Why are children still being denied life-changing ​medical cannabis on the NHS?

It’s time for the health secretary to personally intervene and close the huge gulf between what the government promised and what has been delivered

One source of relief for some suffering epilepsy is medicinal cannabis oil (Getty)

Optimism. You have to have it in politics. In fact, given the challenges people up and down the country have faced over these past 18 months, you might just say a little bit of optimism is what we all need right now.

In my years as an Edinburgh MP, it has been my constituents that have been the source of my optimism. Take Karen Gray’s story, for example.

Gray is the mother of a boy, Murray, who has a rare form of epilepsy that, unmedicated, causes him to suffer life-threatening seizures every single day. The one source of relief in Murray’s life comes from medicinal cannabis oil.

But like many families across the UK in a similar situation, however, the cost of medicinal cannabis oil is just staggering. For Murray, it can cost more than £1,000 per month on private prescription.

The strain and the financial burden is all on the families. It wasn’t supposed to be this way.

In 2018, after years of campaigning, the then-home secretary, Sajid Javid, agreed that medicinal cannabis would be legal for use in the United Kingdom.

No longer would parents, like Gray, be forced to watch their children suffer when they knew a treatment was available.

Finally, I thought, the government seems to get it. I am afraid to say, however, that’s just when progress stalled. It is heartbreaking.

That is why I am leading a debate in Westminster to remind the government that it is time to put their money where their mouth is.

You see, despite cannabis oil being legalised in 2018, experts say red tape guidelines make it almost impossible to get hold of the treatment on the NHS. Too many patients are therefore left alone, helpless and simply unable to afford it.

In fact, just three NHS prescriptions for the type of medical cannabis that is life-transforming for those like Alfie Dingley, who also suffers from epilepsy, have been issued since cannabis oil was legalised. Just three! Clearly, government guidelines are not empowering doctors to do the job they want to do and approve the medication their patients need.

As he did when he was home secretary, it is time Javid – now as health secretary – to personally intervene. It is time he closed the huge gulf between what the government promised and what the government has delivered.

This shouldn’t be a political football kicked between party politicians. I say this because I was one of 100 more than MPs from across the political divide – the Liberal Democrats, Conservatives, Labour and Green MPs – who, a little over a year ago, wrote to the former health secretary to demand action.

Nor is the debate any longer about proper use or otherwise of cannabis oil, the evidence that it is life-changing for those in need is already overwhelming. So, then, it appears that the debate comes down to the willingness of the government to pay up.

The clock is ticking, however. For many families, the Grays included, there will come a time when they cannot afford the medicine their loved ones need. We can no longer wait for the creaking bureaucracy to turn.

So, my appeal in Westminster will be straightforward. Until a more widespread solution for prescribing can be agreed, and it must, the government should save these families from the pain and pay for prescriptions.

Surely any person, when the quality of life for a child is on the line, would quickly come to the conclusion that paying up is the right thing to do.

I am optimistic, though. I am optimistic that Sajid Javid will step up and come to that conclusion. That, of course, is up to him.

Christine Jardine is the Liberal Democrat MP for Edinburgh West and vice-chair of the Medical Cannabis under Prescription APPG.