2014 Plant Freedom Forums

SPEAKERS

Jayne Azzopard

Jayne Azzopardi is a clinical herbalist, herbal educator and founder of Community Apothecary. Jayne has completed a Bachelor of Health Science in Western Herbal Medicine and continues to be mentored by self sufficient herbalist, Isabell Shipard. Jayne has also studied herbal manufacturing with a Tasmanian herbal chemist and Thai herbal compress methods in Thailand.  Jayne practiced herbal medicine at the Koanga Permaculture Research Institute and Community Land Trust NZ, as a herbal educator, workshop facilitator and onsite herbalist. During this time she collaborated with traditional Maori healers and developed her practice with Rongoa (Maori herbal medicine). Jayne has a passion for traditional medicine and people’s medicine from all walks of life and believes in the importance of weaving these innate skills, practice and knowledge back into our modern lives and communities. Jayne aspires to the Wise Woman Tradition of herbal medicine and shares this wisdom through her workshops. She enjoys fermenting local produce, and telling stories through singing and dancing. Community Apothecary aims to see people take responsibility for their own health by preserving and preparing the seasonal, medicinal abundance growing in our local environment. We hope to inspire a resurgence of apothecaries within the community through a safe and holistic framework of herbal medicine. Community Apothecary works as an active part of the local food movement encouraging a shared focus on sustainable systems and self-sufficiency. “Through the art of medicine making we are able to tap into the interconnected relationship we have with nature and access the healing powers of this connection.”

Michael Balderstone

For over 20 years, Michael has been the public face of the North Coast's Help End Marijuana Prohibition (HEMP) movement. As the president of the Nimbin HEMP Embassy and the founder of the Nimbin Museum, Michael is a self-proclaimed hippie and advocate for all things hemp. In 1992, the volunteer-run Nimbin HEMP (Help End Marijuana Prohibition) Embassy was born. Through the embassy, the annual Nimbin MardiGrass 'Let It Grow' May Day rally and street parade began. This year will be its 22^nd anniversary.

Steve Bolt

Steve has been a practising solicitor since 1991. He worked for several years at Redfern Legal Centre. From 1996 to early 2004, he was the principal solicitor at the Northern Rivers Community Legal Centre. Steve is the author of Rough Deal, a plain English book about the NSW drug laws. He is also the author of a number of other publications on drug laws and drug policy.

Tony Bower [Mullaway]

Tony is the owner and Director of Mullaways Medical Cannabis Pty Ltd. Mullaways is the first medical cannabis company established and registered in Australia for the purpose of scientific research, cannabis education and the development and delivery of medicines derived from cannabis/cannabinoids for the management of chronic pain, nausea and appetite.

Gabe Buckley

Gabe Buckley is the National President of the Liberal Democratic Party, Australia's only broad-based libertarian political party which achieved Federal representation with the election of David Leyonhjelm (NSW) to the senate in 2013. Gabe has been involved in libertarian politics for over a decade and has a particular focus on social issues and human rights. In December last year Gabe lead a 3000-strong protest ride and rally against the Queensland government's draconian anti-association laws. Gabe is the author of the Liberal Democrats' cannabis policy and has been a vocal proponent of re-legalisation for many years. Outside of politics Gabe is a web developer and musician fronting country-rock band The Whiskey Protocol.

Glenn Druery

Glenn Druery is an Australian ultra-distance cyclist and an electoral campaigner and political strategist playing a leading role in the electoral success of various micro and minor parties across Australia since the mid 90s, earning a reputation as the preference whisperer of Australian politics.

John Jiggens

Dr John Jiggens is a writer and journalist who has published several books including The Incredible Exploding Man, Marijuana Australiana, The killer cop and the murder of Donald Mackay, Sir Joseph Banks and the Question of Hemp, and, with Jack Herer, the Australian version of The Emperor Wears No Clothes. Along with Matt Mawson, Anne Jones and Damien Ledwich, he edited The Best of The Cane Toad Times. As an academic, Dr John Jiggens has published several papers on estimating the size of Australia's heroin market and marijuana market and the cost of drug law enforcement. As a journalist, he has contributed feature articles to The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Rolling Stone, Penthouse, Simply Living and many other magazines. He edited The Cane Toad Times,The Westender and Brisbane Theatre Magazine. His Ph.D was ‘Marijuana Australiana: Cannabis Use, Popular Culture and the Americanisation of Drugs Policy in Australia 1938 – 1988‘. The two volumes which derive from his doctoral dissertation are The killer cop and the murder of Donald Mackay and Marijuana Australiana.

Andrew Katelaris

Dr Andrew Katelaris graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine from the University of Sydney in 1985 and in1992 was awarded a doctorate by the University of New South Wales for a research thesis in immunopathology. He has over 20 years' experience in hospital-based medicine and surgical and forensic pathology. Dr Katelaris became involved with industrial hemp during the 1980s with research aimed at preserving Australian natural forests. He discovered the suppressed history of industrial hemp and began to link up with hemp activists around the world. In 1988, Dr Katelaris visited Wageningen University in The Netherlands, where he learned of progress with non-wood paper production, and also visited hemp producers in France. On his return, he and other activists began a campaign to establish hemp in Australia. He teamed up with documentary filmmaker Barbara Chobocky to produce Billion Dollar Crop, the first mass-circulation television exposé of cannabis prohibition, which generated significant public support. As a result, a research licence system was established, allowing agronomic hemp trials. Diverse growing sites were tested and experience was gained, e.g., in increasing fibre yield by manipulating planting sites at different latitudes. In collaboration with Southern Cross University (Lismore, NSW), Dr Katelaris obtained a licence to cultivate high-THC cannabis for phytochemical analysis and stability testing on extracts, in preparation for a compassionate cannabis access scheme. This program was terminated for political reasons, and Australia has yet to establish any compassionate access scheme, as operates in many countries around the world. Dr Katelaris's current research interests include improved methods of hemp agronomy, better seed-harvesting methods and the development of hemp building materials (hempcrete) suited to Australian conditions. He is committed to developing greater public awareness of the benefits of hemp seed nutrition. Of special interest is the place for hemp seed nutrition during pregnancy and childhood and the therapeutic use in managing inflammatory conditions, behavioural disorders and depression.

Kog

In 1995, Kog was busted with 8,000 marijuana seedlings. The cops valued these worthless little plants at $2,000 each and sentenced Kog to 2 years in prison for being in possession of $16 Million dollars worth of marijuana. Kog is a family man and university educated graduate with a Bachelor's degree in Agriculture and Business Management. So while he was incarcerated, Kog learned more about the legal aspects of growing marijuana and spoke with his peers about growing the world's favorite plant. After he got out of prison, he set about to grow the biggest and the best crop of dope he'd ever grown - and he did. Unlike other's who may have done their time and moved on, Kog was determined to share his knowledge with the greater community and wrote the groundbreaking seminal book "Marijuana - A Grower's Lot" which Nimbin's Hemp Embassy acclaimed as "A remarkable contribution to cannabis culture" and has been featured in Holland's "High Life" and "Cannabis Lit".

Russell Lean

Russell Lean grew up travelling around NSW due to his father’s occupation, completing High School in Deniliquin. After growing up in the dust, he studied Creative Writing as part of his Bachelor of Communications at Charles Sturt University in Bathurst. Russell admits to being a write-aholic and has been writing short stories and poetry since childhood.  As part of his work assisting businesses with Online Digital Media Strategies, he writes daily. He has attempted novels before but is a first time published author with this work. “Woodenbong Bongwater” – a Story about Marijuana Magic, Mates and Mayhem is drawn from stories and incidents both true and fiction, that Russell has been told during his 30 years on the far North Coast of NSW. The story centres on Quiet Terry (Brain fried from a bad dose of Ketamine in Goa) and the two Pete’s, his long-term mates. While creating a business that endorses growing, smoking and having fun with the herb, and distributing hundreds of thousands of kits to assist this process, they still manage to help a little known town and its surrounds secede from the Australian government and become a Principality. With the assistance of Big Steve, Jimmy the Scottish Aboriginal, Cass the sex goddess and Woody, they smoke up a storm, change the history of the wide brown land, and manage to help Australia’s armed forces get totally shit faced. Russell has also been a professional musician and has recorded original songs on the CD “2the4thPower” – an independent release.

David McLeod

David McLeod is the founder of Healthwise Clinic and has been a Natural Medicine practitioner for 33 years. He holds qualifications in acupuncture, naturopathy, herbal medicine and clinical nutrition and has a practice on Wickham Tce in Brisbane. David lives in Uki, Northern NSW, where he also has a practice. David is a past president of the National Herbalist Association of Australia and has represented the Herbal Medicine profession on numerous expert committees. He was appointed to both the Complementary Health Consultative Forum and the Expert Committee on Complementary Medicines in the Health Systems initiatives of the Australian Federal Government.  David has also been a practitioner representative for the Office of Higher Education in Queensland. David’s main interest is in the treatment of chronic health conditions.

Jim Moylan

Jim is a married 51 year old legal practitioner admitted to practice in Queensland. He is active in community associations in the Northern Rivers of NSW and is currently the Administrator of the Nimbin MardiGrass and the Secretary of the HEMP Embassy. He is also the National Campaign Director of the HEMP Party. James recently earned a double degree in Arts and Law (received Honours in Law). These studies were supplemented by being the founding Secretary and then President of the Student Association of Southern Cross University for two terms, 2011 & 2012.

Neil Pike

Neil Pike is the founder and Grand Authenticated Bush Turkey of the Pagan Love Cult inc, probably the longest running psychedelic music group in Australia. Their music moves from old-school folk-rock through hippy pop to a more contemporary electronica. When the other members of the PLC can't be convinced to travel thousands of miles for a gig, Neil puts on his "psychedelic troubadour" hat and does solo gigs. He is a multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter, videomaker, activist and psychedelic advocate. "The best thing about being the Grand Authenticated Bush Turkey" says Neil "is that only other turkeys take you seriously".

Ray Thorpe

Ray Thorpe is the director and founder of Happy High Herbs, and has been spreading the word about plants for medicine and ritual for over 15 years. He is an avid campaigner for plant freedom and drug lore reform, and supports the local visionary arts movement.

Jason Woodforth

Jason Woodforth is an Australian Liberal National politician who is the member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland for Nudgee following the retirement of Neil Roberts at the 2012 state election.