost applied, to ensure the right people were in the room.
