Join medical cannabis industry experts and co-founders of Maple Tree Consultants, Hannah Deacon and Professor Mike Barnes, as they sit down with leading voices from the sector to explore how they found themselves in the world of medicinal cannabis and why it matters to them.
What’s Your Why looks beyond commercial forecasts to make space for open and honest conversations with the people at the heart of this emerging and ever-evolving industry.
In the latest season of What's Your Why, launching in November 2023, you'll hear from individuals across the medical cannabis sector on what drives them to make a difference in this emerging sector.
Episode 1 - Emma Matthews: What’s Your Why?
Emma’s son Louis was 13-years-old when he had his first seizure. He was later diagnosed with a rare genetic condition which causes severe, treatment-resistant epilepsy. As Emma explains in more detail in this episode, Louis was prescribed dozens of different antiepileptic drugs, all of which failed to control his seizures, some of them even exacerbating them. In 2017 Emma and her family moved to Holland so that Louis could access legal medicinal cannabis treatment.
Now 19, Louis has been seizure free for over two years and is excelling in a Fine Art degree. But since the family moved back to London in 2022, Louis has been refused a prescription for medical cannabis through the NHS, leaving the future of his access to what has been a life-changing treatment, uncertain.
Emma shares their heart breaking story with the Maple Tree podcast to highlight the challenges they - and so many other patients - have faced in accessing Medical Cannabis in the UK, despite it being legal to prescribe since 2018.
Listen to episode 1 below or subscribe via your usual podcast app.