A MOTHER fighting to get access to medicinal cannabis for her son has been forced to return home from The Netherlands after attempts to get treatment were unsuccessful.

Emma Smith, from Swain House, took her five-year-old son Oscar to The Netherlands to try and get cannabis treatment for his epilepsy.

Oscar has myoclonic astatic epilepsy - also known as Doose syndrome - and suffers up to 300 seizures a day.

Mrs Smith, 34, and two other families travelled across the North Sea to try and get treatment using cannabis oil, but were unable to get the support of doctors to prescribe the drug to the boys.

It was partly put down the other medication the boys are already on, meaning neurologists would not support using cannabis oil.

The families flew back home yesterday following news the two other boys will be getting licences to use cannabis oil, and Mrs Smith hopes Oscar will get the go-ahead soon as well.

She said: “While it;’s not the result we wanted in The Netherlands, now we are home I will be pushing for Oscar to get a licence as well.

“The other boys have the same condition as Oscar and have been told they are getting licences.

“It has been an eventful trip to say the least, the boys were taking it in turn to have seizures so have been keeping us on our toes but it has been brilliant.

“Although we didn’t get the outcome we hoped for out there it’s been a massive positive that doctors in the UK are starting to prescribe cannabis.

“Oscar is doing better than he was last week, but we don’t know how long it is going to be until we can get a licence. I’ve asked doctors to ask neurology in Leeds to ask for one for him.

“We have had loads of support and we are eternally grateful for the support we have had, it has been overwhelming.”

Using cannabis products to treat epilepsy hit the headlines last month when the Government intervened to grant Billy Caldwell a 20-day licence to use cannabis oil.

On Tuesday, Hannah Deacon, a mother of a boy with epilepsy, was allowed to pass through London City Airport carrying a five-month supply of the banned drug from Amsterdam.

Licences for her son, Alfie Dingley, to be treated using cannabis were granted by the Home Office on 19 June after a long-running battle.

A review was commissioned last month by the Home Secretary Sajid Javid into the medicinal use of cannabis after a series of appeals by parents.

He stressed, however, the Class B drug will remain illegal for recreational use.