A WOMAN who can legally take cannabis to tackle pain says she risks arrest by growing her own because the drug is too costly on prescription.

Carly Barton, 32, who suffers from fibromyalgia, is thought to have the UK’s first private prescription for cannabis.

But "frustrated" Ms Barton, of Brighton, says it cost her around £1,300 a month, wiping out her savings.

She said: "I am going to openly break the law until I can access my medicine or they give me some kind of exemption.

"I do not see myself as a criminal. There are two doctors who have prescribed it to me and now there is a vague law which does not seem to see it as a potential medicine."

The former fine art teacher, began using cannabis illegally after the strong opioid drugs she was prescribed, such as morphine, left her feeling "zombied" but still "crying in pain".

She has written an open letter to the Sussex Police Crime Commissioner, saying she has "no other choice" than to grow the drug maintain her health.

Ms Barton said: "I do not want to be a zombie or back in a wheelchair. I want to live my life and cannabis enables me to do that.

"I am feeling trapped in a very odd situation. I am frustrated."

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