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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Medical cannabis man faces trial
Tom Bodden Daily Post, North Wales
Friday 14 Oct 2005 NORTH Wales cannabis campaigner Jeff Ditchfield last night faced fresh charges of supplying and growing the drug. The 49-year-old shop owner from Rhyl spent more than a year on bail. During the summer he challenged the director of public prosecutions to bring charges or drop the case against him. Mr Ditchfield said last night he planned to plead not guilty and seek a trial at crown court. He previously claimed cannabis helped relieve the pain of chronically ill people. The latest charges include cultivating 26 plants at Prestatyn between January 1 and March 25, 2004, plus supplying a derivative of the drug in Rhyl between May 21, 2003, and January 29, 2004. And he also faces a third charge of supplying cannabis in Manchester between January 1 1999 and June 22, 2004. He was due to appear at Prestatyn magistrates court on Monday. Last night Mr Ditchfield said: "I have been on bail since June 2004, and some of the alleged offences against me pre-date my last trial when I was found not guilty. "I am quite glad I have been charged and I'm looking forward to going back to crown court. "I was found not guilty at Chester Crown Court in January 2004 of possession and possession with intent to supply. My defence was that cannabis was used to relieve pain and suffering because people can't get cannabis medicine from their GP. "If it were available I wouldn't be breaking the law and the Crown Prosecution Service wouldn't be wasting all this money taking me to court." Previously, Mr Ditchfield, of Water Street, who stood as a candidate for the Legalise Cannabis Alliance in the general election, was found not guilty at Chester Crown Court of possession and intent to supply the drug after a jury heard he gave it to people for medicinal reasons. Since his acquittal by a jury last year, an appeal court judge ruled the defence of 'necessity' in supplying cannabis for medical reasons should not have been allowed, but did not over-rule the verdict. Mr Ditchfield said he was still seeking to appeal that decision in the House of Lords.
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