Billy Caldwell: Mother raises concerns that cannabis oil will only last 20 days

The mother of a 12-year-old boy with severe epilepsy has called for a meeting with the Home Secretary, after the government allowed just 20 days’ worth of his cannabis oil medication to be released to stop his seizures.

Billy Caldwell had just one of his seven bottles of cannabis oil medication returned by authorities on Saturday, after his condition dramatically worsened and he was hospitalised. 

Sajid Javid, the Home Secretary, said that he had used his “exceptional power as Home Secretary” to issue a licence for the drug’s use in Chelsea and Westminster hospital on Saturday afternoon.

However, of the six months’ supply of the drug it holds, the Home Office released enough oil for just 20 days.

Billy’s mother Charlotte Caldwell had pleaded publicly for the medication to be returned to her son, after it was confiscated in Heathrow airport on their return from Canada on Monday.

On Sunday morning, Ms Caldwell told BBC Breakfast that she wanted to meet Mr Javid and Jeremy Hunt, Health Secretary, to demand the other six bottles and seek a change in the law to allow cannabis oil to be prescribed to children with intractable epilepsy. 

“I’m asking him [Javid]: please return the other six bottles that Billy needs and let’s just stop this nonsense once and for all,” she said. 

“I’d also say to Sajid that I applaud him, he has handed up a lifeline which is absolutely amazing and I am truly thankful for that.

“I...will not stand by and let any other family in our country endure this experience. It’s absolutely horrific, it’s cruel.

“I’m staying in London and I can assure him I’m not going anywhere until this is put in place and this medicine is made accessible to all of these other children that desperately need it.”

Ms Caldwell said that she wanted to meet “preferably tomorrow” in a “dignified and democratic way” with the cabinet ministers to seek a resolution for her son.

The battle for Billy Caldwell's medication has quickly become a wider call for the legalisation of medical marijuana in the UK.

The oil used by Billy Caldwell is illegal in the UK because it contains THC, a psychoactive substance.

Under current laws, doctors who prescribe cannabis oil for epilepsy can be sentenced to up to 14 years in prison. 

In a statement on Sunday afternoon, Ms Caldwell said: "First, I need to be assured that Billy's medication will never again be taken away. He has 20 days worth of anti-epileptic seizure drugs. What happens after that? Another battle?”

"Secondly, there are many more families in similar positions: those affected need to be treated with greater attention to their medical needs. There is currently no proper medical assessment.

"Third, medical cannabis must be made accessible throughout the UK under the supervision of the Department of Health.

It is thought by doctors to alleviate symptoms of a number of conditions including multiple sclerosis, epilepsy and chronic pain. 

While other marijuana products such as Cannabidiol, or CBD oil, are available from high street health retailers, products with a non-negligible THC content are prohibited under the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016. 

Marijuana has been illegal in the United Kingdom since 1971. 

The Home Office was contacted for comment.