|
Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
|
|
UK: Cannabis woman considered political asylum Phil Coleman News & Star, Carlisle Saturday 14 Oct 2000 Pub Date: 14 October 2000 ART: Cannabis woman considered political asylum Author: Phil Coleman Cannabis woman considered political asylum A CUMBRIAN woman cleared of possessing cannabis after arguing that she needed the drug to ease her multiple sclerosis (MS) has told how she considered seeking political asylum in Holland. Former hairdresser Lezley Gibson, 36, said she was urged to apply for asylum during a family holiday in Holland last August. Just weeks before Mrs Gibson's trial at Carlisle Crown Court, Dutch cannabis campaigner Ger de Zwann, who is a leading expert in Holland on the medicinal use of cannabis to ease illness, told Lezley and her husband Mark, 36, that he would support their application for political asylum. The couple did not take up his offer of help because their 13-year-old daughter Tracey has yet to finish her schooling. After her trial last week, Mrs Gibson, from Front Street, Alston, said cannabis had helped her to escape the most crippling and terrifying effects of MS, in which nerve damage can cause severe disability. She went on to vow that she will continue to use the drug because she considers it is the only effective treatment for her illness. But senior officials from Cumbria's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said they will not go soft on cannabis possession, in spite of the jury's decision to clear Mrs Gibson. The issue also made national headlines this week as Tory shadow home secretary Ann Widdicombe voiced support for a "zero tolerance" policy on drugs, with those caught in possession of drugs such as cannabis being given on-the-spot fines. Mrs Gibson said: "The Dutch gentleman's offer of help was very tempting. "Unfortunately, I have no guarantees that they (the police) will leave me alone. It would have given me peace of mind to know that I don't face the risk of being prosecuted again for using the medicine I need. "Mr de Zwaan has a lot of influence in Holland, with the media and politicians, and he was confident that we could have got asylum. In Holland, you can legally possess five grams. If Tracey hadn't been still at school, we'd probably have taken up his offer." When Mrs Gibson was first diagnosed with MS in 1985, the illness left her paralysed down one side and doctors predicted she would be confined to a wheelchair within five years.
After you have finished reading this article you can click here to go back.
|
This page was created by the Cannabis Campaigners' Guide.
Feel free to link to this page!