Laws in the United Kingdom changed in 2018 to allow for the medicinal use of cannabis by qualified individuals with a doctor’s prescription.
But the Royal College of Physicians and the British Paediatric Neurological Association both discourage the use of cannabis medicine, and the medical community has been reluctant to write prescriptions for it which have forced the parents of epileptic children to turn to other sources.
Aylesham resident, Emma Appleby arrived in the U.K. from Holland on Saturday, April 6 with £4,500 ($5867) worth of cannabis oil for her nine-year-old daughter Teagan when customs officials at the London Southend Airport confiscated the entire supply.
Teagan was born with a genetic condition known as Isodicentric 15 which can manifest in the form of language and motor skill delays, irregular sleep cycles, autistic-like behavior, low muscle tone.
Teagan also suffers from Lennox Gastaut Syndrome which can cause her to have up to 300 seizures a day.
“Caring for Teagan is a relentless, 24/7, emotionally draining task,” said Mrs. Appleby. “It seems unforgivably cruel that I have now had to face the added burden of raising money to go abroad to access a medicine that is legal here.”
Mrs. Appleby said that while the people at the NHS and in the medical field are arguing over what constitutes evidence, her daughter is suffering and she is at her wit’s end.
In a video posted to Facebook, Mrs. Appleby asked people to sign and share a petition to get the cannabis medicine returned. She said that, though they still have some Epidoilex, Teagan is already having a lot of seizures since customs confiscated the cannabis oil.
“It’s not fair that families like myself are being pushed to do this, I haven’t done this just for me I’ve done this for all the families that I’m working with,” said Mrs. Appleby “So basically, I’m gonna fight, I’m gonna fight my hardest to get the medication back.”
Officials told Mrs. Appleby that they had been instructed not to destroy the cannabis oil, which she said gave her some hope that obtaining a medical cannabis prescription might be possible if they push hard enough.
