A multi-party group of federal MPs will on Thursday launch a push to make cannabis legally available for medicinal purposes.



The parliamentary group on drug policy and law reform, convened by Labor, Liberal and Green MPs will begin advancing the issue with a discussion in Parliament House including Lucy Haslam, whose 24-year-old son Dan has terminal cancer and takes cannabis – illegally – to treat the nausea associated with his chemotherapy.

One of the convenors of the group, Liberal MP Sharman Stone, said the nation should seriously consider how cannabis might be provided to people to promote health or reduce suffering.

Dan Haslam, who has cancer and uses marijuana to relieve nausea associated with chemotherapy. Federal MPs have formed a groups to push for changes to legalise marijuana for medicinal use. Credit:Geoff O'Neill

''If this product really works in the sense of reducing pain or improving the mobility or other health outcomes for some people and it can be administered under medical supervision, then it would be terrible to think we denied people access to that product,'' she told Fairfax Media.