'It is just a food, it’s not a big deal'

The latest push for more open laws around medical cannabis is coming from a group of grandmothers who call themselves the Canna Nannas.



Inspired by US-based advocacy group Grass for Grannies, the Canna Nannas are conducting workshops around Australia’s east coast to teach seniors about the health benefits of cannabis.



The idea developed during a road trip the women took to Melbourne last year the grannies' workshops have since been gathering momentum.

(A Current Affair)

With information pamphlets, merchandise, cooking utensils and gardening tools, the Canna Nannas are keen to share their passion of cannabis as a dietary supplement.



A Current Affair was invited to attend one of the Nannas' controversial demonstrations, where the they showed the audience how to blend, slow cook cannabis.



Using regular herbs instead of illegal cannabis during the demonstration, they claim that consuming cannabis can boost health and treat symptoms of old age.



"Cannabis does for us what spinach does for Popeye," one of the Canna Nannas, Gail Hester, said.

(A Current Affair)



"We want to get that message that people who are in retirement, they will get a better life."



The tour comes as Australian hemp farmers prepare their first crops of legal hemp seed to be used in food products for the domestic market.



The hemp industry, which has been operating in Australia for more than 20 years, is embracing new laws which allow the sale of locally grown hemp for human consumption.

Hemp has long been grown in Australia for industrial purposes, such as building products and textiles, but now local hemp seed product will be available on supermarket shelves.

(A Current Affair)

Now Australian-grown hemp food products such as oils, protein powder and said can legally be marketing domestically, meaning products will soon be appearing on supermarket shelves.



Hemp farmer and Ecofibre founder Phil Warner told A Current Affair cannabis food products, and medical cannabis should be more freely available.



"It is just a food, it’s not a big deal," he said.

"What you can get from the Cannabis plant, the industrial cannabis plant, is in a similar way to what you get from an orange or garlic or something like that. It boosts your system."

(A Current Affair)

The Canna Nannas aren’t the only grannies advocating for more open cannabis laws.



Minnie Nielsen, 84, has been growing marijuana in her back yard after seeing the effect cannabis oil had on her 10-year-old great granddaughter Kaitlyn, who suffers from severe epilepsy and other major disabilities.

"After three weeks when I saw what it was doing for my great grandchild I was all for it. I couldn’t believe it," said Minnie.

Kaitlyn's mother, Katrina, has been campaigning for more open medical cannabis laws ever since she started treating her daughter three years ago.



She says cannabis oil, which she makes herself, has dramatically reduced the frequency of Kaitlyn's seizures, and been her only means of true pain relief.