Australian Story: Oct 19

Tomorrow’s Australian Story profiles Tamworth mother, Lucy Halsam and her campaign to legalise medicinal cannabis, after losing her son to cancer earlier this year.

This episode is introduced by Caroline Jones

Lucy Haslam is a woman in a hurry. She has come up with a radical plan to grow and supply cannabis herself.

“She has turned this debate on its head and I think the country has turned with her.”- NSW Premier, Mike Baird

“Tony Abbott felt this was something the nation needed to do. I hope Malcolm Turnbull has the same view.”- Greens leader, Richard Di Natale

“The campaign in some strange way keeps me connected with Dan and I guess I’ll hang on to that as long as I can.”- Lucy Haslam

Since losing her son Daniel in February this year to cancer, Tamworth mother, Lucy Halsam has stepped up her campaign to legalise medicinal cannabis.

Widely credited as the driving force behind a raft of state and federal initiatives aimed at legalising the drug, Lucy is concerned by delays in the political process and is striking out on her own.

“At the moment we are looking for a property in Tamworth to set up a small research and development facility. My goal is that in the short to mid-term we’ll be able to produce a product to supply people like Dan who need compassionate access to medical cannabis now.”- Lucy Haslam

She has assembled a team, which recently applied to the NSW government for an exemption that will allow them to grow medicinal cannabis for research and development purposes in Tamworth.

Her commitment is absolute. She and her husband Lou, a former drug squad officer, have put their business on the market to help achieve their goal.

“I think Dan would possibly be a little bit surprised knowing that his mother is planning on setting up a cannabis centre in Tamworth, but I mean this whole journey has been full of surprises.”- Alyce Haslam, daughter-in-law

It is a deeply personal crusade. Lucy Haslam’s son Daniel was diagnosed at the age of 20 with stage 4 bowel cancer and only found relief from his nausea after ingesting medicinal cannabis.

Forced to break the law in order to source the cannabis, Lucy and Daniel went public last year calling on politicians to follow the example of other countries around the world.

“I became a drug supplier. I bought cannabis on the black market and gave it to Daniel. Had my husband still been active in the police force, he would have risked dismissal.”- Lucy Haslam

A face to face meeting between NSW Premier Mike Baird and the Haslams was a turning point in their campaign.

“It was very clear listening to the story I wanted to do something. They’ve turned something that politicians and governments were very coy about and didn’t want to discuss into a raging national debate.”- NSW Premier, Mike Baird

Monday, October 19 at 8pm on ABC.