Cannabis oil made for kids held at border
Low in THC, grandmother says
A Summerland family is desperate to access its shipment of Charlotte’s Web, a medical marijuana oil made especially for children, but it has been held up at customs at the Canadian border.
Elaine Nuessler, who advocates for the use of cannabis oil treatments for kids with seizures, is terrified her granddaughter, four-year-old Kyla Williams, will suffer hundreds of seizures a day if she doesn’t get the cannabidiol (CBD) oil, which the family has been importing for more than a year.
The little girl has become the poster child in B.C. for children who have shown remarkable recovery using Charlotte’s Web, a cannabis oil low in THC (the psychoactive compound) but high in CBD, the non-psychoactive component found to help with some types of seizures. The organic product is manufactured in Colorado as a dietary supplement and has only 0.3 percent THC.
Kyla went from more than 300 seizures a day to virtually none and relies solely on Charlotte’s Web instead of pharmaceutical drugs to treat her seizures, but the family’s shipment has been flagged at the border.
Reached in Summerland Wednesday, Nuessler was overcome with emotion, describing how worried families with young epileptic children are. She said several people have told her their shipments have also been held.
“People are writing to me and they are freaking out. It is absolutely ludicrous.”
She believes border officials have not done proper testing and are holding it because there are small amounts of THC. She said it is so frustrating because Canadians have the right to legal medical marijuana.
She said although she has received dozens of offers from medical marijuana producers in Canada, she believes there is no other product for children as consistent in quality and as low in THC as Charlotte’s Web.
There are some medical marijuana products in Canada designed for children, but Nuessler said it is problematic for families to start “experimenting” again with a new product because they don’t know how their child will respond, and they have dealt with so many inconsistent products in the past.
For example, some could be higher in THC than advertised, which could cause children to space out.
“These children cannot be without this oil. It’s a terrible situation. Why is medical cannabis still such a threat?
“I just wish the border officials could see the faces of the children they are affecting,” she said, her voice shaking.
“Charlotte’s Web has three years of expertise in making children’s CBD oil. This is a hybrid that is so great for kids. It is clean and organic,” added Nuessler, who has spent months in Colorado researching the product.
Kathy Liu, a spokeswoman for the Canada Border Service Agency, said under Canadian law, “it is illegal to import or export drugs, including marijuana and its derivatives, whether medicinal or not.”
The CBS Agency is responsible for enforcing more than 90 acts of legislation, including the Customs Act and Criminal Code, Liu added.
She has yet to respond to questions about how many shipments of Charlotte’s Web have been stopped at the border and how the product is being tested to determine if it is an illegal drug.