Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Outrage as Billy is forced to go back to Canada for medication
Mum’s fury over missed deadline BILLY Caldwell must return to Canada to access life-saving medical cannabis after the authorities missed a vital deadline in his licence application.
The Co Tyrone youngster’s health crisis last month triggered the creation of a new government panel to examine applications for the plant therapy in the UK.
But despite other families celebrating success in the process, 12-year-old Billy is once more out of time and must travel 3,000 miles from his home in Castlederg to Toronto to access the medication.
His mother Charlotte said: “I’m at a loss as to how and why this can happen, especially considering other licences have been issued within the UK which is fantastic news for those families.
“Yet the little boy whose health crisis forced the Government into sharp focus on medicinal cannabis, who made the law-makers sit up and decide on change for good, this little boy, my son, is sitting with his life under threat again.”
It takes 32 days to get Billy’s Tilray manufactured medication from Health Canada, 30 days for the Canadians to push through the legal process and two days in transit to the UK.
It takes up to two weeks for an import licence to be organised to allow his antiepilepsy drugs into Northern Ireland.
Both processes can only start the moment a licence is issued, which still hasn’t happened.
Last night Charlotte received an email to say the Department of Health has received notification of a “preliminary determination” regarding cannabis medicine for Billy.
Chief Martin Dillon said: “We can proceed immediately with the procurement of the medicinal cannabis products to ensure a continued supply of Billy’s oil is available.” He told Charlotte to expect the Belfast Trust clinical team to be in touch in “a day or two” to “make arrangements for Billy’s ongoing care”.
But the timing leaves him short of his life-saving oil for around four days and possibly more. When the oil was confiscated from his mum at Heathrow airport in June, he started suffering seizures after just 12 hours without medication. A series of devastating back-to-back attacks were brought under control when the first drops were administered.
His reaction to the sudden removal of the anti-epilepsy medication prompted Home Secretary Sajid Javid to permit the oil returned for Billy’s care.
I’m at a loss as to how and why this can happen to my little boy CHARLOTTE CALDWELL CO TYRONE YESTERDAY