A YORK pensioner has told how she has taken cannabis for the past decade to relieve her multiple sclerosis symptoms.

The woman, who is in her early 60s and has used a wheelchair for the past six years, said relatives went out on to the city's streets to buy the drug for her on the black market.

She said she smoked a roll-up cigarette twice a day, each containing three flakes of "grass".

"It's very effective, and I have not suffered any side-effects," she said.

She said her legs often went into spasm because of her illness, but she could feel them relaxing as she was inhaling the smoke.

But she felt she should never have had to get the drug through such means, saying doctors should have been able to prescribe it years ago.

Speaking in the wake of news that a York man is planning to stand at the next General Election on a Legalise Cannabis platform, she said: "When I first read ten years ago that it could help, I thought: 'That's a good idea.' So I went and asked my doctor. When he had picked himself up off the floor, he referred me to a neurologist."

She said he prescribed her a drug, but it led to unwanted side-effects. "It started to weaken my eyesight, so I stopped taking it.

"I don't like breaking the law. I am a law-abiding person. I think it's terrible I have to do this. It was very traumatic when I first did it. We are old people - we didn't know what to do. It has been costing me money as well.

"But if I hadn't done this, I could have spent the past ten years suffering unnecessary discomfort and pain."

Her husband, who rolls her cigarettes, said: "My complaint is: Why should I send a relative on to the streets to buy a very good medicine on the black market?"

Referring to the possibility that the Government may soon allow cannabis to become available on prescription, he said: "Roll on next year, when hopefully doctors will be able to prescribe the medical equivalent."

Updated: 08:41 Wednesday, September 10, 2003