Britain should adopt a Dutch-style Office for Medical Cannabis to help hundreds of thousands of patients being denied the drug, according to the mother of the epileptic boy whose case triggered reform of the law. Charlotte Caldwell says no one else should have to go through the pain her family has suffered as she revealed her son, Billy, 14, has still not received an NHS prescription for his epilepsy drugs nearly 15 months after the law changed. For the past eight months, Ms Caldwell, 51, has been engaged in a legal battle with the health authorities in Northern Ireland, which have refused to prescribe the cannabis medicine despite the family having the backing of the UK’s top paediatric neurologist. Billy’s lawyers argue that his local GPs, under the supervision of a specialist, should be able to prescribe cannabis-based medicines. The Belfast Health and Social Care board disagrees and says a cannabis medicine was approved and provided to Billy in 2017 but Ms Caldwell sourced a different product on a private prescription. Ms Caldwell says Billy needed a new cannabis drug after he entered puberty and the old prescription was becoming less effective. She says Professor Helen Cross, of Great Ormond Street Hospital, examined Billy and submitted a report to the board saying the new medicine was helping and should continue but the board still refused to sanction it. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/billy-caldwells-mother-calls-for-dutch-style-medicinal-cannabis-570rwjtd5
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.