Telford woman with ME calls for cannabis to be made legal

It comes as the All Party Parliamentary Group for drug policy has called on the drug to be legalised for medical use following a major inquiry.

A 33-year-old woman, from Wellington, who wishes to remain anonymous, says she used cannabis for six months to help her treat the pain she suffered from ME Fibromyalgia, depression, systemic heart disease, neuropathy in both feet, arthritis and type one diabetes.

She said it was only the illegal status of the drug which stops her from using it all the time, fearing for the consequences if she was found to be in possession of the class B drug.

The woman, who is unable to work because of her illnesses and also suffered a stroke four weeks ago said she initially baulked at the idea of using the drug when it was first suggested to her.

Diagnosed with her illnesses a few years ago, she began taking a number of GP ordered medications, but suffered with side effects, still experienced a lot of pain and was being put on higher and higher doses of medication.

She said: "Someone said to me 'why don't you try cannabis' and I said I don't think so.'

"But after I did some research, I watched a lot of videos on YouTube and I thought, enough is enough, I'm in constant pain, I'm not sleeping.

"The first time I tried it, my pain went from a 10 down to a one and I slept a whole night for the first time in weeks."

The woman said for up to six months she began consuming the drug in food, but stopped up to a month ago because she was concerned about the legal implications.

She said: "I take so many pills I could be a chemist, I have to take more pills to treat side effects of the pills I take. Every day I wake up and my pain is a 10 and I only have about an hour to two hours broken sleep a night.

"If cannabis was legal and available I would take it. Because of the legal ramifications I don't use it all the time, because I'm scared."

The all party group's chairman Baroness Meacher claimed the refusal to recognise the drug's medicinal value is "irrational" while Green Party co-leader Caroline Lucas said it is "unacceptable" that people using cannabis to treat conditions risk prosecution.

Crossbench peer Lady Meacher said: "The findings of our inquiry and review of evidence from across the world are clear. Cannabis works as a medicine for a number of medical conditions. The evidence has been strong enough to persuade a growing number of countries and US states to legalise access to medical cannabis.

"Against this background, the UK scheduling of cannabis as a substance that has no medical value is irrational."