As a fellow sufferer currently using cannabis to alleviate the symptoms of MS, I am appalled, horrified and terrified by the treatment of Mrs Elizabeth Ivol

This would surely not have happened in the Scotland I envisaged when I voted so enthusiastically for the resumption of the Scottish Parliament.

It is galling indeed to discover that your MSP, after all the brouhaha surrounding the recent elections, has no power whatsoever to have affected Mrs Ivol's legal standing.

(The basic response from the Mound is "I must record that the laws governing the licensing of medicines and the use of recreational drugs are reserved to Westminster, so the Scottish Parliament does not have any powers to change the laws which Biz Ivol is charged with having broken")

Between this and the apparent unfettered costs of "The Big Hoose" at Holyrood, the Scottish state has become a farcical joke to the people.

It seems that they have the power to spend our money, but not the power (or inclination) to prevent the vulnerable among us being driven into their graves by "Scottish Justice".

I despair of my country.

The moral and logical reason of a law that leads to this outrage is beyond the understanding of the public in whose interests it is being enforced.

Ironically, the costs, which must be quite substantial, come from the public purse.

Goodness knows, all MS sufferers know of some basic amenity or service not available to them due to "lack of resources".

I know we don't matter, but for us MSers this feels like the final spit-in-your-face insult.

Aye, Scotland the Brave, that'll be right.

I am reminded of a case in Lerwick over three years ago:

"A FISCAL has dropped legal proceedings against a disabled man who uses cannabis for pain relief, saying that continuing with the case would not be in the public interest."(Scotland On Sunday, 20 Feb 2000)

The asinine absurdity "the war against drugs" appears to continue unabated in Orkney nonetheless.

I was rather amused recently to read of camp Irish comedian, Graham Norton, being mooted as an ambassador for Orkney tourism. Rather eye-catching it was to be told "Orkney does have a gay community and lots of potential for everyone."(Sheila Faichney of the tourist board, June 20, 2003)

Forty years ago, every male in this "gay community" would have been identified as a criminal by the state, the same state that now endeavours to identify Mrs Ivol as a criminal.

Mrs Ivol is not a criminal in the eyes of the people. Surely laws of state should reflect the values of society, and the will of the people.

It despairs me that law and Justice seem somehow to be becoming disparate in this country. It's high time politicians started behaving like grown-ups in this matter.

The medicinal use of cannabis must be legalised and rationalised

Hamish Crisp.