CHERI O'Connell says she would rather move her family overseas than accept medical marijuana from an underground supplier.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
On Sunday she said that several underground marijuana growers had offered to provide her with the medical cannabis needed to treat her daughter Tara's epilepsy.
But Ms O'Connell said she did not want to get involved with people who sold marijuana for recreational purposes.
She said that buying marijuana from underground dealers could have legal ramifications for herself and her family, a risk she was not willing to take.
"I'm not willing to risk my kids being taken off me over a plant," she said.
The Bendigo Advertiser reported on Friday that the man who had supplied the family with cannabis since 2012 - Tony Bower of Mullaways Medical Cannabis - had been arrested and charged with drug trafficking offences.
He will face a New South Wales court on May 28.
Ms O'Connell said that Mr Bowers was always certain to provide the family with liquid cannabis that was diluted to 0.1ml doses, meaning it was not illegal.
She said she also didn't want to buy cannabis from another supplier because a change in product could have an adverse effect on her daughter.
"With epilepsy consistency is important - a one per cent change could be the difference in having a seizure and not having a seizure," she said.
She said Mr Bowers provided her family and about 100 other families with medical cannabis free of charge.
She said that if Mr Bowers was to receive a lengthy prison sentence the family would consider moving to Colorado, in the United States, where marijuana is legal.
Tara O'Connell, 8, has a severe form of epilepsy that causes her to have up 200 seizures a day.
In 2012 the O'Connells started treating Tara with medical cannabis.
She has not had a seizure since.