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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Cannabis chocolate bars couple appeal
Dave Gudgeon Cumberland News
Friday 12 Jan 2007 THE Cumbrian couple who supplied cannabis chocolate to 1,600 multiple sclerosis sufferers are appealing against their conviction for conspiring to supply the drug. Mark and Lezley Gibson, both from Alston, have put the wheels in motion – along with their co-defendant Marcus Davies – even though they won’t be sentenced until later this month. Lezley, an MS sufferer herself, said: “Our legal team have told us that we only have 28 days after conviction to seek leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal. So we have done that. Our appeal will be based on the judge’s summing up of the case.” The Gibsons and Davies were all found guilty of two counts of conspiring to supply the class C drug at Carlisle Crown Court last month – and Judge John Phillips adjourned sentencing until January 26. Throughout the trial the three defendants argued that their sole purpose was to help people with MS by alleviating their symptoms – but during his summing up the judge told the jury a recent Appeal Court ruling had made it clear that no defendant could now rely in law on medical necessity as a defence. The trial heard how the Gibsons, helped by Davies, created a cottage industry supplying cannabis-laced chocolate bars from their home in Front Street. At its height the operation saw the couple posting off up to 150 Canna-Biz bars a week, supplying two per cent of the country’s population of MS sufferers. The bars were sent out free of charge, but only to those who could prove they had MS by supplying a medical certificate or doctor’s note. The operation ceased with the trial and Lezley Gibson said: “The real tragedy is that hundreds of people are now having to go out and find street dealers in cannabis. “And we believe that much of what they are buying has been contaminated which is actually putting their health at risk.” Mark Gibson, who was the prime maker of the cannabis chocolate, said: “I don’t think the jury wanted to convict us – when they came back with the verdict their heads were bowed. “My ambition now is to smash this ridiculous law which seems to over-ride the human rights of people. In a way the fact we have had to stop making the chocolate gives me more time to do that.” http://www.cumberland-news.co.uk/news/viewarticle.aspx?id=454465
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