WHEN DRUGS DO WORK...

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."