Pubdate: Thu, 24 Mar 2016
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: Tiffany Crawford
Page: A10

CANNABIS OIL TREATMENT FOR CHILDREN HELD BY OFFICIALS AT CANADIAN BORDER

A Summerland family is desperate to access their shipment of
Charlotte's Web, a medical marijuana oil made especially for children,
but it has been held up at the Canadian border.

Elaine Nuessler, who advocates for the use of cannabis oil treatments
for kids with seizures, is terrified that her granddaughter,
four-year-old Kyla Williams, will suffer hundreds of seizures a day if
she doesn't get the cannabidiol (CBD) oil, which the family has been
importing for more than a year.

The girl has become the poster child in B.C. for children who have
shown remarkable recovery using Charlotte's Web, a cannabis oil low in
THC (the psychoactive compound) but high in CBD, the non-psychoactive
component found to help with some types of seizures. The organic
product is manufactured in Colorado as a dietary supplement.

Kyla went from more than 300 seizures a day to virtually none, and
relies solely on Charlotte's Web instead of pharmaceutical drugs to
treat her seizures, but the family's shipment has been flagged at the
border.

Reached at home in Summerland on Wednesday, Nuessler was overcome with
emotion, as she described how worried families with young epileptic
children are. She said several people have contacted her to say that
their shipments have also been held at the border.

She believes that border officials have not done proper testing, and
are holding it because there are small amounts of THC. She said it is
so frustrating because Canadians have the right to legal medical marijuana.

She said although she has received dozens of offers from medical
marijuana producers in Canada, she believes there is no other product
that is as consistent in quality and as low in THC for children as
Charlotte's Web.

There are some medical marijuana products in Canada designed for
children, but Nuessler said it is very problematic for families to
start "experimenting" again with a new product because they don't know
how their child will respond, and they have dealt with so many
inconsistent products in the past.

"These children cannot be without this oil. It's a terrible situation.
Why is medical cannabis still such a threat?" she said. "I just wish
the border officials could see the faces of the children they are
affecting," she said, her voice shaking.

"Charlotte's Web has three years of expertise in making children's CBD
oil. This is a hybrid that is so great for kids. It is clean and
organic," added Nuessler, who has spent months in Colorado researching
the product.

Kathy Liu, a spokeswoman for the Canada Border Service Agency, said
under Canadian law, "it is illegal to import or export drugs,
including marijuana and its derivatives, whether medicinal or not."

Liu has yet to respond to questions about how many shipments of
Charlotte's Web have been stopped at the border, and how the product
is being tested to determine if it is an illegal drug.

Nuessler argues that the product, which in the U.S. is labelled as a
dietary supplement, is so low in THC that it should not be considered
an illegal drug, and she wants to know how it is being tested at the
border.
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MAP posted-by: Matt