NSW Premier Mike Baird heckled at medicinal cannabis conference

CANNABIS campaigners have clashed with NSW Premier Mike Baird calling him to move more quickly on the drug.

NSW Premier Mike Baird opened the United in Compassion Medicinal Cannabis symposium held in Sydney on Saturday.

NSW Premier Mike Baird has been heckled at an event in Sydney and accused of moving too slowly on medicinal cannabis.

Baird was confronted by dying patients and their carers at a medicinal cannabis conference in Sydney on Saturday where he gave the opening address.

The NSW Government is currently running a number of clinical trials of medical cannibals and it’s use for people with, terminal illnesses, chemotherapy-induced nausea and children with severe epilepsy.

During his speech, at the United in Compassion Medicinal Cannabis Symposium, members of the audience heckled Mr Baird, whose government has applied for a licence to grow the medicinal crop under a national scheme, shouting that progress was “too slow” and that “children dying’s a reality”.

“I assure you we are moving as quickly as we can,” Mr Baird told the conference.

“With everything I have, and every resource in government, we are doing everything we can ... to make it as effective as we possibly can, to give access as quickly as we possibly can.”

The conference was organised by Tamworth mother Lucy Haslam, who lost her 25-year-old son to cancer this year.

Daniel Haslam used cannabis to relieve his symptoms in his five-year battle with the disease.

Ms Haslam’s campaign for change was rewarded in February when federal parliament passed laws allowing the cultivation of medicinal cannabis.

But she expressed concerns people who use medicinal cannabis were still considered to be breaking the law.

She said there was a need for compassion around the subject. “The harsh reality is they are still facing an additional burden because they remain criminals,” she told the audience. “This is untenable.

“Cannaboid research is clearly an area where science has not kept up due to a myriad of reasons, predominantly prohibition and the war on drugs.

Following his address, Mr Baird was confronted by 20-year-old wheelchair-bound Stiff Person’s Syndrome sufferer Ben Oakley, who said he had been taking cannabis oil.

“Honestly, I don’t know where I’d be without the oil. The oil has saved my life,” Mr Oakley told Mr Baird.

“I’ve only had three spasms in the 11-and-a-half months I’ve been on the oil.”

Mr Baird announced the state government’s Terminal Illness Cannabis Scheme will be renamed to the Medical Cannabis Compassionate Use Scheme.