OFFICER TOOK DOPE TO BEAT MS PAIN

A former undercover drugs squad officer has told how she was forced to
scour the streets for an illegal cannabis fix in a battle to beat the
torment of MS.

Kate Bradley, 56, said she was being made to feel like a criminal
because she could not get cannabis from a doctor and had to turn to
dealers instead.

Her plight was highlighted by Labour MP Peter Bradley (no relation) in
the Commons yesterday when he made an impassioned plea to the
Government to recognise the medicinal value of cannabis for MS sufferers.

Mr Bradley told the House of Commons his "courageous but desperate"
constituent was, until recently, an undercover drug squad officer in
the West Midlands Police.

"It was her job to pursue and to lock up the people who peddled drugs.
Now, she is out on the streets seeking to secure the only relief that
she can have for the pain that she suffers from," he said.

He asked junior health minister Gisela Stuart to persuade the Home
Office and the police service that these people are "victims and not
criminals".

"They are victims of the torment of MS, they should not be made to be
victims of an injustice," he insisted.