![Barry Lambert, his granddaughter Katelyn, wife Joy and son Michael outside Gosford court.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170614092904/http://www.afr.com/content/dam/images/g/w/r/0/o/f/image.related.afrArticleLead.620x350.gwqyk8.png/1497427526305.jpg)
Financial Review Rich Lister Barry Lambert has called for reform of medicinal cannabis laws after his son was found guilty of criminal possession even though he was using the cannabis to treat his "catastrophically" sick daughter.
Magistrate Bruce Williams of the Gosford Local Court on Wednesday found Michael Lambert guilty of two charges relating to the cultivation and possession of cannabis substances although he said he had "sympathy" with Michael and recorded no conviction.
"He was not prepared to sit back and allow his daughter to suffer," Magistrate Williams said.
Katelyn's case which was first reported in The Australian Financial Review has become a cause celebre for campaigners for medicinal cannabis in NSW and Australia who say laws here are still much tighter than in most of North America and Europe.
![Four-year-old Katelyn with (left to right) grandmother Joy, mother Saowalak and father Michael.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170614092904/http://www.afr.com/content/dam/images/g/o/7/k/c/x/image.imgtype.afrArticleInline.620x0.png/1497422078486.jpg)
Mr Williams said Michael Lambert "honestly" believed that if he stopped treating his daughter with cannabis oil she risked a recurrence of "imminent" and "insidious" consequences including death and brain damage.
Michael's daughter Katelyn suffers from Dravet syndrome, a rare form of epilepsy which causes "catastrophic" seizures.
Michael Lambert, who was raided in 2015 after he wrote a letter to NSW Health Research Minister Prue Goward about Katelyn's plight, admitted having the cannabis substances at his house in the NSW central coast.
Michael Lambert said in his defence that he was compelled "by necessity" to give Katelyn the cannabis. During the case a pediatrician and a neurologist treating Katelyn testified there had been a "miraculous" improvement in her condition since 2014 when she first started taking Endoca, a cannabis extract which Mr Lambert illegally imported from Europe.
But Mr Williams, in a judgment that lasted almost an hour, said the defence of crime by necessity was subject to very strict conditions. "People are not free to choose which laws they will obey."
![Financial Review rich lister Barry Lambert has called for reform of medicinal cannabis laws after his son was found ...](http://web.archive.org./web/20170614092904/http://www.afr.com/content/dam/images/g/o/7/k/l/9/image.imgtype.afrArticleInline.620x0.png/1497422078672.jpg)
Outside the court standing next to his tearful son and granddaughter, Barry Lambert called on the NSW government to create a register of illnesses that should have access to medicinal cannabis.
"If there is any suggestion that our granddaughter should stop taking a natural plant extract and revert to brain destroying seizures, we will not allow that to happen," said Barry Lambert, who is the founder of Countplus financial advisors.
Standing outside court, Michael Lambert said he accepted the decision but the law put him in an impossible situation. "What do I do? Go and hand myself into police?" he said outside the court. "It's up to the government to change the legislation."
Barry Lambert in 2015 gave $34 million to the Lambert Initiative for Cannabinoid Research at Sydney University and has invested in a company called Ecofibre which makes cannabis extract legally in the US. Katelyn is now taking an Ecofibre product imported to Australia.
!["I know I am going to jail but if I don't want to see my daughter grow up with half a brain I have no choice," Michael ...](http://web.archive.org./web/20170614092904/http://www.afr.com/content/dam/images/g/o/7/k/b/x/image.imgtype.afrArticleInline.620x0.png/1497422078572.jpg)
The federal government, NSW and some other states have partially legalised medicinal cannabis but they argue more clinical proof of their efficacy is needed and the regime for cultivation, importation and prescription is so tight that a Senate inquiry heard this month that only about 130 people have been able to obtain it.
Home grown
In a move backed by the Greens, Labour and crossbenchers, the Senate voted on Tuesday to disallow some Federal regulations which make it difficult for doctors to prescribe medicinal cannabis legally but it remains unclear what difference this will make it.
Clinical trials are under way for the use of medicinal cannabis for childhood epilepsy and several other conditions but few drugs have been approved and they are very expensive when sold under patent.
![Barry and Michael Lambert: "If there is any suggestion that our grand daughter should stop taking a natural plant ...](http://web.archive.org./web/20170614092904/http://www.afr.com/content/dam/images/g/w/r/0/o/k/image.imgtype.afrArticleInline.620x0.png/1497422078769.jpg)
The judgment did leave some hope for medicinal cannabis users since Mr Williams only ruled that cultivation of seven cannabis plants and possession of some home made extracts broke the law. Michael said he had these at home as a back-up in case his supply of Endoca from Europe was cut off.
Mr Williams said Endoca could potentially be considered a medicine but but not the plants and extracts since they were produced without quality standards in a living room where police had found empty pizza boxes at the time of the seizure.
Police dropped the charges relating to possession of Endoca for technical reasons.