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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: When the drugs do work . . .
Richard Evans South London Press
Friday 12 Sep 2003 CANNABIS is now openly sold by Dutch chemists for medicinal use but the laws in the UK are not quite as lax. Reporter RICHARD EVANS talks to a Tulse Hill resident who is forced to buy the drug illegally to alleviate the symptoms of his debilitating condition. He tells us why it's time for Britain to follow the Dutch example . . . "YOU see - they don't work properly." David is trying to tense the muscles in his left leg and the movement is so slight that the skin barely ripples. They look as if they have wasted away. David [not his real name] suffers from diabetic neuropathy. Nerve endings have been destroyed by the illness, causing him terrible pain. Every day, he breaks the law by smoking cannabis to ease his suffering. "Now my health has deteriorated, I'm on a massive load of chemicals," he said. "There is one for one thing and another to counteract the side effects of the other one." He added: "I suffer a lot of nausea, dizziness and general not feeling well. I am injecting insulin and watching my meals. My diabetes is very brutal right now. "It can either start in the fingers, toes and feet. You start losing feeling. The nerves have been damaged so a great amount of pain is constantly coming from these areas. Or it can start centrally. There is a menu of pain killers I have to take daily. "Certain muscles do not work anymore. They cause massive amounts of pain. I found the one thing that seems to make everything work properly without all the side effects is marijuana. It will make me feel normal. I can get up and deal with things. When you are constantly being sick, it is nice for thing to level out a bit." For David, the fact he has to go outside the law to ease his symptoms is absurd, he says. "It is ridiculous," said David. "It is a natural plant that has been grown for millennia. We should be able to grow it and use it in all manner of ways, especially for medicine. Marijuana should be available as a herb that can be bought from the chemist or at the market with none of the stigma that surrounds the subject." Despite it being illegal, he has never had any problems getting hold of cannabis and has not had to resort to buying it from street dealers. "I get it from a friend and it's a constant supply." David said that by already being quite vulnerable, it would be totally stupid for him to try to buy it on a corner. He adds: "If I had the money, I would buy the equipment and grow enough to keep myself well. There are people with much worse illnesses who have to put up with much more than I do, and do not have the strength of body or mind to get up and do it." From September 1, chemists in the Netherlands started dispensing cannabis to people with a prescription. It is thought the British Government will be watching the situation closely. But ultimately, David is convinced that one day cannabis will be legal. Already, the Government is considering an application from GM Pharmaceuticals to use cannabis in medicines. "The laws should change quickly and sort out what is not a problem," David said. "What has happened in Holland is absolutely fantastic but it is only another step forward on this very slow walk." In the long term, he is confident that one day he will be able to smoke the drug legally. "It will change," he says. "It has to change." Should cannabis be available from chemists in this country? Text: 82100 with SLPTALK at the start, followed by a space and then your comment Each message costs 25p (Virgin network phones not compatible)
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