Katy Thomas is the Auckland mother of a six-year-old boy who suffers from life-threatening seizures - and she is pleading with the Health Minister after authorities seized and destroyed his CBD oil.
Thomas recently opened up to 1 NEWS sharing her son Eddy’s story and struggle to get his CBD medication despite having a range of complex health needs, including severe epilepsy.
“He has not been doing that great simply because we had his CBD medication stopped at the border, not just once but, twice in the last month,” she said.
“One day without his CBD and the seizures come back.”
Eddy currently relies on imported medicinal cannabis medication from the UK.
On the first occasion, his medicine was confiscated and destroyed because the UK exporter forgot to include the prescription slip.
The next confiscation saw Medsafe destroy Eddy’s medicinal cannabis oil because the CBD level was a fraction too high for the New Zealand regulations.
Eddy’s condition has worsened following the series of confiscations and Thomas has reached a point of desperation.
“By this point, Eddy's having seizures every hour throughout the night” Thomas said.
Access to CBD medication remains a major barrier to patients in need despite a new law that was passed by the Government over two years ago with the intention to make medicinal cannabis more widely available.
As it currently stands, Thomas has sent a plea to Health Minister Andrew Little.
“We're still struggling, we're really struggling, we need his help.”
Little told 1 NEWS he has not yet been briefed on this particular case but expects Medsafe to follow the Government's rules.
Medsafe say they have been following Government guidelines.