It helps to keep the symptoms of Parkinson’s under control

I was bedbound for five years, then walked within four weeks I would not be here now if I’d had to carry on using opiates

Dad-of-two Ian was diagnosed with early onset Parkinson’s disease two years ago and says that cannabis is the only thing that helps relive his severe tremors.

Ian, from Cromer, in Norfolk, says he has even seen his condition improve since taking it. He endured deep brain stimulation to help mask his symptoms but the medication prescribed for his disease makes him feel extremely unwell.

So he self-medicates with cannabis using a vaporiser once a day, which calms his tremors after about 20 Stroke victim Carly was bedbound for five years before taking cannabis. She was walking again within weeks and now buys the drug on the black market.

“I got desperate and tried a few puffs of cannabis one day and I couldn’t believe it,” she says.

The artist, from Warrington,

Cheshire, suffered a stroke in

2010, in her third year at university in Brighton.

She was later diagnosed with auto-immune disease fibromyalgia, which causes pain all over the body, increased physical sensitivity, fatigue and Jacob has suffered from chronic pain for years and now grows his own cannabis plants at home, on the advice of medical professionals.

Jacob, from Hackney in East London, was born with a diaphragmatic hernia – an abnormal opening in his diaphragm. He has been taking cannabis, which he vaporises to smoke in an e-cigarette daily, for 10 years.

The music producer has been unable to work due to his debilitating condition.

He was prescribed the heroin substitute methadone, an minutes – almost stopping them. “The sense of relief is overwhelming,” the former IT consultant says. “Not only does it reduce my tremors, it lessens the muscle spasms and contractions – known as dystonia – in my foot, which I otherwise wouldn’t be able to control.

“It also makes my voice stronger, which makes it easier for me to get words out, plus it helps me sleep. “I have to get my cannabis on the black market which, from a medical perspective, makes no sense. If it was controlled, I would know exactly how much to take. “Self-medicating does worry me, so it would take a huge moral and financial weight off my shoulders if I could access cannabis from my GP.” muscle stiffness. She tried prescriptions of morphine and fentanyl but the opiates left her unable to talk properly or think clearly. She says of cannabis: “It did exactly the opposite of what the opiates did. I could sleep, I could think clearly, I could hold a conversation.

“Within four weeks of using cannabis, I was walking without my stick. It’s what gets me out of bed out of the morning.”

Carly says her cannabis use is saving the NHS £500 a month – the cost of her opiate prescription. But she says buying the drug on the black market makes her feel “like a criminal” and has put her in potentially dangerous situations. opiate, for years but it was making him ill. “In 2007, I had invasive surgery which left me with intense pain, spasms, digestion and dietary problems,” he says. “I lost three stone when I was in hospital on opiates – it kills your appetite and makes you sick. Cannabis is the total opposite. It makes me hungry, improves my mood and helps me sleep. “It makes no sense that it’s legal to get stoned on opiates but not on cannabis.

“To expect anyone to cope or even survive on opiatebased medications is cruel and inhumane. We need to remove the stigma from medical cannabis use. I can’t imagine me still being here if I carried on taking opiates.”