My 6 year old son Alfie has just had his medical cannabis license taken away by the Government. We now can’t get him a prescription. Without access to this medicine his epileptic seizures will come back – he can suffer up to 30 a day.
For two months Alfie has had a special exemption license because medical cannabis was illegal. But now it has technically been legalised the Government have said he doesn’t need the license anymore – they say a doctor can write him a prescription like any other medicine. But I can’t find a NHS doctor in the country that will grant Alfie his medication, even though they know he needs it, because the guidelines for when doctors should prescribe medical cannabis are so restrictive.
That’s why I have started a petition calling on the Department for Health and NHS England to urgently review the guidelines for when medical cannabis can be prescribed – so that people like my son can get access. Please help me by signing.
When medical cannabis was legalised at the beginning of the month, the NHS asked the Royal College of Physicians and the British Paediatric Neurology Association to publish guidelines on when to prescribe. They have made the guidelines so restrictive that it’s not just Alfie who can’t get access, almost no-one who needs medical cannabis is being given it.
As a result, up and down the country there are suffering people whose hopes have been shattered. This is outrageous. If the Government say that medical cannabis is legal, it should actually be available to those in need!
It took a long, hard battle with over 700,000 signatures on a petition to get Alfie temporary access to medical cannabis. For the last two months, with the help of this treatment, I have seen him go from suffering everyday, to a happy healthy boy.
I can’t watch my son go back to square one. And I can’t watch other families continue to suffer. We urgently need the medical cannabis guidelines reviewed. Please help me by signing my petition now.
From,
Hannah Deacon
Proud mum of Alfie Dingley