Source: The Herald, Scotland

Pub date: Tuesday, September 7, 2004

Subj: Quiet end for cannabis campaigner

Author: Billy Briggs

Web: http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/23502.html

A PARALYSED multiple sclerosis sufferer who fought a court battle in an attempt to legally use cannabis to relieve her symptoms has died, it emerged yesterday.

Elizabeth Ivol, 56, known as Biz, took ill with a chest infection last week and died on Sunday night at her home in Herston, on the Orkney island of South Ronaldsay. She had refused any medical intervention other than morphine for pain relief. Ms Ivol campaigned to make cannabis available to sufferers of MS and other debilitating diseases.

Lucia Day, Ms Ivol's 55-year-old sister, said yesterday that her sibling had "slipped away quietly" at her home.

During a high-profile trial on Orkney, in June 2003, a wheelchair-bound Ms Ivol described to a court in Kirkwall the excruciating pain she suffered from her condition.

She was charged with handling the class B drug and could have been jailed for making cannabis chocolate for herself and fellow sufferers.

Ms Ivol denied the three charges against her, even though she admitted in court that she had possessed, produced and distributed the drug. She told of how she developed cannabis Belgian chocolates and patches to be applied directly to the skin, to help alleviate the symptoms of MS.

Ms Ivol told Kirkwall Sheriff Court that she began taking the drug to numb constant pain, which she described as feeling like "barbed wire going through my spine".

The court heard that her life had become almost unbearable due to her condition, which she was diagnosed with in the early nineties.

She said her former GP had recommended cannabis after she had tried a long list of legal medication, some of which had horrific side-effects. Ms Ivol came up with the idea, along with others, of making the chocolate after agreeing to help a non-smoking MS sufferer.

Hours before the case was dropped on health grounds in July 2003, Ms Ivol was taken to Balfour Hospital, Kirkwall, after a paracetamol overdose.

She had told The Herald the previous evening that she was planning to take her own life.

"I have got it (suicide) all planned. In many ways, I wish my brain went first because of the MS and I wouldn't be so aware of what was going on," Ms Ivol said at the time.

"I am fed up with going on like this. I have looked into it and have decided to take paracetamol because, if you take enough, it just destroys your internal organs.

"I want to do it soon and I have to be very careful that no-one is around, so they don't face prosecution for helping me," she explained.

Fellow campaigners travelled to Orkney and camped in her garden to try to persuade Ms Ivol not to take her own life.

However, after her suicide attempt she told The Herald she would keep trying until she died: "I took 25 paracetamol and that didn't work. I can't seem to get anything right these days. I was just going to walk into the sea and drown, but I can't walk. I'm just going to have to figure out another way of doing it next time I'll have to make sure I do it properly."

Her sister said yesterday: "Biz developed a chest infection several days ago but did not want any medical intervention. She was put on a morphine drip for the pain though. She slipped away quietly last night.

"The funeral will be on Thursday but Biz did not want a proper funeral, no service and no minister, so it will just be at the graveside," said Ms Day.

A spokesman for the Legalise Cannabis Alliance said Ms Ivol was a "special woman whose death was a very sad loss".

He added: "I'm rather stuck for words. Biz touched the lives of and endeared herself to everyone who knew her, including those involved in prosecuting her.

"There are 4000 people in the UK who now take the special cannabis chocolate she made and the fight for legalisation will go on."

A PARALYSED multiple sclerosis sufferer who fought a court battle in an attempt to legally use cannabis to relieve her symptoms has died, it emerged yesterday.

Elizabeth Ivol, 56, known as Biz, took ill with a chest infection last week and died on Sunday night at her home in Herston, on the Orkney island of South Ronaldsay. She had refused any medical intervention other than morphine for pain relief. Ms Ivol campaigned to make cannabis available to sufferers of MS and other debilitating diseases.

Lucia Day, Ms Ivol's 55-year-old sister, said yesterday that her sibling had "slipped away quietly" at her home.

During a high-profile trial on Orkney, in June 2003, a wheelchair-bound Ms Ivol described to a court in Kirkwall the excruciating pain she suffered from her condition.

She was charged with handling the class B drug and could have been jailed for making cannabis chocolate for herself and fellow sufferers.

Ms Ivol denied the three charges against her, even though she admitted in court that she had possessed, produced and distributed the drug. She told of how she developed cannabis Belgian chocolates and patches to be applied directly to the skin, to help alleviate the symptoms of MS.

Ms Ivol told Kirkwall Sheriff Court that she began taking the drug to numb constant pain, which she described as feeling like "barbed wire going through my spine".

The court heard that her life had become almost unbearable due to her condition, which she was diagnosed with in the early nineties.

She said her former GP had recommended cannabis after she had tried a long list of legal medication, some of which had horrific side-effects. Ms Ivol came up with the idea, along with others, of making the chocolate after agreeing to help a non-smoking MS sufferer.

Hours before the case was dropped on health grounds in July 2003, Ms Ivol was taken to Balfour Hospital, Kirkwall, after a paracetamol overdose.

She had told The Herald the previous evening that she was planning to take her own life.

"I have got it (suicide) all planned. In many ways, I wish my brain went first because of the MS and I wouldn't be so aware of what was going on," Ms Ivol said at the time.

"I am fed up with going on like this. I have looked into it and have decided to take paracetamol because, if you take enough, it just destroys your internal organs.

"I want to do it soon and I have to be very careful that no-one is around, so they don't face prosecution for helping me," she explained.

Fellow campaigners travelled to Orkney and camped in her garden to try to persuade Ms Ivol not to take her own life.

However, after her suicide attempt she told The Herald she would keep trying until she died: "I took 25 paracetamol and that didn't work. I can't seem to get anything right these days. I was just going to walk into the sea and drown, but I can't walk. I'm just going to have to figure out another way of doing it next time I'll have to make sure I do it properly."

Her sister said yesterday: "Biz developed a chest infection several days ago but did not want any medical intervention. She was put on a morphine drip for the pain though. She slipped away quietly last night.

"The funeral will be on Thursday but Biz did not want a proper funeral, no service and no minister, so it will just be at the graveside," said Ms Day.

A spokesman for the Legalise Cannabis Alliance said Ms Ivol was a "special woman whose death was a very sad loss".

He added: "I'm rather stuck for words. Biz touched the lives of and endeared herself to everyone who knew her, including those involved in prosecuting her.

"There are 4000 people in the UK who now take the special cannabis chocolate she made and the fight for legalisation will go on."