You’ve signed my boy’s death warrant, says cannabis row mother
THE mother of a boy with severe epilepsy and autism yesterday accused the Government of signing her son’s death warrant by seizing his cannabis oil medication. Billy Caldwell became Britain’s first patient to be prescribed cannabis-based treatment on the NHS last year.
PA
But the Home Office ended it last month and the 12-year old’s supply was expected to run out yesterday.
His mother Charlotte, 50, flew to Canada to collect a six month supply of the medication which stops her son having 100 seizures a day.
But when she landed back at Heathrow airport yesterday it was seized, meaning Billy would miss his first treatment in 19 months.
Ms Caldwell later pleaded with Home Office minister Nick Hurd to hand back the liquid, which she insists is keeping Billy alive.
Without that medicine, Billy’s seizures will return and he will surely pass away
She says she is now facing a race against time to return to Toronto for more.
Doctors at Canada’s leading children’s hospital placed Billy on a clinical trial of the drug, which is given in oral drops.
Ms Caldwell, from Castlederg in Co Tyrone, Northern Ireland, said: “Without that medicine, Billy’s seizures will return and he will surely pass away.
“It is Billy’s anti-epileptic medication that Nick Hurd has taken away – it’s not some sort of joint full of recreational cannabis.
“We are not going to stop, we are not going to give up.
What Nick Hurd has just done is most likely signed my son’s death warrant.”
PA
Tory MP Dr Dan Poulter, who is backing the family, said: “The current law is ridiculous.
"There is growing evidence that cannabis products used medically can be helpful in treating a number of conditions, yet it is still seen through the prism of illegality here in the UK.
“It is simply inhumane that Billy’s medication, which is legal in many other countries across the world, has been confiscated.”
Heathrow officials handed Ms Caldwell a letter from Mr Hurd requesting a meeting at the Home Office.
It said the department was sympathetic to the “difficult and rare” situation but defended the seizure.
A spokesman said: “Whilst we recognise that people with debilitating illnesses are looking to alleviate their symptoms, Border Force has a duty to stop banned substances from entering the UK.”
Billy became the first person in the UK to receive the treatment on the NHS after his GP Brendan O’Hare began writing prescriptions.
The doctor was recently summoned to a meeting with Home Office officials and told to stop prescribing the drug which is banned by law.