An Edinburgh mum has pleaded with the Scottish Government after she had to sneak cannabis drugs into the country to help her son's serious medical condition.
Karen Gray, 46, has been fighting for help after her son Murray was diagnosed with a severe form of epilepsy in 2017.
Murray, 8, had begun to suffer with extreme seizures, one of which caused him to end up in a vegetative state in hospital.
In a desperate bid to help her son, Karen travelled to the Netherlands to buy cannabis based drugs that she hoped would help Murray's condition, reports the Daily Record.
When she returned, Karen was amazed at the difference the drugs made in her son, who was used to suffering up to 12 seizures each day.
Once he began to take the medicine, Murray's seizures dramatically decreased and has been able to return to school.
Now he has gone without a seizure for over a year, Karen has continued the fight for the government to help pay their medical costs, which can reach up to £1400 a month.
Karen and software engineer husband Stuart, 46, are now legally allowed to import the drug – but have to pay the private prescriptions costs, forcing them to rely on handouts and fundraisers.
Karen said: “He went from lying in bed rolling his eyes to the top of his head, not even knowing we were there, having seizure after seizure, to being back at Clermiston Primary School doing all the things boys of his age enjoy.”
“Northern Ireland are now funding a child’s cannabis oils, so I am asking Health Secretary Jeane Freeman to do the same.”
Karen joined a protest by the End Our Pain campaign at Holyrood yesterday to draw attention to the plight of children like Murray.
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “The decision on whether to prescribe a cannabis-based product is entirely one for clinicians on the specialist register.
"Ministers can never overrule a clinical judgment.”
