illegally alive?

First, they came for the Stoners, and I did not speak out,
Because I am not a Stoner

Then they came for the cannabis growers, and I did not speak out,
Because I do not grow cannabis

Then they came for the sick children, and I did not speak out,
Because my child is not sick

Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak for me *

In the above video, Mother Tannine Montgomery talks about her young daughter Indie-Rose who suffers from the severe form of epilepsy Dravet syndrome, a debilitating and life-threatening condition. 

Dravet syndrome  is characterized by high epilepsy-related premature mortality and a marked young age at death, accounting for nearly half of all deaths.”

Due to the failure of the conventional treatments available in the UK to successfully treat Indie’s Dravet Syndrome, Tannine conducted her own research into alternative treatments for complex health issues. Her research indicated that cannabis whole-plant extracts containing THC could be an effective treatment.

Unable to access whole plant extracts in the UK and supported by her Doctor, earlier this year Indie’s mum was forced to take her ill daughter to the Netherlands where a Doctor prescribed her Bedrolite®, a 1% THC and 9% CBD preparation. So far the family has paid in excess of £8,000 for Indie’s treatment, all raised by friends, family, and supporters.

In her video (above) Tannine reports that since administering Bedrolite® containing THC Indie’s seizures have reduced dramatically, and there has been a significant and marked improvement in her condition.

The Government recently announced:

“For the first time in the UK, expert doctors have been given the option to legally issue prescriptions for cannabis-based medicines”

 

 

Incorrect: In my article Cannabis oil treating epilepsy 173 years ago, I report on how Dr. William O’Shaugnessey used a preparation of cannabis to treat a severe case of epilepsy in a young child.

The case of Infantile Convulsions, 1843

“A female infant, forty days old, the child of Mr. and Mrs. J. L., of Calcutta, on the 10th of September had a slight attack of convulsions, which recurred chiefly at night for about a fortnight, and for which the usual purgatives-warm baths and a few doses of calomel and chalk-were given without effect. On that day the attacks were almost unceasing, and amounted to regular tetanic paroxysms. The child had, moreover, completely lost appetite and was emaciating rapidly”

Indie’s parents have been notified that her ‘special license’ for Bedrolite® is to be replaced by a prescription for Epidiolex (if GW Pharma will issue it to her on ‘compassionate’ grounds); Epidiolex is an orally administered 10% CBD preparation produced by UK company GW Pharma. 

Side effects of Epidiolex can include:

• decreased appetite
• diarrhoea
• transaminase elevations
• fatigue
• feeling unwell
• weakness/lethargy
• rash
• difficulty sleeping (insomnia)
• infections

RT recently reported:

“The cannabis for Epidiolex is being provided from a 45-acre cannabis farm in the UK operated by British Sugar, whose links to Tory ministers were exposed in February when it was reported that Managing Director of British Sugar Paul Kenward was the husband of then-drugs minister Victoria Atkins MP, leading to accusations of “deception” by medical cannabis advocates.

The cannabis farm run by British Sugar is in Norfolk, less 30 minutes drive from Tannines’s home in Suffolk.

The hypocrisy and deception go much further; RT also reported that the PM’s husband Philip May is employed by the Capital Group, a major shareholder in GW Pharma who manufacture Epidiolex.

The prime minister’s husband, Philip May, works as a relationship manager for Capital Group. This is an investment firm known for owning stock in weapons giants BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin.

GW Pharmaceuticals cannabis is “readily available for patients and for sale around the world, whilst keeping everyone else’s cannabis strictly controlled.”

Is the shambles of Brexit a distraction to enable these financial shenanigans?

Here in the UK children are dying, and people who cannot access cannabinoids from the NHS are being sent to prison for cultivating a few cannabis plants in their homes while Tory Ministers and MP’s make millions.

Some UK cannabis campaign groups have admitted receiving funding for their support for the Canadian pharmaceutical company Tilray:

Jonathan Liebling – Political Director of United Patients Alliance reports from a meeting with GW Pharma that;

“I had a great time getting to know them rather better (GW Pharma). Whilst they may not be our friends; they are not our enemy either and moreover, they are the UKs ONLY Pharmaceutical Company with an interest in cannabis in the rapidly growing global pharmaceutical industry. It may well be in the UKs interests, especially post #brexit to have them succeed”

We look forward to our next coffee!

 

Clark French, 100% shareholder of UPA Limited is celebrating the news that his funders Tilray’s share price has increased over 500% in the past 2 months by moving into a new apartment and next week he is off to the USA.

 

Perhaps French and Liebling will donate their bonuses to the fund started by Tannine for her Daughter’s whole plant preparation? Or maybe Liebling will ask GW Pharma to show some ‘compassion’ at their next coffee meeting.

 

 

Jeff Ditchfield

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• “First they came …” is a poem written by the German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller(1892–1984). It is about the cowardice of German intellectuals following the Nazis‘ rise to power and subsequent purging of their chosen targets, group after group. Many variations and adaptations in the spirit of the original have been published in the English language. It deals with themes of persecution, guilt and responsibility.