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This Man Used Hemp Oil On Live TV To Draw Attention To His Granddaughter's Health

He wants better access to the drug for the five-year-old, who has a rare form of epilepsy.
'This is a crime against humanity,' said Barry Lambert, showing before taking hemp oil.
Channel 7/Supplied
'This is a crime against humanity,' said Barry Lambert, showing before taking hemp oil.

A millionaire philanthropist has taken hemp oil on national television to highlight his granddaughter's struggle to get treatment for her epilepsy, as the five-year-old-girl begs prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and state premiers to make medicinal cannabis more accessible.

Barry Lambert is so frustrated with the lack of medicinal cannabis treatment for his granddaughter Katelyn's Dravet Syndrome, a rare form of epilepsy, he's funded medical trials in the U.S., Channel 7 reports.

"This is a crime against humanity and something has got to be done about it," he said of lack of access to the drug, before apparently using hemp oil on 7 News during an interview on the weekend.

A little girl's open letter to @TurnbullMalcolm begging him to make medicinal cannabis more accessible #7Newshttps://t.co/gcDOzgHucC

— 7 News Sydney (@7NewsSydney) January 22, 2017

Lambert has previously donated $34 million to medical cannabis research at Sydney University.

"Bad laws deserve to be broken. I am fully supportive. It is the right thing to do," he told the Australian Financial Review at the time.

The letter, published on the Greenlight foundation website, pleads with Turnbull and state premiers to speed up the process to make medical cannabis more widely available.

Australia is progressing towards conventional medical cannabis treatments, but each state has different laws governing use of the medicine, while other states are in various stages if medical trials.

"Cannabis has improved my condition enormously and my doctors and specialists have documented this. But no matter how hard we have tried we still cannot get a permit from the Health Department to obtain this medicine legally," Katelyn's letter says.

Luckily my Dad has been willing to break the law for me. He has been charged by the police and he promises that he will go to jail so I can have a better life.Katelyn's letter to the PM

"Your Governments have not told the public the truth about what it has done and this is why my grandparents are making sure this letter gets published on behalf of the thousands of Australians who are suffering today."

Last week Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he was advised people who require medicinal cannabis medical treatments can apply to the Therapeutic Goods Administration to import medicine.

But medicinal cannabis suppliers and users have told The Huffington Post Australia that many believe the process it too arduous.

In different states across the country, some medical cannabis suppliers have been raided by police.

Two weeks ago Jenny Hallam, a medicinal cannabis supplier in South Australia, was raided by police, while late last year the so-called Church of Ubuntu, and alleged medical cannabis supplier, was raided in NSW.

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