Success stories
Three topical issues have grabbed public attention during this beautiful summer. The first was the life-affirming campaign by a County Tyrone mother Charlotte Caldwell to have cannabis oil for medicinal use legalised in the UK. Health has been newsworthy this month as the UK marks the 70 th anniversary of the foundation of the National Health Service (5 July 1948). By coincidence, Jeanette Lewis’s informative article in Exploring Retirement [i] has reported about Canada’s intention to legalise recreational cannabis this autumn. She explains that the THC cannabis chemical produces intoxicating effects, whereas its CBD chemical is non-intoxicating. CBD produces medicinal benefits, including for the treatment of nausea after chemotherapy, for epileptic seizures and for arthritis. Public sympathy was aroused following the confiscation by customs officials in London of CBD oils which Mrs Caldwell had purchased in Canada. In the absence of the oils, her auti