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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: MS sufferer maintains suicide threat as drug case is dropped Stephen Stewart and Keith Sinclair The Herald, Glasgow Wednesday 02 Jul 2003 A terminally ill cannabis campaigner said yesterday she will commit suicide despite hearing that the criminal case against her will be dropped. Biz Ivol, who suffers from MS, was arrested two years ago following allegations that she was supplying cannabis to other people with the debilitating disease across the UK. It is believed Ms Ivol's agents notified her that the case, due to call at Kirkwall Sheriff Court in Orkney today, would not proceed further because of the deterioration of her health. Ms Ivol said that she would continue with plans to end her life after her symptoms worsened during the court case, which attracted widespread media attention to the medicinal use of cannabis. "People with MS must avoid stress and over the last 18 months I have lost my balance, my eyesight, and I am paralysed from the chest down," she said. "I have been kept in limbo for two years since the day I was raided. I am not pleased that the case will be dropped and I am still very cross. "I was willing to take my case to the higher courts and the European Court of Human Rights, if necessary, but they knew that they wouldn't stand a chance. I regret making the sheriff and the fiscal go through all this but I am not sorry for what I did." Ms Ivol has received hundreds of letters offering support but was unable to reply after losing the use of her hands. She has always made clear her intention to end her life as her physical condition declined. "The plans are all made. I don't want to fight on much longer. I did plan to walk into the sea but now I can't use my legs. I have made the arrangements and have bought a plot of land for a grave," she said. "I am just too tired to fight on much longer. I can't start a fight to recognise euthanasia." Ms Ivol had entered not guilty pleas to three charges involving the possession, production and supply of cannabis. Last night, cannabis campaigners welcomed the decision to abandon the case. Jim McLeavy, spokesman for the Legalise Cannabis Alliance from East Kilbride, said yesterday : "I think the Crown Office is doing a U-turn in this case because they are embarrassed and ashamed at taking action against a dying woman. "I welcome the fact that they have apparently seen sense, even at this late stage, but it should never have come to this. They should never have charged her or taken things this far. All she was doing was trying to help other MS sufferers." He added: "She has had two years of misery and the legal action taken against her has not helped her health and probably made it worse. I feel for her. She has done a very positive thing and stood up to this bad law even when she is terminally ill and I think she has been very, very brave." Steve Barker, administrator of the Campaign to Legalise Cannabis based in Norwich, said: "Biz Ivol is a remarkable woman. I have spoken to her several times and there were many people from the south of England planning to attend the trial. "However, I hope that her case has made people take notice of the medical values of cannabis in helping relieve the symptoms of people who are ill, many terminally like her. "Cannabis has been proved by medical trials to be twice as effective as prescribed painkillers, with less side-effects, and Biz Ivol's case has highlighted this. It's a pity she has had to suffer so much in the process." - July 2nd
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