Tickets are now available for the 2025 United in Compassion Symposium, an event that will also be Lucy Haslam's final turn as its organiser.
Scheduled to run from February 21 to 23 at Brisbane's Royal International Convention Centre, the symposium will carry the theme 'towards mainstream', reflecting the medicinal cannabis industry's trajectory since legalisation.
Early-bird pricing is set at $1,054 for members of the Australian Medicinal Cannabis Association and $1,100 for non-members.
Ticket packages cover the conference sessions on Saturday February 22 and Sunday February 23, a welcome drinks reception on February 21, and a Saturday evening event at The Tivoli Theatre in Fortitude Valley, where guests are encouraged to dress in 'fifty shades of green'.
From October 1, prices increase to $1,320 for non-members and $1,122 for members.
For those wishing to attend the conference sessions only, early-bird tickets available until September 30 are priced at $680 for members and $716 for non-members.
The event opens on Friday February 21 with a dedicated education day for healthcare professionals, featuring breakout sessions tailored to prescribers, pharmacists, and nurses.
Keynote speakers across the main program include Dr Peter Grinspoon, a physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and board member of advocacy organisation Doctors for Cannabis Regulation, US-based palliative and hospice specialist Dr Sue Sisley, paediatrician Bonni Goldstein, and osteopathic physician Dr Dustin Sulak.
The Saturday night celebration has been timed to coincide with Medicinal Cannabis Awareness Week — being held for the third time — and to honour Dan Haslam on the 10th anniversary of his death.
In the sponsor prospectus, Lucy Haslam confirmed that the 2025 Symposium would be her last as event organiser.
"[It] marks a sad milestone for our family with the 10th anniversary of Dan's death on February 24," she said. "I have decided to draw a line in the sand at that point and will hand over the responsibility and pleasure of continuing UIC to AMCA."
Reflecting on the past decade, Haslam wrote: "I think there is little doubt that there are many positive examples of how the Australian medicinal cannabis landscape is improving and how Australian patients are embracing the option to move to cannabinoids and away from some of the more conventional and accepted medicines and the harm that so often accompanies them.
She added: "We must keep striving for a better industry, better regulation and better opportunities for Australian businesses. In doing that, we are doing the best for our patients and that should always be the common thread throughout the sector."
Haslam also cautioned against the "conflict" that arises from the "lure of high profits", and described her "biggest disappointment" over the past decade as the ongoing stigma driven by "those who prefer to remain sceptics".
"The stigma…is hard to shake," she wrote. "But we can overcome it by insisting on quality, building trust, prescribing responsibly and being confident that science will eventually provide the evidence that has been lacking."
For more information on the UIC Symposium and to book tickets, click here.
