Proud mum says she became 'criminal' to treat son

Lyn Cleaver is a proud mum.

She's also a criminal and she's not afraid to admit it.

"I've gone from being mum, to being doctor, to being pharmacist and I'm a criminal for doing that," she told A Current Affair.

The 47-year-old says she has no other choice but to break the law.

Despite the fact regulated medicinal cannabis is legal in Australia, red tape and bureaucratic nonsense means she is forced to grow her own.

She uses the oil to treat her disabled son Jeremy, who battles severe and painful seizures linked to his epilepsy.

"I find it incredibly offensive that a bureaucrat or a politician would choose to stand between Jeremy and his doctor and his quality of life," she said.

"It's the first medicine we've been able to give Jeremy that comes side-effect free and that's incredible."

Lyn is one of many Australians who have struggled to access prescription medicinal cannabis since it was legalised more than two years ago.

She's applied for the product through the Tasmanian Government's Controlled Access Scheme, but has been rejected.

It's not surprising, considering only 10 Tasmanian patients have been given the green-light to access it.

After multiple pharmaceutical drugs were found to be ineffective, Newcastle mum Kate Bevan was approved for a prescription for her 12-year-old daughter, Evelin.

"My little darling, who really struggled to learn new concepts with maths, was able to come home and smash through her homework," she said.

"She went from being in the bottom two percentile for IQ through to the 47th percentile and that was just in nine months on the medication."

But the loving mother is forced to pay for the privilege of her daughter's happiness, with the prescription costing her around $450 a week.

Unlike Lyn's home-made oil, Kate's legal and regulated medicine does not contain the psychoactive component of the cannabis plant known as THC.

Melbourne pharmacist Jarrod McMaugh says those who can't access to the medicine and are thinking of breaking the law and growing their own cannabis need to practice extreme caution.

"These products are not legal and it means that you don't know if the consistency is there," he said.

"It could have contaminates, we don't know those things. Maybe they're very good quality, maybe they're not. It's hard to know that when it's not regulated."

The Government insists the current system is working, telling A Current Affair there has been a significant increase in successful applications under the Special Access Scheme - with more than 2200 approved in July this year.