Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
CANNABIS OIL MUM FACES ARREST
Ulster woman flies into UK with banned medicinal drug for son, 12
AN Ulster mum could be arrested this morning for trying to save her son’s life.
Charlotte Caldwell is flying into Heathrow with banned medicinal cannabis – vital to control 12-year-old Billy’s potentially deadly seizures.
She said: “I don’t know if they will arrest me and confiscate the oil and sign Billy’s death warrant.”
CHARLOTTE Caldwell flies into London today carrying outlawed medicinal cannabis and will face arrest or change history in the UK.
The mum, from Castlederg in Co Tyrone, travelled to Toronto last Thursday to source the oil her son Billy has relied on to keep potentially deadly epileptic seizures at bay for months.
Doctors in Canada’s leading children’s hospital have placed the 12-year-old on a clinical trial of the medication which is awaiting peer review.
Billy made history when he became the first recipient of an NHS prescription for medicinal cannabis last year.
But the Home Office put a stop to it last month and with just two doses left Charlotte and Billy flew to Canada desperate for help from specialists at The Hospital for Sick Children.
Last night they were booked onto the 9.55pm flight from Toronto’s Pearson International Airport due to land at Heathrow today at 10.10am.
The mum and son will be joined by 10 other families who say they need medicinal cannabis and they will make a public statement urging the Home Secretary to trigger a change in the law.
Charlotte said: “I can only ask to keep the drops to keep my son alive and well. I don’t know if they will let me.
“I don’t know if they will arrest me and confiscate the oil and sign Billy’s death warrant.
“But I do know Billy needs it and I’ll make sure one way or an other that he gets it.
“Not only that I want to make sure everyone who needs medicinal cannabis oil, gets it.
“I have no choice. I’ve been prevented from giving Billy the medication that keeps him seizure-free.
“Faceless civil servants did that to Billy. I’m worried about breaking the law but I’d rather have Billy illegally medicated and alive than unmedicated and legally dead.
“What mother should have to make that choice?”
Tomorrow’s situation presents Home Secretary Sajid Javid with a dilemma over whether to have Charlotte: arrested and detained, arrested and cautioned and the medication removed, or
allowed to pass through the airport and home to Northern Ireland.
This is the second time Charlotte has carried medicinal cannabis into the UK.
Last May she and Billy flew into Dublin and drove across the border after declaring the full spectrum and THCA cannabis oil at customs in Ireland.
Last week she and Billy attended a meeting at Stormont where she was assured of support by every political party here except the DUP.
And it was shortly after she invited the DUP to the meeting that her GP received an email from the Home Office ordering him not to write any more prescriptions for Billy.
The same doctor was then invited to attend an unminuted meeting with civil servants from the Department of Health’s Drug Enforcement Agency.
A source said: “The meeting was uncomfortable for the doctor. He had no choice but to comply. The prescriptions stopped there and then.” A spokesman for the Home Office said: “We are sympathetic to the difficult and rare situation that Billy and his family are faced with.
“While we recognise people with debilitating illnesses are looking to alleviate their symptoms, it is important that medicines are thoroughly tested to ensure they meet rigorous standards so that doctors and patients are assured of their efficacy, quality and safety.”