Scottish ex-cop who smuggled medical cannabis for sick son’s epilepsy backed by Jackie Baillie as she runs for office

AN EX-cop who smuggled medical cannabis to treat her sick son is running for office as part of her bid to force the NHS to supply the drug.

Crusading mother Lisa Quarrell is aiming to become a labor councilor in East Kilbride after years of campaigning to help her epileptic son Cole, nine.

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She said: “I decided to stand as a local councilor because I saw with my own eyes how broken our system can be.

“When an already exhausted parent of a child with a disability has to struggle to access their child’s most basic needs, something is seriously wrong.

“I hope to use my position as a platform to help others.”

Even though cannabis was approved for medical treatment in 2018, it is still not available on the NHS.

Mum-of-two Lisa, 41, now pays £1,300 a month for a private prescription to suppress Cole’s seizures, and has shelled out around £80,000 to date.

Lisa, who will be held in East Kilbride Central South on May 6, revealed in 2019 how she smuggled cannabis oil into the UK from the Netherlands to help her son Cole Thomson who was aged up to 16 seizures per day.

Lisa was previously a police officer, but she left the police to take care of Cole.

Earlier this year, she told how infuriating it was that an NHS trial in Glasgow was handing out free heroin to drug addicts while denying cannabis oil to people with epilepsy.

Cole suffers from a form of drug-resistant epilepsy that causes seizures in half of his brain, but the seizures subsided after he started taking cannabis oil.

We told in 2019 how she risked prosecution when cops launched an investigation into her televised admission that she had smuggled her into Scotland.

She was later told that she would not be charged.

Jackie Baillie, deputy leader of the Scottish Labor Party – who has backed Cole’s campaign to make medical cannabis available to children with epilepsy – said: “I am delighted that Lisa is standing as a Labor councilor in East Kilbride.

“She is a determined, tenacious activist who is not afraid to stand up and make her voice heard.

“I think she would be a great advisor.”

The Scottish government has said it is supporting more clinical trials to help gather evidence on the use of cannabis as a treatment.

He said this year that although specialist doctors have been allowed to prescribe medical cannabis products on the NHS since 2018, “most have concerns about their safety and effectiveness and the lack of strong evidence on their use. , especially the long-term side effects”.

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