Grease star Olivia Newton-John has urged the world’s governments to embrace medical cannabis.
Speaking at a charity walk in Melbourne yesterday, the 71-year-old cancer sufferer called for access to Marijuana to be made available to everyone who requires treatment.
The movie and music icon has been using cannabis products for years as a way of managing the pain of her stage four breast cancer. It is the third time she has been hit with the disease after first being diagnosed in 1992.
Joined by her husband and family at the ‘Wellness Walk and Research Run’, she gave a rousing speech during the event. The annual run was staged to raise funds for the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness & Research Centre which she set up with the aim of delivering definitive clinical research into the benefits of marijuana treatments.
The seventies songstress will even be auctioning off some of her movie and music video outfits to raise cash for the research teams.
“This time last year I was flat on my back in the centre,” she told the crowd in Melbourne.
“This year, through treatment and medicinal cannabis, I am feeling fantastic.
“I hope to be able to soon offer medical cannabis to everyone – that’s my dream.”
Prior to her speech, Australia’s health minister – Greg Hunt – announced that the government had signed off three million Australian dollars to be handed over to research programmes into medical cannabis.
Olivia Newton-John responded to the news with excitement, saying: “It’s helped me incredibly, with pain, with sleep, with anxiety.
“Particularly when I had to wean myself off morphine and I used cannabis which is not going to kill you like opiates can.”
