This February, you can show your support to combat stigma and raise awareness of medicinal cannabis by :
copying the hummingbird logo / tiles below and sharing them in communications and on social media
buying MCAW merchandise through our nurses’ site (https://acna.online/mcaw-merchandise)
joining the Australian Medicinal Cannabis Association (see the Join page)
donating to the work of the Australian Medicinal Cannabis Association through PayPal
With your support we can reach more Australian’s to build awareness and move towards a world class Medicinal Cannabis System.
MEDICINAL CANNABIS AWARENESS WEEK – 19th- 25th FEBRUARY
Why did we launch Medicinal Cannabis Awareness Week in 2023?
Many members of the Australian public are still unaware that medicinal cannabis has been legal since 24th February 2016, when the Australian parliament made amendments to the Narcotic Drugs Act that legalised the growing of cannabis for medicinal and scientific purposes.
Since then, nothing about the reintroduction of medicinal cannabis into Australia has been easy. In fact, by 2019, patient access was still so difficult that the Senate Inquiry into the Barriers to Patient Access to Medicinal Cannabis was convened to address the many challenges that still remained.
⇐Click to See the Report
Unfortunately, the many recommendations made from that Inquiry have been largely ignored. Eight years later, excessive costs to patients, and outdated and discriminatory driving and employment laws leading to patients losing their livelihoods because of legally prescribed and obtained medicine remain for no reason than their medicine happens to be medicinal cannabis.
A number of health care professionals still prefer to turn their patients away, rather than discuss the option of medicinal cannabis.
Discrimination and bias towards this medicine and the patients that use it is based on disinformation and a propaganda campaign that has lasted for decades. It is time to address the issues and change the image of a plant medicine that helps so many, and an emerging industry that is world class and able to relieve much human suffering. This can only be done with information and facts, with robust clinical education and with a genuine desire to relieve suffering.
Patients took the initiative to fight for legalisation and AMCA is proud to continue to support patients and their families, as well as the industry and healthcare providers that serve them.
Why did we choose the Hummingbird as a symbol of medicinal cannabis awareness?
Our hummingbird logo is a symbol of the truth which was chosen by Dan Haslam in 2014. Dan was a terminally ill young patient, who decided to fight for the right to legally access the medicine that gave him quality of life in his final year. His campaign was as much a fight for others as it was for himself.
Dan found a beautiful image of a hummingbird hovering over a cannabis flower that had been taken by a disabled patient in the US, Jeff Scheetz. Jeff gave Dan permission to use his photograph and that image inspired the patient-led movement to have medicinal cannabis legalised in Australia. It is therefore the image we continue to use to carry on our struggle for those still suffering.
Members of the Australian Medicinal Cannabis Association
“Our Strength is in our Breadth”
