Medical cannabis experts and advocates, Hannah Deacon and Professor Mike Barnes, sit down with their guests to find out why cannabis matters to them.
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In July 2010, Callie Blackwell’s eldest son, Deryn, was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia and just 18 months later a rarer, more aggressive form of cancer, Langerhans Cell Sarcoma. After years of chemotherapy, radiotherapy and failed bone marrow transplants, 10 days after his 14th birthday, Deryn was given just three days to live. Then, after looking for alternatives to morphine to relieve some of his pain in those final days, Callie gave him illegal cannabis oil.
Five years on, Deryn is now a young adult and proudly declared himself ‘illegally alive’ to politicians in 2018. After seeing how the plant saved her son’s life, Callie has become one of the UK’s leading cannabis activists and advocates and continues to help others access treatments.
Callie shares her journey with Hannah and Mike, covering everything from how it feels to be told your child isn't going to make it, to experiencing mental health issues, learning to put up boundaries and finding a purpose and passion in the darkest moments of her life.
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Hannah helped change the law in 2018 after her successful campaign to enable her epileptic son Alfie Dingley to be legally prescribed cannabis medicines. She continues to help other families access medical cannabis in the UK. Hannah is also a director of the Medical Cannabis Clinicians Society and Maple Tree Consultants.
Mike obtained the first medical cannabis license in the UK for Alfie. He has been involved in the efforts to assist many others and is founder of the Medical Cannabis Clinicians Society along with Maple Tree Consultants.
Join Hannah and Mike as they discover how cannabis has changed their guest’s lives, what makes them tick, why they do what they do and what they think needs to improve for patients.
Forget graphs and commercial outlooks and expect open, honest conversations with those at the heart of the issue.
Edited by Sarah Sinclair
Artwork by Sophie Dinsdale