A mum has told how police and social services were called after a school in Bury St Edmunds refused to give her epileptic daughter a cannabis oil prescription.

East Anglian Daily Times: Indie-Rose Clarry, 5, has a severe form of epilepsy and parents Anthony and Tannine from Clare are campaigning to get cannabis oil legalised PICTURE: Andy AbbottIndie-Rose Clarry, 5, has a severe form of epilepsy and parents Anthony and Tannine from Clare are campaigning to get cannabis oil legalised PICTURE: Andy Abbott (Image: Archant)

Tannine Montgomery's five-year-old daughter Indie-Rose Clarry suffers from Dravet syndrome, a form of epilespy, and currently takes regular doses of cannabis oil to treat her seizures.

Indie_rose's medication was prescribed by a private doctor but staff at the Riverwalk School, a special educational needs school in Bury St Edmunds which Indie-Rose has been attending since September, refuse to administer the medication.

Instead, Ms Montgomery, 30, is forced to makes the 45-mile round trip from the family's home in Clare to ensure she gets her lunchtime dose each day.

The mother of two is now challenging that decision, saying the school administers other private prescriptions and should also give Indie-Rose hers.

East Anglian Daily Times: Indie-Rose Clarry and brother Greyson PICTURE: Andy AbbottIndie-Rose Clarry and brother Greyson PICTURE: Andy Abbott (Image: Archant)

Ms Montgomery obtains the cannabis oil from the Netherlands using the prescription written by her UK doctor.

Although it is illegal to import such medicines without a special licence, she said UK Border Force officials have let her into the country with the drug.

Ms Montgomery said: "Their tests show it does not have a high enough THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) concentration for them to confiscate it and so they let us through.

"To obtain a special import licence would cost us £4,500 per month as opposed to the £1,500 we pay for the drug at the moment."

East Anglian Daily Times: Indie-Rose Clarry started at the Riverwalk School, Bury St Edmunds in September PICTURE: Andy AbbottIndie-Rose Clarry started at the Riverwalk School, Bury St Edmunds in September PICTURE: Andy Abbott (Image: Archant)

Nevertheless, the Suffolk school, who have reportedly confiscated the oil and contacted the police and social services, refuses to administer the drug, saying its own policy is that it must come from a UK pharmacy.

Ms Montgomery said: "They just kept telling me it is illegal. It is not the case, my doctors have written to them. They just keep coming back and saying it's illegal. I want to go back to work but I'm spending most of my day going to school to administer the medicine.

"We have a prescription and the school will administer other private prescriptions but not ours.

"The idea that it has to be from a UK pharmacy is ridiculous."

East Anglian Daily Times: Mum Tannine says they have been allowed through border control with the medication as the cannabis level is too low for it to be confiscated PICTURE: Andy AbbottMum Tannine says they have been allowed through border control with the medication as the cannabis level is too low for it to be confiscated PICTURE: Andy Abbott (Image: Archant)

Peter Carroll, from the End Our Pain campaign, said: "I think this appalling case shows one awful part of the barrage of trauma that we pile on to the families of these vulnerable children who need access to their medication that is now legal."

Home Secretary Sajid Javid announced in 2018 that doctors are able to prescribe cannabis medicinal products, including for severe epilepsy.

However, parents have found they cannot easily access the medicines without paying thousands of pounds for an import licence.

In addition, many doctors will not prescribe them, citing a lack of official guidance on the issue.

Indie-Rose uses the same cannabis oil as eight-year-old Alfie Dingley, whose mother Hannah lobbied the Government to allow the use of cannabis oil to treat his epilepsy.

A Riverwalk School spokesman said: "We fully sympathise with the parents. However, Riverwalk School will not administer any medication to pupils which has not been prescribed by a doctor in the UK and filled by a UK pharmacy.

"This is in accordance with our school's medical policy."

Ms Montgomery said that before starting the cannabis oil, Indie-Rose would have 40 potentially life-threatening seizures per month, accompanied by panic attacks as other anti-epileptic drugs failed to work.

Now Indie-Rose has around seven seizures per month and no longer suffers from panic attacks.

Ms Montgomery said: "She still has a difficult life but if you had 40 seizures down to seven to nine a month and the rest of it has gone, that is a quality of life you didn't have before.

"There is no argument that this is saving her life and giving her a life."

Suffolk County Council, the authority responsible for Riverwalk School, said: "School leaders, including governors, set policy regarding how medication is managed in a school setting.

"Schools and teachers are not contractually obliged to give medication or to supervise a pupil taking it.

"It is a voluntary activity, however, an agreement can be reached between the parents and the school to support a child's medical needs, in accordance with the school's own policy."