Hello supporters,

Last week, Lucy Haslam, Dr Matty Moore and myself had the pleasure of meeting the Hon Shayne Neumann MP, Federal member for Blair and Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs and Defence Personnel.

We talked with Shayne about my journey using medicinal cannabis to successfully treat and manage my PTSD condition, about the problems with veterans using current DVA (Dept of Veterans Affairs) approved PTSD medications and about this campaign of changing DVA policy to allow veterans with PTSD to access medicinal cannabis through DVA.

The  Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs was very supportive of our petition and suggested using the upcoming Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide to further this push for change in DVA policy. Which we absolutely will. The thought of standing up at the Royal Commission to tell my story is a little nerve-wrecking, but they need to hear how PTSD is impacting veterans and their families. 

I will say this: we don't need to wait for the Royal Commission to fix medicinal cannabis access for veterans, DVA could fix this today with a simple policy change. That simple fix would give veterans more choice in how they treat and manage their PTSD condition. A change today would likely save a veterans life tomorrow.

I will continue to ask for a meeting with Hon Andrew Gee, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, whose office acknowledged our petition but let us know the Minister did not yet have time to meet with us.

I ask you to continue your support by sharing this petition.

Derek Pyrah

Lifeline 13 11 14
Open Arms 1800 011 045