United Kingdom: Free medical cannabis for epileptic children

Charlotte Caldwell, whose epileptic son Billy helped change the law on medical cannabis in the UK, secured free access to medical cannabis products for severely epileptic children, which could save up to £6,000 in private prescription costs, the equivalent of eight months' treatment.

As many as 75 families will be eligible for support when they apply for funding for their treatment from the NHS via the Refractory Epilepsy Specialist Clinical Advisory Service (RESCAS), a process that can take up to eight months.

The support of Althea Canopy Growth and Cellen, who all manufacture cannabis-based products prescribed to children with epilepsy in the UK, comes just a month after Charlotte launched a new campaign to mark the fourth anniversary of the confiscation of his son Billy's medical cannabis by customs officers at Heathrow airport, an event which led politicians to change the law to allow doctors to prescribe it.

Charlotte asked medical cannabis manufacturers to provide free medicine and give other children with epilepsy the support Billy received by offering free access to life-saving drugs via the RESCAS procedure.

The latter was introduced in 2020 following a lawsuit brought by Charlotte against the UK government. It provides a route of access to NHS-funded medical cannabis (and other »alternative treatment« options) for refractory epilepsy patients under the age of 18.

During the campaign, Charlotte reached out to all medical cannabis manufacturers to request patient support for RESCAS applications. In addition to Althea, Canopy Growth and Cellen, Charlotte continues to have conversations with several other manufacturers and is confident that other companies will agree to contribute in due course.

Medicines produced by these three manufacturers are currently prescribed to around 30 patients in the UK via private prescriptions. It is estimated that a further 45 patients are prescribed medical marijuana from five other manufacturers, all invited by Charlotte to donate their treatments.

«We can't guarantee that these children will be successful in the Rescas process, but they will receive between six and eight months» worth of medication, which will ease their financial burden for a while in these difficult times. And then, if their case is successful, they will be able to benefit from long-term NHS funding.".

Billy, now 17, used to have up to 100 seizures a day, but now goes several months without one.

Ms Caldwell said: «If your child currently has access to the medical cannabis for epilepsy via a private prescription, please do not hesitate to contact me. While I can't guarantee all results, I can promise you that, as a mother who has been in the same circumstances as you, I and the trustees of the Foundation I Am Billy will do everything possible to support your child in the Rescas process, free of charge.

«Billy and I continue to lobby other medical cannabis manufacturers and I am convinced that this is just the beginning of wider patient access to medical cannabis via the NHS.»