Cole Thomson’s mum Lisa has raised £1000 a month to pay for his life saving cannabis oil, which is now legal to use but is not available on the NHS.
A mum whose son needs cannabis oil to ease his epileptic seizures claims he has been “forgotten by our Government”.
Cole Thomson suffers when he has severe convulsions and uses imported cannabis oil to ease his discomfort.
His mum Lisa Quarrell has to raised £1000 a month to pay for the life-saving drug, which is now legal to use but is not available on the NHS.
Scotland’s Health Minister Jeane Freeman made it clear this week that NHS funds would not be used to pay for private prescriptions.
Ex-police officer Lisa had been smuggling the oil medicine in from the Netherlands before receiving a private prescription for it.
Now, she is facing a struggle to pay for the monthly prescription as lockdown has brought a halt to fundraising efforts. She said: “With lockdown in place, all fundraisers have been cancelled.
“I’ve since been told by our Health Minister Jeane Freeman that because I chose to go private, it would be improper use of NHS funds to pay for a private prescription. That is ridiculous. I was told Cole could die, so going private was a necessity.”
Lisa has been tirelessly campaigning for an NHS-funded prescription, but to no avail.
Seven-year-old Cole has been taking oil for the past year thanks to an East Kilbride-based importer. Since taking it, he has suffered just one small seizure in 12 months.
Now, as Scotland sees its first legal cannabis farm for medicinal use being set up, and emergency legislation set to be brought in amid the outbreak to deliver the oil to NHS patients through the post, Lisa insists Cole has been forgotten about by the only people with the power to save him.
She added: “Why should he be forgotten about by our Government and NHS because they have not bothered to research the medicine keeping him alive?”
The Government last week published legislation which would allow patients to access controlled drugs during the pandemic from pharmacies without a prescription.
But as it applied to “ongoing” NHS treatment only, it would exclude almost all medical cannabis users.
