Home Office considering cannabis oil trial to help child with rare condition

Government authorities are reportedly considering allowing a medical trial involving the use of cannabis oil to aid a 6-year-old boy with a severe and rare form of epilepsy.

Medical marijuana on display at a dispensary in Los Angeles, California. Picture: Getty

The family of Alfie Dingley, from Warwickshire in the Midlands, have been campaigning to allow their son to legally take the drug.

Ministers have previously turned down the family’s requests for Alfie to take the drug, which they say decreases the severity and frequency of his seizures, which occur an average of 25 times a day.

Now, however, the Home Office has said that they are exploring every option in relation to the case, with one option under consideration a three-month trial led by the youngster’s doctors.

Alfie previously took a cannabis-based medication during a trip to the Netherlands last year, where the drug is legal.

Alfie’s mother, Hannah Deacon, told the BBC: “We’re very positive that [the Home Office] have given us this lifeline. I think they see what a serious issue we have here.”

She said Alfie’s seizures are “the worst thing I’ve ever experienced in my life.”

“I’m his mum, I’m not a politician, not an activist, I’m just a mum tired of seeing him suffer and I’ve found something that helps him.

“It’s his human right to be well.”