Parents and carers of children with epilepsy have been fighting a battle for years to win the right for them to be treated with medical cannabis.
While certain medicines made with the drug are now legal, some remain nigh on impossible to obtain via the NHS.
Cannabis oil – which has been shown to help children with the most severe form of epilepsy – can cost more than £1000 a month for parents who resort to buying it on the private market.
Although medicines containing THC like cannabis oil can be prescribed in the UK, doctors are largely refusing to do so, saying there is not enough evidence they are safe or work.
It has now emerged there have been no new NHS prescriptions for full-extract cannabis oil since the medicinal use of the drug was legalised more than 18 months ago.
But listening to parents, it’s clear the substance can make a huge difference in terms of quality of life for some youngsters.
Scots mum Lisa Quarrell says the cannabis oil that she buys for her epileptic son has saved his life.
In May, she was told that NHS Scotland would still not pay for the cannabis oil drug. It’s simply not good enough.
These drugs have changed lives for the better and they must be made available more widely to parents.
Let Scots decide
The row over who gets what powers back from Brussels and the so-called “power grab” of state aid funding by Boris Johnson is already well-worn territory for those who follow the tug-of-war between Edinburgh and London.
The Scottish Government believes it and not Westminster is best placed to distribute the replacement for EU structural funding after Brexit.
And it is right.
Holyrood is far more able to determine which Scottish sectors are deserving of state aid than London.
Devolution is all about taking decision-making as close to the people affected as possible.
Let Scotland decide where the cash goes to help soften the blow of the Tories disastrous policies.
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