Billy Caldwell's mother is director of cannabis oil company which helps fund his care

A mother campaigning for medical marijuana to be available on the NHS is the director of a company which sells bottles of cannabis oil for more than £500.

Charlotte Caldwell is the sole director of Billy’s Bud Ltd, a cannabis oil distributor named after her son Billy Caldwell, the boy who was given first ever NHS prescription to help control his epilepsy.

A spokesman for Mrs Caldwell said profits from sales of the cannabis products, which include oils, capsules, powder, gummies, shots and honey sticks, were used to fund Billy’s 24-7 healthcare needs.

The oil she sells is CBD, a type of cannabis chemical which is legal in Britain because it does not make users high. It is not the same as the THC variety, which has mind-altering and psychoactive effects, and which is currently banned.

Yesterday Sajid Javid announced that the government was willing to review the law on the use of medical cannabis which could lead to patients in Britain being prescribed drugs from the prohibited plant.

The Home Secretary was speaking after William Hague sparked a debate on legalising the drug completely. But speaking to the House of Commons, Mr Javid stressed that the class B drug would remain banned for recreational use.

NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens also caution. Speaking at the IPPR think tank, he said: “In those countries where marijuana has been decriminalised, often young people, teenagers, come to think of smoking marijuana as safe. Let's be clear: actually it isn't.

“It increases the risk of long term psychiatric problems, such as depression or psychosis and if you look there are also significant risks to your lungs and many other aspects to our young people’s quality of life.”

The announcement of the review came just days after Mr Javid intervened to permit the use of cannabis oil containing THC to treat severely epileptic 12-year-old Billy, who had been admitted to hospital with seizures after supplies his mother had brought from Canada were confiscated at Heathrow.

Mrs Caldwell described the u-turn as ‘amazing news’ which she ‘applauded.’

“We are on the threshold of the next chapter of the history book,” she said.

“The power of the mothers and fathers of sick children has bust the political process wide open and it is on the verge of changing thousands of lives by bringing cannabis laws in line with many other countries.”

Ms Caldwell said she wanted to meet with both the Home and Health Secretaries to ‘thank them for seeing and hearing sense and joining us in creating history in the United Kingdom.’

Asked if Mrs Caldwell planned to sell THC if it was rescheduled, a spokesman said the process was unlikely to be ‘straightforward.’ The website selling the products is currently down for maintenance.

Mr Javid told MPs that the review would be held in two parts. The first, led by chief medical officer Sally Davies, will make recommendations on which cannabis-based medicines might offer patients real medical and therapeutic benefits.

The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs will consider in the second part of the review whether changes should be made to the classification of these products on an assessment of “the balance of harms and public health needs”.

“If the review identifies significant medical benefits, then we do intend to reschedule," Mr Javid told MPs.

“We have seen in recent months that there is a pressing need to allow those who might benefit from cannabis-based medicines to access them.”

Mr Javid said that since becoming Home Secretary in April, it had become clear to him that the current legal position on medicinal cannabis was “not satisfactory for the parents, not satisfactory for the doctors, and not satisfactory for me”.

But he insisted: “This step is in no way a first step to the legalisation of cannabis for recreational use.

“This Government has absolutely no plans to legalise cannabis and the penalties for unauthorised supply and possession will remain unchanged.”