The BBC Reports….
MPs and peers are calling for funding for families forced to buy medicinal cannabis for their children privately.
The treatment was made legal with a prescription in 2018 for those with an “exceptional clinical need”.
But a cross-party letter from 100 politicians says only three NHS prescriptions have been given out since, forcing families to spend thousands on private treatments.
The government said it sympathised with those facing hard-to-treat conditions.
The change in law came about after the cases of Alfie Dingley and Billy Caldwell, who had both been denied access to cannabis oil to treat their rare forms of epilepsy.
The Home Office later granted the boys licences to access the treatment.
Over two years have passed since the law changed, but the All Parliamentary Group on Access to Medical Cannabis Under Prescription said dozens of families were not seeing the benefit.
In a letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the group’s chair, Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi, said instead, parents were having to fund raise up to £2,000 a month to pay for the treatment privately.
“In any circumstance, this is a severe financial burden for families already having to cope with very sick children and Covid restrictions have rendered most fund-raising impossible,” she added.
“The reasons for the lack of NHS prescriptions appear to be complex and will inevitably take time to resolve. However, the families to which we refer simply do not have time.
“They are emotionally and financially broken and their children are at risk of being without their life-transforming medicine within weeks.”
Backed by 100 MPs and peers from all parties, Ms Antoniazzi appealed to the PM to “grant access to some form of compassionate funding until the wider issues can be resolved”.