Epilepsy doesn't have an age requirement. However, in the United Kingdom, there sure is an age requirement for treatment.
According to The Guardian, a six-year-old boy with a rare form of epilepsy—who suffers from up to 30 seizures a day—was denied cannabis oil for medicinal purposes.
Why? No one is allowed cannabis oil, says a statement by the Home Office, a ministerial department in the UK's federal government. The agency stressed the drug could not be prescribed in good conscience to citizens. The government does not recognize cannabis as a legitimate medical treatment, and so, it continues to be regulated like a street drug.
The child's mother, Hannah Deacon, stressed that the dosage was minimal. While being treated in the Netherlands, doctors prescribed her son cannabis medication. Just three drops of cannabis oil were enough to help her son significantly reduce epileptic seizures. In fact, her son once went 24 whole days without a single seizure while regularly consuming cannabis under professional medical advisement.
However, the family does have a few advocates working in politics. BBC reports members of the all-party parliamentary group (APPD) on drug policy reform are urging the Home Office to help the boy gain access to his much-needed medicine.
There are many advantages to legalizing medical cannabis. In the United States, some states experienced drops in crime rates. It also has the power to boost tourism. However, the U.S. is, of course, no stranger to authoritarian control over cannabis, either. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has renewed an attack on legal marijuana earlier this year.
