'I break the law to buy my child's life-saving cannabis drug'

Until recently, Jane would have described her family as normal, law-abiding citizens. But that changed last summer, when the full-time mum started illegally buying cannabis oil online for her daughter, Annie.

The 10-year-old has a severe, rare type of epilepsy, resistant to conventional treatments.

At her worst, Annie was admitted to hospital 22 times in 22 months. Doctors warned Jane there was a very real prospect of her daughter dying from a seizure.

Jane says she doesn't want to break the law - but the severity of Annie's condition is such that she doesn't care. We have changed their names to protect their identities.

"[Annie] deserves to be happy. She deserves to have this quality of life," Jane explains. "And if I'm breaking the law by giving her this quality of life, am I wrong or is the law wrong?"

The family cannot afford a private prescription, which costs approximately £2,000 each month from one of the many clinics that have been established since the legalisation of so-called full-spectrum medical cannabis - which includes the psychoactive ingredient THC.

File on 4 Investigates has spoken to several parents, including Jane, who are going to extreme lengths to obtain these medicinal cannabis oils to treat their severely epileptic children.

As well as sourcing the drugs illegally online, some are regularly smuggling it into the UK from the Netherlands. It can be bought there legally, but it is illegal to bring it back into the UK without a licence.

Medicinal cannabis was legalised in the UK in November 2018 following a high-profile campaign - but full-spectrum medicines, which the parents we spoke to are sourcing, have not been officially licensed.

Both the NHS and private clinics can prescribe medicine that hasn't been licensed - but in the NHS's case, it is rare. In the past six years, fewer than five patients have been prescribed full-spectrum cannabis oil on the NHS.

One cannabis-based oil has been licensed for NHS treatment for epilepsy, but this is based on just the plant's CBD compound - often found in products sold in health food shops. Many families say this drug does not contain all the compounds they believe play a crucial role in preventing seizures - including the psychoactive ingredient THC.

Jane spent two years fighting for an NHS prescription for the unlicensed full-spectrum medicine. Eventually a review body turned her daughter down.

Unable to get it on the NHS, she now gives Annie 0.4 milligrams of illicit full-spectrum cannabis oil twice a day.

It costs her £55 a bottle and is posted by an online supplier - significantly cheaper than a private legal prescription. Both Jane and the supplier are breaking the law.

Since taking the oil, Jane says Annie's seizures have "dramatically reduced". "They are a lot less severe and they don't last as long."

But this approach is not without risks. "Sarah" from Dorset, who bought cannabis oil for her severely epileptic four-year-old daughter, says parents are "potentially playing with fire".

After deciding to try it on herself first, Sarah says it made her feel really unwell. "I thought I was going to pass out."

Sarah has since raised enough money to pay for a legal private prescription for full-spectrum unlicensed cannabis medicine and says she has seen a big improvement in her daughter's epileptic seizures.

People like Jane are turning to unlicensed cannabis dealers because they can be much cheaper than going to private UK clinics.

One dealer, who we are calling Steve, told us he replicates pharmaceutically-manufactured drugs and gives the oils to parents for free or a donation - in what he calls a compassion programme.

When we challenged him on the potential dangers of supplying these illegal oils as medicines, Steve told us each one was tested in his laboratory.

''We have the ability to know what every single molecule, every single compound in every single bottle is in there," he said. "We're not reckless in what we're doing."

He didn't appear concerned about the prospect of being prosecuted.

"If you want to send me to prison for stopping children having seizures, go ahead, good luck with that."