MUM WINS FIGHT FOR CANNABIS THERAPY

Murray is first Scots kid allowed to take medicine to control seizures

A BOY aged five has become the first child in Scotland to be prescribed medical cannabis in a bid to stop his chronic epileptic seizures.

Murray Gray, from Edinburgh, suffers from myoclonic astatic epilepsy, which causes up to 12 seizures a day.

His mum Karen has been fighting to persuade the UK Government to provide cannabidiol treatment for Murray on the NHS.

She flew Murray to Holland last Sunday to get access to a form of it.

While she was away, Murray’s neurologist at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh applied for a special licence to prescribe him Epidiolex, a purified form of cannabidiol.

Murray will take a strawberry-flavoured oral solution twice a day.

Before flying home yesterday, Karen said: “I am so happy.

“When Murray and I came here we got a call from my husband Stuart saying that the doctor got in touch saying they had Epidiolex.

“This is a step in the right direction. Time will tell if it helps but I am positive it will help reduce the seizures.”

Epidiolex is not licensed in the UK but doctors should be able to prescribe it by mid-2019 if it is approved by the European Medicines Agency.

It is understood that Murray’s neurologist applied for a licence under special circumstances to help him access the drug now.

Karen and Murray will return to hospital today to wean him off his current medication before starting Epidiolex.

Karen added: “I just hope this will help him.”

Edinburgh West MP Christine Jardine said: “The campaign to make medical cannabis available on the NHS will continue.”