Former Hi-5 star Tim Harding has called on the Baird government to legalise medicinal cannabis.
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Mr Harding, of Charlestown, has a four-year-old daughter named Arielle who suffers from drug-resistant epilepsy.
She suffers up to 100 seizures a day, which affects her ability to learn and develop.
“It breaks your heart,” Mr Harding, 38, said, adding she had not responded well to conventional medicine.
He appealed to the NSW government to proceed with “significant change” in support of medicinal cannabis.
His plea comes as Premier Mike Baird comes under increasing pressure to get on with clinical trials for the drug.
Medicinal users of cannabis also want greater legal protection.
While NSW patients were able to legally access some cannabis-derived products, Mr Harding said they were largely ineffective and difficult to obtain.
He and wife Tash hope their daughter will be selected to participate in the NSW government trials.
“At this point we have no idea how far away it is or what’s happening with it,” he said.
“The game seems to change all the time.”
A NSW Health spokeswoman said: “The medicinal cannabis trials are now in the final stages of development, ahead of patient recruitment”.
“Potential trial participants should discuss their eligibility with their treating doctors.”
Mr Baird announced the trials in December 2014 to cover children with severe and drug-resistant epilepsy, the terminally ill and chemotherapy-related nausea.
However, critics have said the state government was dragging its heels on the issue, while people suffered.
This led to the premier being jeered at the United in Compassion Medical Cannabis Symposium held in Sydney earlier this month, which Mr Harding hosted.
Mr Baird had insisted the government was working as fast as it could.
This included considering whether access to medicinal cannabis should be extended.
The symposium had highlighted that people were benefiting greatly from medicinal cannabis.
However, they had to deal with unreliable suppliers and legal fears, despite police being able to show discretion.
The federal government passed a law in February that allowed cannabis to be grown for medicinal use under licence.
However, Mr Harding said the states should introduce stronger legal protection for medicinal cannabis users.
“The most important thing is people need to have compassionate access,” he said, adding it would be important to “heavily regulate the industry”.
