Advocacy
Cannabis activists highlight patient’s struggle to return home
The campaign has had activists walking in countries across the globe
Cannabis activists across Ireland, the UK and Spain are aiming to walk over 2,000km to highlight the distance that cannabis patient and activist Alicia Maher has to travel to access her medication.
The Irish campaign started on Sunday 26 September to coincide with the second annual National Walking Day but it has since been extended for the week. Activists were encouraged to get out and walk, run or cycle a minimum of 2km while tweeting their participation in the campaign.
Several Irish ministers were tagged in tweets calling for changes to cannabis access including Frank Feighan, Public Health, Well Being and National Drugs Strategy and Stephen Donnelly, Minister for Health.
Read more about Alicia’s story here
Irish campaigning
Speaking to Cannabis Health News, Alicia said: “Martin Conway from Martin’s World actually organised the campaign. He noticed that Frank Feighan had been made an ambassador for National Walking Day so he came up with the idea for the campaign.
“We wanted to get as many people to walk as possible to cover the distance it would take to walk from Cork to Alicante which is 2,055 km.”
She added: “It’s really taken off. I can’t believe how many people are taking part. We think we have gone over the 2055 kilometres and now we are doing the way back.”
Just back from a 10.6km run for #BringAliciaHome @FrankFeighan @DonnellyStephen how far do you want us to go in this campaign for the patients who need cannabis for a better quality of life? #CannabisReformIreland#NWD2021 @pfsa_ireland pic.twitter.com/MDnspMvaMO
— Martin’s World (@MartinsWorld420) September 28, 2021
Alicia said there have been people walking in countries including Ireland, UK, Spain, Portugal, America, Canada, Australia, and Thailand. She is hopeful that the ministers tagged in the tweets can see the demand for access.
“I hope that Stephen Donnelly might see it,” she said.
“I’m already tagging him in hundreds of posts and I’ve emailed him but received an answer copy and pasted from the internet. I wrote back repeating my questions which was two months ago, I’ve heard nothing since.”
Irish cannabis activism
Alicia left Ireland last year to access medical cannabis to treat her chronic pain. Ireland’s Medical Cannabis Access Programme (MCAP) does not include chronic pain, leaving Alicia struggling to find £2,000 every three months for her medication.
It’s now been one year since we moved from Ireland to Spain to access #cannabis to treat my #ChronicPain. @DonnellyStephen, you have not acknowledged a single email from me, can you please sort out the Medical Cannabis Access Programme as I would like to be able to return home. https://t.co/iYygCF8CNH
— Alicia Maher (@AliciaLMaher) November 17, 2020
She would like to return home and have access to cannabis in Ireland covered by the medical card system or long-term illness scheme. However, recent updates announced to the Medical Cannabis Access Program show no signs of including patients living with chronic pain.
The campaign progress can be seen on Twitter under the hashtag, #BringAliciaHome
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