Mermaid Beach candidate debra Lynch will face trial before she faces the polls
Gold Coast woman Debra Lynch is fighting two major battles this week — one in court, the other for the seat of Mermaid Beach in Saturday’s state election.
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GOLD Coast woman Debra Lynch is fighting two major battles this week — one in court, the other for the seat of Mermaid Beach in Saturday’s state election.
She says both are related to the need for state cannabis law reform.
A candidate for the Legalise Cannabis Queensland party, Ms Lynch faces five charges of producing and possessing a dangerous drug after her 2017 arrest.
The 60-year-old will step into magistrates court on Thursday to plead not guilty, just two days before she expects to head to the polls.
Under Queensland electoral law, a candidate is only disqualified if they have been convicted of an offence against the law of Queensland, another state or the commonwealth and sentenced to more than one year’s imprisonment in the past two years.
Ms Lynch said the case was a culmination of a three-year battle as a patient who was forced to provide her own cannabis medicine via home growing to treat her auto immune disease.
Ms Lynch said she was unable to afford the cost of prescription medicines — which she said would equate to more than her disability pension per month — and had been denied a prescription.
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She believes her case has raised awareness about the inequality of the current system, which she claims provides mostly imported cannabis only to those who can afford it.
“Locally-grown corporate products are currently not meeting the needs of Australian patients as promised by Greg Hunt and the Industry back in 2018,” Ms Lynch said.
“Affordability of cannabis medicine is one of the main reasons I am standing as a candidate on Saturday. The laws need to be changed and we need voices inside the parliament to combat the reefer madness views of the ALP and the LNP.”
Ms Lynch said the case had served as a distraction during the campaign and taken up too much of her time, which she could have spent on the hustings.
CAMPAIGN LAUNCH:
A NEW political party aiming to legalise cannabis in Queensland has been announced on the Gold Coast by a prominent local campaigner.
Debra Lynch, the Medicinal Cannabis Users Association President, yesterday announced the association’s intention to register the Legalise Cannabis Queensland Party and run in the seat of Mermaid Beach.
Ms Lynch, a local grandmother who suffers from a rare auto-immune disease is fighting charges of possession from 2017, said she was tired of the ”impossible restrictions” and high prices placed on medicinal cannabis use.
In 2016 Ms Lynch ran for the federal senate for the Drug Law Reform Party.
“We are fed up we go around and around in circles on this issue,” Ms Lynch told the Bulletin.
“I have been a public hospital patient for six years and tried to get a prescription.
“Although every doctor in Queensland can now prescribe it many won’t, and private clinics that specialise in it are now far too expensive.
“Not too long ago we found 48 per cent of those who could get a prescription couldn't afford the product because of gouging.”
“The legal market is often twice or triple the price.”
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Ms Lynch admitted it was likely to be a tough fight at the polls against the sitting member Ray Stevens but said she was more than a single issue candidate.
“Legalising cannabis is what ties us all together but we believe in a number of other issues, I personally am passionate about social housing,” she said.
“If I do get voted in, you are going to find someone very outspoken who won’t take no for an answer and will push for everything the community will want.
Academic author and long time cannabis activist Dr John Jiggens plans to stand as the party’s candidate for South Brisbane.
In all, the fledgling party has eight candidates willing to stand at this stage.
Originally published as Mermaid Beach candidate debra Lynch will face trial before she faces the polls