Leading Through Change: Political, Social, Regulatory Change Report

This report analyzes the change implications of medicinal cannabis legislation in New South Wales and Australia, drawing from a case study based on an interview with Lucy Haslam. It examines the personal, political, regulatory, and social impacts of advocating for medicinal cannabis. The report highlights the positive effects of medicinal cannabis on individuals with ailments, while also addressing potential negative social perceptions. On a political level, the report emphasizes the need for federal government action to legalize both the growing and use of medicinal cannabis, and the importance of considering the issue in national debate. The regulatory implications involve changing laws to treat cannabis as medicine, and the report highlights the need for support from all stakeholders, including the community, conservative leaders, and police. Socially, the report notes that cannabis can enhance social lives and improve the well-being of individuals and their families. The success of medicinal cannabis depends on the support of all stakeholders. The report references several academic papers and research to support its claims.

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Leading Through Change
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Introduction
Based on the interview Transcript that happened between presenter Fran Kelly who is a
Presenter with the ABC Radio National and Lucy Haslam on the RN Breakfast on the 19th of
October 2015, it is evident that there are numerous change implications on the political,
regulatory, social, and personal levels. Being a Change Management consultant that has been
employed or recruited by Lucy Haslam with an aim of driving the goal of legislation of the
Medicinal cannabis in NSW and ultimately in the entire Australia.
The Change Implications on a Personal Level
On a personal level, the use of medicinal cannabis has a significant impact on the people
who have been affected by ailments such as nausea. This is because the use of medicinal
cannabis has minimal side effects that are acceptable by almost all and sundry (Lintzeris et al,
2017). It is quite evident that the personal devotion of Lucy Haslam as a mother of an individual
who had been affected and knew the positive impacts that arose as a result of using medicinal
cannabis be given utmost consideration. However, it is important to note that the personal
devotion and commitment in advocating for the use of medicinal cannabis also has its negative
impacts because it makes them to find themselves in the middle amounts of not only newspapers,
radio, Television as well as other forms of media. Indeed, this is highly reflected in the manner
that lots of people wanted to do interviews with her (Hall & Degenhardt, 2014). On the other
hand, the negative implications that can arise in individuals using medicinal cannabis is that
sometimes, people in the society may mistake them as being criminals yet they are not.
The Change Implications on a Political Level
On a political level, it is quite important for the Federal Government to go ahead and
legalize not only the growing but also the use of medicinal cannabis (Currow et al, 2016). It is

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also quite apparent that that both politicians and the government were quite coy regarding the
issue of medicinal cannabis and not only do they want to discuss it but they also do not want to
regard it as being a raging national debate. It is therefore quite important for SSW and Australia
as a whole to ensure this issue of medicinal cannabis is given utmost consideration by the
government and all the political players (Jamie et al, 2016). Based on the fact that Lucy Haslam
has travelled to numerous places such as Canberra and managed to speak and convince various
groups of politicians towards a worthy cause, it is important that the goal of using medicinal
Cannabis in both NSW as well as in the entire Australia should be given utmost consideration.
The Change Implications on a Regulatory Level
At the start, it was quite apparent that when Lucy Haslam started the campaign to have
the use of Medicinal Cannabis, it was a state issue but with time, a federal regulator bill was
ultimately announced by Richard Di Natale. Based on Natale’s assertions, it is important to note
that there is dire need for NSW and Australia as a whole to follow the example of many other
nations across the world by changing or altering the law which will ensure that cannabis is
equally treated as medicine (Harrington et al, 2016). This will have a positive implication on the
regulatory level since people will not be arrested for using cannabis for medicinal purposes. It is
important for the law to be changed in order to cater for the needs of people suffering due to non
legislation of medicinal cannabis.
The legalization of medicinal cannabis by the Australian government will play a
significant role on a political level because it will help families such as that of Lucy Haslam to
get the desired medicinal values for their patients who may be suffering from the debilitating
cancer symptoms (Australia & Wales, 2016). The use of medicinal cannabis will personally help
individuals whose time is running out by giving them hope for longer lives. It is quite apparent

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that most people, such as Lucy’s son Dan have suffered very much as a result of lack of use of
medicinal Cannabis. It will also spare the mothers such as Lucy the pain of watching their
children suffer as a result of being denied an opportunity to use medicinal cannabis (Stapylton et
al, 2017).
It is important to note that the success of using medicinal cannabis in the New South
Wales and in Australian country as a whole will be highly dependent on the support that is
received from all the concerned stakeholders. Based on the case study, it is quite apparent that
the support which was received from the local community was quite phenomenal because not
only did individuals come out in the open to support the cause but also the conservative mayor
and the police chief as well. Almost all people were in support of the use of the medicinal
cannabis thus it is a request that it should be permitted in not only the New South Wales but also
in the entire Australian country (Vemulpad et al, 2015).
The Change Implications on a Social Level
It is quite apparent that the use of cannabis will generally help friends help each other
especially when they are in problems which can be resolved through the use of cannabis. For
instance, it was through Dan’s friend that the use of medicinal cannabis was suggested to him.
The friend suggested that the use of medical cannabis could be used in the treatment of nausea.
The use of cannabis will quite ultimately enhance the social lives of people whose relatives or
friends are suffering from nausea as not only will it make it go away but it will also make them
have appetite (Allsop & Hall, 2016). This will quite ultimately make such people happy thus
enhancing their general social lives. Even though the use of cannabis was known to lead to
psychosis and even take away drive and ambition in the people who use it, it should be
recommended for medical purposes. It is very important to note that medicinal cannabis has little

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or less side effects that are minimal and thus can be very acceptable in the personal lives of the
people who are affected.

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References
Akter, K., Barnes, E.C., Brophy, J.J. and Harrington, D., 2016. Research Article Phytochemical
Profile and Antibacterial and Antioxidant Activities of Medicinal Plants Used by Aboriginal
People of New South Wales, Australia.
Akter, K., Barnes, E.C., Brophy, J.J., Harrington, D., Vemulpad, S.R. and Jamie, J.F., 2016.
Phytochemical Profile and Antibacterial and Antioxidant Activities of Medicinal Plants Used by
Aboriginal People of New South Wales, Australia. Evidence-Based Complementary and
Alternative Medicine, 2016.
Allsop, D.J. and Hall, W.D., 2016. International Aspects of Cannabis use and Misuse: the
Australian Perspective. Handbook of Cannabis and Related Pathologies: Biology,
Pharmacology, Diagnosis, and Treatment, p.100.
Australia, S. and Wales, N.S., 2016. HEALTH ALERT (Doctoral dissertation, Ministry of
Health................................................................................................ 8 United Kingdom).
Hall, W. and Degenhardt, L., 2014. The adverse health effects of chronic cannabis use. Drug
testing and analysis, 6(1-2), pp.39-45.
Haysom, L., Lawrence, D., Mellish, D., Burns, P., Khale, P., Arulampalam, A. and Stapylton, C.,
2017. Use of nicotine replacement therapy in young people entering custody in New South
Wales, Australia. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health.
Luckett, T., Phillips, J., Lintzeris, N., Allsop, D., Lee, J., Solowij, N., Martin, J., Lam, L.,
Aggarwal, R., McCaffrey, N. and Currow, D., 2016. Clinical trials of medicinal cannabis for
appetite‐related symptoms from advanced cancer: a survey of preferences, attitudes and beliefs
among patients willing to consider participation. Internal medicine journal, 46(11), pp.1269-
1275.

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Packer, J., Naz, T., Harrington, D., Jamie, J.F. and Vemulpad, S.R., 2015. Antimicrobial activity
of customary medicinal plants of the Yaegl Aboriginal community of northern New South
Wales, Australia: a preliminary study. BMC research notes, 8(1), p.276.
Suraev, A.S., Todd, L., Bowen, M.T., Allsop, D.J., McGregor, I.S., Ireland, C. and Lintzeris, N.,
2017. An Australian nationwide survey on medicinal cannabis use for epilepsy: History of
antiepileptic drug treatment predicts medicinal cannabis use. Epilepsy & Behavior, 70, pp.334-
340.