MUM ‘SMUGGLES’ CANNABIS OIL FOR SICK SON
‘Life-saving’ drug seized at border
A MOTHER was yesterday stopped at Heathrow, attempting to “smuggle” medical cannabis into Britain for her severely epileptic son.
Charlotte Caldwell was returning from Canada, where she bought the drug to treat Billy, 12, who has up to 100 seizures a day.
Ms Caldwell, 50, had a six-month supply of the “life-saving” drug confiscated by Border Force after declaring it on her return from Toronto with Billy.
She has been granted a Home Office meeting with Policing Minister Nick Hurd to discuss her case. But she accused Mr Hurd of having “likely signed my son’s death warrant”.
In the UK, cannabis oil is considered to have no medical value and is banned, unlike in much of Europe and the US.
Ms Caldwell said yesterday: “It’s Billy’s anti-epileptic medication that Nick Hurd has taken away. It’s not some joint full of recreational cannabis.
“I will just go back to Canada and get more and bring it back again because my son has a right to have his anti-epileptic medication in his country, in his own home.” Ms Caldwell, from County Tyrone in Northern Ireland, said she was “absolutely devastated” to have the supply taken away, and claimed one border officer welled up while doing it.
She added: “They are parents themselves, and they were very conflicted about removing the medication from me. They did not want to do it.”
Billy began the treatment in the US in 2016. He was the first person in the UK to receive a prescription for cannabis oil, from his local GP, Dr Brendan O’Hare. The Caldwells say the Home Office recently threatened to strike off Dr O’Hare if he prescribes it again. The drug that Billy uses – made by a Canadian firm – contains CBD, a non-psychoactive chemical, and THC, an intoxicating substance that is illegal in Britain.
Most cannabis-based epilepsy therapies have more CBD than THC, so do not produce a high.
A Home Office 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.”
The Home Office may have signed my sick son’s death warrant CHARLOTTE CALDWELL ON HAVING DRUG SEIZED