Eight years ago I joined a remarkable single mother called Charlotte Caldwell and her lively 12-year-old son on a trip to Canada that changed our drug laws.

Billy, an autistic boy suffering the torment of intractable epilepsy, became the first patient in Britain prescribed cannabis-based medication on the NHS to treat his seizures – but then the Home Office ordered their family doctor to stop doling out the drug or face disbarment.

I flew with the pair to Canada to obtain fresh supplies, only for their oil to be seized after they declared it on their return. The child’s condition deteriorated, leading to his hospitalisation – and the case provoked such furore that it forced the government into hasty legalisation of medical cannabis.

When I spoke to Charlotte last week, she told me Billy has gone three years without a seizure, which is extraordinary given the severity of his epilepsy, with hundreds of attacks a day. “You’d be blown away by his progress,” she said. “He gives you full-on eye contact, engages with people rather than withdraws, and his seizures are totally controlled. He is thriving – an amazing achievement when doctors said he wouldn’t live to see his first birthday.”

Clearly, her son offers profound witness to the case for medical cannabis. Yet when I ask about the reform that she sparked through her defiance as a mother determined to save a sick son, she was distraught over the outcome. “I am shocked and so very sad,” she replied.

I share her despair. The reform of medical cannabis that we unleashed has been a disaster, offering a textbook example........

© iNews