I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1988. Prior to that, I was an active person with ballet and swimming. I now have a swimming pool, so I swim each and every day, and smoke marijuana. The government has given me the marijuana to smoke. Each month I pick up a can filled with the marijuana cigarettes rolled by the government.

At one time I weighed 85 lb. and I now weigh 105. Twenty pounds is quite a bit to put on. I could not walk. I did not have the appetite. I use a scooter now for distance. I can get around the house. I have a standard poodle who is kind of like an assistant dog. She is good at it. She helps me.

When I found out that there was a program to get marijuana from the government, I decided that was the answer. I was not a marijuana smoker before that. In fact, I used to consider the people I knew who smoked the marijuana as undesirables. Now, I myself am an undesirable.

But it works. It takes away the backache. With multiple sclerosis, you can get spasms, and your leg will just go straight out and you cannot stop that leg. You may have danced all of your life and put the leg where you wanted It to be, but the MS takes that from you. So I use the swimming pool, and that helps a lot. The kicks are much less when I have smoked a marijuana cigarette. Since 1991, I've smoked 10 cigarettes a day. I do not take any other drugs. Marijuana seems to have been my helper. At one time, I did not think much of the people who smoke it. But when it comes to your health, it makes a big difference.

B.D. spoke at the IOM workshop in Louisiana. She is one of eight patients who are legally allowed to smoke marijuana under a Compassionate IND program.

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