SUFFERERS TO PUFF ON DESPITE FINDINGS


12:00 - 07 November 2003

Multiple Sclerosis sufferers in Staffordshire will ignore the research bombshell and continue to break the law to smoke cannabis, according to the carer of a chronic casualty of the devastating disease. Eric Budworth, from Werrington, whose wife Dorothy has had MS for 23 years, says it is widely-known some local carers grow the plant for their loved ones while others buy it from street dealers - or even smuggle it back from Holland.

And Mr Budworth, chairman of the North Staffordshire MS Society, said: "I don't blame them one bit."

He feels many families affected by the condition will be heart-broken to hear the clinical trials which carried so many hopes for patients had failed to produce evidence that cannabis can ease muscle stiffness.

He said: "No matter what this study found, sufferers know in their heart of hearts they can ease their symptoms by smoking cannabis and they will continue to do so, even if that means running the risk of bringing it back from Amsterdam, which I know goes on.

"The problem with this research was it just looked at whether the drug affected spasticity. Things like easing pain and giving sufferers a good night's sleep cannot be so easily measured.

"I still look forward to the day when cannabis can be prescribed on the NHS. After all, heroin is widely prescribed in the form of morphine.

"If it were available, that would mean sufferers and their carers will no longer be at risk of breaking the law."