Thursday 19 February 2015

NEWS: Parents’ plead for legal medical marijuana to help sick son

AN epileptic boy turned blue and nearly died after his medical marijuana supply ran out.

Cooper Wallace’s parents are desperately urging the Government to fast-track legalising the drug, to save their son and thousands more patients who claim to rely on cannabis.

Mernda couple Cassie Batten and Rhett Wallace have joined calls for an amnesty so they can avoid police prosecution until the Government changes the law later this year. “It’s great that governments are trying to come to a resolution but it’s still months away,” Ms Batten said from Cooper’s bedside at the Northern Hospital in Epping.
The boy’s parents said they would be willing to undergo strict drug testing to ensure the cannabis was being used only for medical purposes. They had been treating Cooper with cannabis oil, which they claimed lessened the severity of fits and relieved pain caused by his disabilities. But six weeks ago the daily seizures returned when their supply ran out. Their pot doctor doesn’t have enough of the specially bred plants to meet demands nationwide.

Ms Batten said that she watched her four-year-old lose consciousness and turn blue as he began having seizures late on Tuesday. “He wasn’t himself — we knew something wasn’t right,” Ms Batten said. “He started to have smaller fevers and then he wasn’t coming out of them, he was unresponsive ... he was going blue.” Premier Daniel Andrews has promised to legalise the drug. But families will have to wait until at least August, when the Victorian Law Reform Commission reports on how the law could be changed.

 Until then, the drug remains banned. Ms Batten said families were prepared to grow their own but needed a guarantee from authorities that they would not be punished. “We need the law changed now, we can’t wait,” she said.

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