HEALTH Secretary Shona Robison has agreed to meet a campaigning mother who wants a cannabis-based treatment to be made available to her son the NHS.
Five-year-old Murray Grey has a rare form of epilepsy and can suffer up to 100 seizures a day. His mother, Karen, believes cannabidiol, an oil derivative from the cannabis plant, could be used to treat him. She has launched an online petition as part of her campaign, and Robison has agreed to meet her after her case was raised in the Scottish Parliament by Edinburgh Western LibDem MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton.
Grey explains in the petition that her son has Doose Syndrome, also known as myoclonic astatic epilepsy, which she says means he “lives with up to 100 seizures a day, and spends most of his life lying in a hospital bed shaking”.
Robison said: “I have every sympathy for Murray Grey and his family and of course I would be happy to meet with them.”
However, she added: Regulation for the licensing, safety and efficacy of medicines is currently reserved to the UK Government and is the responsibility of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which operates on a UK-wide basis.
“All medicinal products must be fully tested and researched before they can be licensed by either the MHRA or the European Medicines Agency. Currently there are no cannabidiol products that have obtained a licence.”
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