MULTIPLE Sclerosis sufferer Sheryl Moorey has given a cautious reaction to plans to relax the rules on possession of cannabis.Miss Moorey – who was given a caution for growing cannabis, which she used as a painkiller – felt the effects of the Government proposal to reclassify the drug needed careful thought and reflection.

By Richard Cornwell

MULTIPLE Sclerosis sufferer Sheryl Moorey has given a cautious reaction to plans to relax the rules on possession of cannabis.

Miss Moorey – who was given a caution for growing cannabis, which she used as a painkiller – felt the effects of the Government proposal to reclassify the drug needed careful thought and reflection.

She reiterated her call for a softer line on MS sufferers using pot, but was worried that more youngsters could be lured into smoking grass.

Home Secretary David Blunkett is proposing to reclassify cannabis as a Class C drug, and possession would not longer be an arrestable offence.

It would be put in same category as anti-depressants or steroids. He said it will mean drugs laws "make more sense on the streets" and will free the police to concentrate on Class A drugs, such as cocaine and heroin.

Miss Moorey, of Exeter Road, Walton, Felixstowe, said: "I am not sure if it a good idea because more youngsters could use it and that could then lead them on to other drugs."

Her main concern though is a respect for the needs of MS sufferers, like herself, who use cannabis as a painkiller.

She said the authorities should concentrate on giving help and protection to those people using it as medication so that they need not worry about any consequences from their action.

Miss Moorey, 39, was giver her caution after police received an anonymous tip-off that she was cultivating cannabis plants.

She had two large plants outside her French windows, and grew them in order to provide joints which she smoked once a day to ease her excruciating condition and get a good night's sleep.

She had no quarrel with police as they were only doing their job and was furious at the person who had grassed her up.

MS is a disease which attacks the central nervous system, affecting many parts of the brain and spinal cord, with varied and unpredictable symptoms.

It cannot be cured, but it can be managed, and there has been a great debate over some sufferers use of cannabis to relieve their symptoms and their pain.

Cannabis derivatives are currently being tested on substantial numbers of people with MS and other neuropathic disorders.