Marion McConnell along with her late husband Brian is a founding member of Families and Friends for Drug Law Reform.
She became interested in drug law reform in 1992 following an incident in which her son had overdosed on heroin and the negative treatment she and her family received from the police following this incident. It made her believe strongly that this law enforcement response to her sons problem was counterproductive. It influenced her to research the reasons for prohibition and the answers she received were disturbing.
A fortnight after this incident her son died from a heroin overdose at the age of 24. Her story can be read in “the Drug Law Wars: Twenty years of families fighting at the front”.
Marion is also an active member of the Uniting Church where she is most interested in its social justice activities. She received an OAM in 2017 for her work in drug law reform.