Dad arrested for giving cannabis oil to daughter with cancer

(CREDIT: REUTERS/JASON REDMOND)

An Australian father was arrested earlier this month for providing his two-year-old daughter, Rumer, with cannabis oil. 

The toddler was diagnosed with Stage 4 neuroblastoma, and her father insists the hash oil helped her condition. 

Adam Koessler wanted to do everything he could to increase his daughter's odds above the 50/50 chance that doctors initially have her. He said the results Rumer gained from the cannabis oil were amazing. 

"Her skin colour came back, her eyes were sparkling again," he told the Newcastle Herald. "Her cancer-ridden little body was alive again." 

Koessler reported that after he started putting the oil in Rumer's food, she had more energy, less pain, an appetite, and was able to go outside. Although the results were allegedly "miraculous" and "extremely beneficial," Koessler committed a crime by giving his daughter the drug. 

He was arrested on January 2, and charged with providing a dangerous substance to a minor. Medical marijuana advocates said the laws need to be amended.

"The current legal position regarding the enforced medical treatment of an innocent child is unconscionable," a NSW Hemp Party spokesperson said, adding that Rumer was allegedly put on opiates to manage her pain after being taken off of cannabis oil. 

People across the globe have rallied behind Koessler, donating money for Rumer's treatment, and signing a petition demanding that Koessler's parental rights be reinstated. The father was initially not allowed to see Rumer as a condition of his bail, but The Independent reports his bail terms were changed and he was able to see her in hospital.  

Rumer's mother reported that their daughter's condition has recently been downgraded to Stage 3.