Pubdate: Sun, 12 Jan 2014
Source: Sunday Mail (Australia)
Copyright: 2014 Queensland Newspapers
Contact: http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/editorial/letter
Website: http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/sundaymail
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/435
Author: Annika Smethurst
Page: 2

I'M SO GLAD I GAVE MY KID DRUGS

AN EPILEPTIC girl who was having up to 60 seizures a day and who was
given only months to live has made a miraculous recovery since her mum
started giving her liquid cannabis which was made in Nimbin.

Doctors at one of Australia's leading hospitals have acknowledged the
"remarkable improvements" in the girl's condition one year after she
started taking the drug.

But health representatives have warned families not to use medicinal
marijuana, saying it remains illegal across Australia.

Cheri O'Connell gives her eight-year-old daughter Tara a liquid form
of medicinal marijuana known as THC-A - posted to her in the mail - to
treat her severe epilepsy.

Ms O'Connell's claims of her daughter's miracle recovery, backed by
the peak medical body in her home state of Victoria, have fuelled
calls for clinical trials to test the effectiveness of medicinal marijuana.

"She was dying, she could barely walk or talk, was unable to toilet
herself and slept a similar cycle to a newborn," Ms O'Connell said.

"We had basically been told that there was not too much more we could
do, just to take her home and to love her and maybe if you are lucky
she'll get to nine.

"We didn't see her having a future at all," she said.

"Now, well she is never going to be the kid that holds a job and goes
off and does everything because it's too late, the damage has been
done."

Tara required a wheelchair, struggled to walk and had limited
speech.

In January last year, her desperate parents started her on a cannabis
mix, after a cocktail of prescribed medicines failed to stop the seizures.

One year on Tara is a bubbly young girl and her wheelchair is
collecting dust.

A recent neuropsychological assessment report by a leading doctor at
Austin Health said Tara's overall cognitive performances had
"significantly improved".

"Since commencing medical cannabis (together with the cessation of her
seizures), there is a convincing clinical history of improvements in
all facets of her presentation as reported by her mother," senior
clinical neuropsychologist Dr Silvana Micallef wrote.

An increased appetite and fatigue were the only recorded
side-effects.

The medical-grade marijuana is administered orally through drops under
the tongue. and manufactured to be low in THC, the compound that
produces a "high".

The O'Connells have also started son Sean, 11, who has a less severe
form of epilepsy, on liquid cannabis.

Mrs O'Connell is calling for research into the drug which she claims
has saved her daughter's life and is being used by at least 70
children across Australia.

Kay McNeice, spokeswoman for the federal Health Department, said: "The
manufacture, possession, sale or use of any form of cannabis is
prohibited under state and territory drugs and poisons legislation."
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MAP posted-by: Matt