A MULTIPLE sclerosis sufferer who relies on illegal cannabis-laced chocolate to ease her pain fears her supply will be cut off after a series of police raids.

For the past six months, ex-nurse Pauline Taylor, 53, from Durham, has tempered her pain by eating chocolate bars containing the controlled drug cannabis.

The chocolate bars are provided by a non-profit making network called THC4MS, dedicated to providing pain relief to MS sufferers.

It is the only way she can obtain the powerful pain-relieving herb because of delays in licensing the UK's first cannabis-based drug.

But after a police crackdown, which THC4MS claims has resulted in five arrests, she fears she will be forced to buy cannabis from street drug dealers.

The lack of legal cannabis supplies for pain relief is described as disgraceful by leading MS specialist Professor Mike Barnes, of Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary.

He estimates several hundred North-East MS sufferers are using cannabis to cope with pain.

And he believes there is no good reason why a cannabis-based spray, now licensed in Canada, should not be available in the UK.

Prof Barnes, who treats advanced MS cases across the region, said: "It had two positive studies in this country showing it was safe and it worked.

"Another study is likely to show the same results."

The UK's drug licensing body has told the spray's manufacturer, GW Pharmaceuticals, that further trials were needed before a licence could be considered.

Ms Taylor, who has suffered MS for 20 years, said: "Without cannabis, my quality of life is greatly reduced.

"Just what do they want me to do? They have refused to give cannabis-based medicines a licence and now the police are cracking down on the one source we can rely on.

"I was so relieved when I no longer needed to buy cannabis on the black market. Smoking cannabis is not good for you and there is also a risk of impurities.

"I've only got two bits of chocolate left, if I can't get any more I will have to go back to buying it on the street."

Prof Barnes, a trustee of the MS Trust, predicts there will be a long delay before the cannabis spray is licensed.

He said: "That means maybe another 18 months of people having the inconvenience of buying something illegally, which I think is disgraceful."

The Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency said: "Trials are under way. It is not possible to predict when there will be evidence that the drug is safe."