Cork mother urges State to act on medical cannabis

'If the people making decisions in those offices could see those children, it would break them'

Noreen O'Neill, who is calling for medical cannabis to be made available through the drug payment scheme and medical cads, with her son Michael. Picture: Jim Coughlan

Severely ill children are being left to suffer without their medication because the Government still has not allowed medical cannabis to be covered under the drug payment, medical card, or long-term illness schemes.

Noreen O’Neill, whose four-year-old son Michael is severely epileptic, said although she can technically be prescribed medicinal cannabis in Ireland, she cannot afford its €1,200 per month price tag and is buying in non-medical grade CBD oil from the UK instead for £400 (€443) per month.