I was diagnosed as having MS five years ago, when I was 45, and was informed that in my case it would probably just get steadily worse. The forecast proved correct. I had to give up work 2 years ago, and am now confined to a wheelchair. I suffer violent muscle spasms from the waist down, which lock my legs together like magnets, causing increasing pain and discomfort, and I feel as if I have flu permanently.

A year ago a friend showed me an article from the Daily Mail about an MS sufferer who obtained considerable relief from the most distressing symptoms using cannabis, and about her fight to become 'legal' by being prescribed Nabilone. Despite an in built aversion to banned substances, I bowed to family pressure, and have been using it ever since.

I find the effects not exactly euphoric, but I can (with concentration) stretch my legs out straight, either sitting on the floor or lying in bed. I can watch TV for a couple of hours without frightening company by snapping myself into a knot while shrieking in pain.

I can go on a car journey without fretting about my bladder. I can actually get 3 or 4 hours unbroken sleep sometimes, and more importantly so can my wife. Smoking cannabis is not a problem for me as I roll my own anyway. The main thing is, it works - as a muscle relaxant, a tranquillizer, whatever.

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