A crowdfunding campaign for a documentary on medical cannabis in Australia has been relaunched, with a 16-minute trailer indicating what to expect from it.
In 2023, a crowdfunding campaign to support a follow-up of a popular Australian documentary on medical marijuana, “A Life Of Its Own” was launched. The initial fundraising effort generated sufficient funds to produce a 16-minute “demo” titled “In Plain Sight”. The campaign has now reopened with the aim of securing additional funding to complete the project.
The documentary will delve into the historical, medicinal, scientific, political, societal and personal aspects of medicinal cannabis; and the industry. It will feature some personal stories, covering where each individual’s journey has led them, and strive to debunk myths and misconceptions.
“It is an important story that needs to be told without sensational headlines or quick bites of information that further discredit medicinal cannabis,” says Lucy Haslam, Executive Director / Co-Founder of United In Compassion. “It needs to be told with honesty and sensitivity, but most of all…it needs to be told!”
The new crowdfunder has a target of $200,000.
Lucy Haslam is very well known in local and international medical cannabis circles. Her experience was very hard-won after caring for her son, Dan, who was dying from bowel cancer. While Dan sadly passed away, some of his suffering was alleviated by medical cannabis. Ms. Haslam became a powerful advocate for medicinal cannabis legalisation in Australia. In fact, on the first anniversary of Dan’s death in 2016, Australian laws were changed (“Dan’s Law”) – but Ms. Haslam’s work has continued to this day.
“Medicinal cannabis is not perfect medicine, it is good medicine that is helpful to many but not all,” says Ms. Haslam. “It is good medicine but not without all risk. It is good medicine that is often highjacked by those who seek fortune rather than best practice in health care.”
The effort to get the documentary done has faced some major challenges, including:
“…a global corporate company threatening to shut down our educational event because we had an earlier GoFundMe fundraiser to make this documentary.”
This led to Ms. Haslam having to prematurely remove the initial fundraiser. But that wasn’t enough – the unnamed company closed the account, which put the United in Compassion (UIC) 2025 Australian Medicinal Cannabis Symposium event in jeopardy. A transition to a “more accommodating platform” has ensured the continuation of the symposium.
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