Independent (former Greens) Tammy Franks MLC has been a fearless advocate for Cannabis law reform for personal use, medicinal & therapeutic purposes and for industrial hemp, from her days as a leader in the National Union of Students SA (running a HEMP awareness campaign across all SA University campuses), through to her time in the Upper House of the South Australian Parliament from 2010 - present.

Tammy’s Industrial Hemp Bill successfully passed the South Australian Parliament in 2017, ending the decades long prohibition and making it legal to grow and process hemp across SA for food, fibres and oils for potentially hundreds of different hemp-based products. That Act also saw the Weatherill Labor Government set up an Office of Industrial Hemp and Medicinal Cannabis in SA.

In 2024 Tammy initiated and chaired a Joint Parliamentary Inquiry into Medicinal Cannabis to look at how we can improve patient access to one of the world’s oldest and most useful medicines. While many, many thousands of South Australians can now benefit from legal pathways to access their medicine, patients using cannabis therapeutically are still forced to trade off real improvements in their quality of life against being able to legally drive. The committee comprised of Labor, Liberal and Independents from the Upper and Lower Houses unanimously recognised this barrier as well as making recommendations for reform in the Justice, Transport, Health and Industrial Relations portfolios. The Malinauskas Government is yet to respond to this report.

While her Legalisation of Cannabis Bill was voted down in late 2025 by both Labor and Liberal parties, the debate itself made it clear the ground has shifted and our current laws are out of line with community attitudes. Tammy has also initiated or supported various bills and amendments designed to provide medical cannabis patients with a defence to the charge of drug driving if caught up in the random roadside testing system where they are not impaired and have not driven recklessly. 

Tammy understands prohibition is the problem, not the solution, and is looking forward continuing her dedicated advocacy and legislative work to make the personal use and cultivation of Cannabis legal for adults in SA.