Edinburgh MP calls for Scotland to follow Northern Ireland's example and fund medicinal cannabis on NHS

TWO years after the UK Government legalised medicinal cannabis, the family of Edinburgh eight-year-old Murray Gray is still having to pay £1,400 a month to treat his extreme form of epilepsy because they cannot get an NHS prescription for it.

Murray Gray with his mother Karen Picture: Lisa Ferguson

Now Edinburgh West Lib Dem MP Christine Jardine has called on the Scottish Government to intervene to allow NHS funding for the treatment, as has happened in Northern Ireland.

Murray, who lives in East Craigs suffers from Doose syndrome and at one point was having 600 seizures a day, but cannabis-based medicines have dramatically improved his condition.

However, his specialists will not write Murray an NHS prescription because NHS guidelines say they must wait for UK trials, so his mother Karen has to go abroad to source the necessary drugs.

Christine Jardine and Karen Gray joined Rachel Diamond-Hunter of 38 Degrees in presenting a petition in Downing Street ahead of the legalisation of medicinal cannabis in 2018.

Last month she said there was clear evidence that the cannabis-based medicines Murray receives, Bedrolyte and Bedica, work.

She said: "Murray has been seizure-free for 17 months. The difference is unbelievable. He goes to school full time, he no longer needs a wheelchair, he doesn't need a helmet, he is running around.”

In September, health authorities in Northern Ireland agreed Billy Caldwell, 15, who has a similar condition, could have his cannabis-based drugs funded by the NHS.

Ms Jardine said she and MSP colleague Alex Cole-Hamilton had repeatedly lobbied Health Secretary Jeane Freeman on the issue and urged her to follow the Northern Irish example..

She said: “It really is beyond time that the Scottish Government stepped up to provide the same support for Murray and his family that the Caldwells have received in Northern Ireland.

“And sadly, theirs is not the only case. There are families all over this country who are raising funds for private prescriptions for medicinal cannabis, which is legally available, and can ease their pain and suffering.

"I appreciate there are issues with medical responsibility and safeguards but surely, two years on, there is something that can be done. I have written to both governments on a number of occasions and will continue to do so for as long as it takes for people to receive the NHS support they need.”

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