NSW mother Cherie holding a picture of her daugher, who can no longer get medical marijuana Photo: ABC News
ACT Chief Minister Katy Gallagher has defended her decision to report to authorities the case of a two-and-a-half-year-old NSW girl receiving medical marijuana to treat a rare genetic disorder.
The girl’s mother Cherie told ABC Radio’s Hack program on Wednesday that her daughter’s supplier, who lived in the ACT, had been raided by Australian Federal Police after she wrote to Ms Gallagher explaining how cannabis oil treatment was helping Abbey, who suffers serious seizures and developmental delays as a result of the disorder CDKL5.
Cherie said she started administering the freely provided cannabis oil to her daughter without doctor’s knowledge after they told her Abbey would most likely die.
Doctor Michael Freelander, who has treated Abbey since she was born, told the program Abbey wasn’t expected to live longer than a few months but the treatment had seen her improve enough to go home from hospital.