Review on medical use of cannabis

Health chiefs have been asked to give scientific advice on the medical use of cannabis to the Government.

The review was ordered after the mother of a six-year-old girl with epilepsy began a walk from Cork to Dublin in a bid to get Health Minister Simon Harris to take action.

Vera Twomey, mother of Ava, claims an oil derived from the cannabis plant, and available in a hemp shop, is helping to ease the hundreds of seizures Ava suffers from with the rare drug-resistant Dravet syndrome.