Cannabis Medicine Returned to U.K. Family After Seizure
[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]O[/dropcap]n June 15, the family of a young girl had their cannabis medicine was returned to them after it had been confiscated from an airport in London, England.
Teagan Appleby is only nine years old, and she suffers from a disorder that causes her to undergo numerous seizures. The most recent incident occurred on June 6, when Border Force officials confiscated three months’ worth of cannabis medicine from Gatwick in London. Emma, Teagan’s mother, was returning from the Netherlands with medicine for her daughter. The confiscated cannabis was valued at about £2,500.
This issue reportedly left her “exhausted and drained,” since she had already experienced cannabis confiscation of her daughter’s medicine during the previous plan ride as well.
The BBC notes that Emma’s mother previously spent £4,600 of crowdfunding she received to visit a pharmacy in the Netherlands back in April. Upon returning home through Southend Airport in Essex, London, she was told that she needed to obtain a special prescription from a consultant in order to get the medicine returned to her, as well as an import license.
“All I want is the best for my daughter—medicinal cannabis has transformed her life,” Emma’s mother told the BBC. “Teagan’s seizure rate has plummeted from as many as 300 seizures a day to now maybe just a couple a day, and only when she is sleeping. But I am being forced to raise thousands of pounds to pay privately for it, and to pay hundreds of pounds more to go abroad to actually get it and then fight all the bureaucracy to get it through customs. I plead from the bottom of my heart to Health Secretary Matt Hancock and the NHS to sort this out. For the love of God, parents like me just can’t take much more either financially or emotionally. We are at breaking point and no-one seems to be getting a grip on this.”
Fortunately Teagan’s medicine was returned to her, but future improvement to the country’s medical cannabis laws could help families have an easier time in obtaining medicine for their children.
