Adapted from a keynote delivered at 420 with Astrid — Astrid Dispensary, South Yarra, 18 April 2026.
April 20th. 4/20.
Every year this date comes around, and if you work in this field, you probably already know what it means, on at least two levels.
For some, it’s a cultural moment. A day that belongs to a community who were living this conversation long before any of us were talking about policy or prescriptions. I want to acknowledge that, with respect. Because the culture was always here.
And for those of us who have spent years in the medical, advocacy and policy space, it’s also a marker. A milestone on a much longer road.
So, happy 4/20. In all the ways that means something.
When the battle was access
Ten years ago, before there was an industry, we were having very different conversations.
In a professional context, the word “cannabis” carried enormous stigma. We could talk about it, people were talking about it, but the stigma made the kind of conversation we actually needed almost impossible. The kind that could move regulators. That could shift policy. That could give this medicine the legitimacy it deserved, and that patients desperately needed.
The battle then was access. Pure and simple.
There were patients - real people, many of them in pain, many of them exhausted from years of being dismissed - who simply could not get what they needed. Many Healthcare Practitioners wanted to help but had no framework, no protection and no guidance.
We were advocating for a door to be opened. And eventually, it was.
Legalisation was a significant, hard-won moment. The researchers, the advocates, the patients, and the practitioners who took real professional risk all deserve to be recognised for it.
When the door opened
Not everything that walked through it was what we’d hoped for.
The culture of cannabis morphed quickly into something that wasn’t entirely medical and evidence-driven. It was a model that would come to be commercially exploited.
Capital moved fast. Brands multiplied. The promise of a gold rush drew investment that outpaced the science, outpaced education and, in some cases, outpaced ethics.
What that created was a regulator with little real choice but to step in; to tighten, to restrict, to try to quell a commercialisation wave that had moved faster than the framework designed to hold it.
I understand why. I don’t think the instinct is wrong.
But in the rush to regulate the excess, there is a very real risk that we inadvertently destroy what we set out to build in the first place: an industry built by Australians, for Australian patients, supported by Australian practitioners.
Not design a system that would allow a glut of cheap imports into the country, a system that allowed this new and emerging industry to be corporate-captured.
A reset, and a new moon
So where does that leave us today?
I think it leaves us at a reset, and I don’t use that word lightly.
We’ve just had a new moon. For those who appreciate that kind of symbolism, a new moon isn’t an ending. It isn’t really even a beginning. It’s a pause. A breath before the next cycle. A moment when the sky goes quiet, and something finally has the space to be planted.
That’s where I think Australian medicinal cannabis is right now.
My own story goes something like this. Years ago, I felt so strongly about what was at stake for patients that I made a documentary. I mortgaged my house to do it. That decision came from genuine belief: that this mattered, that the public deserved to understand it, that patients deserved to be seen.
I still believe that.
But I also know the years since have been hard for a lot of people here. The over-promise. The capital that came and went. The businesses that burned through goodwill and resources. The practitioners who stuck their necks out. The advocates who are simply tired.
I see you. And I understand the exhaustion.
Don’t leave before the miracle
One of my favourite mantras is this: don’t leave before the miracle.
I say it today because I suspect some people in this industry are quietly preparing to exit. Quietly wondering whether the effort is still worth it. Quietly deciding that maybe the moment has passed.
I want to speak directly to those people.
I genuinely believe that some of our most important work is still ahead of us. What’s emerging is the industry we always wanted to build. One grounded in evidence. In education. In the trust between a practitioner and a patient. In Australian businesses built by people who care.
I want to believe the field is being cleared.
For those who’ve planted something worth growing, I urge you to stay long enough to see it bloom.