Share your story

It’s legal medicine, let us drive!

The Unharm community is calling for the outdated part of the NSW road rules to be updated to reflect the current legality of medicinal cannabis, by a simple change to its definition of illicit drugs to exclude medicinal THC. This would end the blanket driving ban for medicinal cannabis patients. But this kind of change won’t be possible without the power of personal stories.

Our expert-endorsed policy brief ‘Legal Medicine, Outdated Laws‘ has laid out the case for reform. Now we need your stories to bring it to life. Share how this law has affected you or someone you know, and we’ll take it straight to MPs to help get reform over the line. Together, the hard evidence and lived experiences will make this change impossible to ignore.

Personal stories help people and politicians see the issue from a different perspective. They can show how harmful the current driving laws are and give politicians a narrative that they feel motivated to get behind.

So we’re taking back control of the conversation. Can you share your story?

Together our stories are powerful because they demonstrate the unfairness of the law and the need for change.

It starts with telling your story

Your story will help change the conversation around the Medicinal Cannabis driving ban in the Road Transport Act and encourage others to share their own. We have vast experience working with lived-experience spokespeople and pitching stories to the media. We can provide you with all the support and training you might need to make the process as safe and easy as possible.

What’s the process?

Once you fill out the form on this page, we might get in contact with you about sharing your story publicly.

There are various options for how your story can be published – they can range from a simple text post on social media, creating a video piece telling your story, or working with us to pitch your story to traditional media outlets.

We won’t share your story without talking to you first and getting your explicit consent.

Use vivid anecdotes

Your story should draw on personal experiences throughout and ideally open with a vivid anecdote. Use these experiences to explain your point of view.

Disclosing drug use

We worked with legal firm Dowson Turco to develop this guide to disclosing drug use as safely as possible. If your story includes your own experiences with drugs, here are some key tips.

1. Provide vivid detail about your experiences without revealing specifics about quantities, locations, dates or other people involved.

2. Write in past tense and avoid making disclosures about future intentions to use drugs.

3. Consider who you are speaking with and ensure you are comfortable with the situation before disclosing drug use (both online and in person).

Activate your support network

When you begin to tell your story, take the time to develop a support network. This will help make sure that sharing your story is a positive experience. Identify three people you can turn to for support, who share your values and understand why you are sharing your story. Make time to connect with these people, and talk to them about why you are sharing your story. This doesn’t have to be a formal conversation, it could be as simple as a chat with a friend who you can call on if you need support.

In addition to talking with friends, you might want to reach out sometimes to external support services to supplement your tool kit. Click here for some places where you can go to get professional support.