The parents of 12-year-old Morgan Oultan are begging Nova Scotia to allow the legal use of cannabis oil so they can treat their child. She suffers from epilepsy, autism, as well as being born with brain abnormalities and cognitive impairment.
The parents had to admit that they couldn’t care for their daughter on their own, therefore put her in an options home in Hartmouth, NS. This was a very difficult decision for them to make “Words can not describe how it felt to realize we can no longer provide a safe environment for our daughter and the 24-hour care and supervision that she needs. You can’t help but feel like a failure as a parent,” mother Chantelle Outlan said.
Even though Morgan does have a prescription to use medical cannabis oil, she isn’t allowed to use it while under provincial care in the Department of Community Services program. “It seems the attention here is put on the fact that it’s cannabis, a controversial treatment, but it is a prescribed treatment like any of the other 17 medications she’s been on,” the mother noted. A spokesperson for the Department of Community Services commented, saying that “If you look at something like medical marijuana, what we’ve been informed by medical experts is that it’s contraindicative for children under the age of 18.”
The Oultan’s are pleading the government to reconsider it’s position on the issue, and they have the support of Advocating Parents of Nova Scotia, who agree the law should be changed. APNS president Brenda Hardiman says that “The Department of Community Services needs to take a more relaxed approach. This is a last option. All other options have been exhausted.”
The Department of Community Services has given the family three choices of how to proceed with their daughter’s medical care, but the parents say none of the choices will help to get her the only medicine that seems to work for her. “Ultimately, we hope we find something that helps her enough to come back home, and our family can be together again,” they said.