U.K. reviews medical marijuana ban after outcry over sick kids

The British government announced Tuesday it would move to lift its ban on cannabis-based medicines, amid mounting criticism over the denial of treatment to severely epileptic children. But it rejected calls to legalize marijuana for recreational use.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid told lawmakers cases like that of a 12-year-old epileptic boy denied cannabis oil for his condition showed there is “a pressing need to allow those who might benefit from cannabis-based medicines to access them.”

But he said the government had “absolutely no plans” to decriminalize the drug more widely.

The change in stance came after the government relented and allowed 12-year-old Billy Caldwell to receive cannabis oil treatment that his mother said was needed to prevent life-threatening seizures.

His mother, Charlotte Caldwell, has called for the laws governing medicinal marijuana use in Britain to be liberalized, saying cannabis oil is the only treatment that has warded off her son’s seizures.

Javid said Tuesday that a license to use cannabis-based drugs would also be issued for six-year-old Alfie Dingley, whose epilepsy causes scores of seizures a day.

He said if a review by the country’s chief medical officer identified cannabis-based treatments with “significant medical benefits,” they would be legalized.

He said the current legal situation was “not satisfactory for the parents, not satisfactory for the doctors and not satisfactory for me.”

Charlotte Caldwell welcomed the announcement but said she wanted to hear more details.

“Common sense and the power of mothers and fathers of sick children has bust the political process wide open and is on the verge of changing thousands of lives,” she said. “We are on the threshold of the next chapter of the history books.”