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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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Overdose drama as Biz drugs charges dropped
Lorraine Shearer The Orcadian, Orkney
Wednesday 02 Jul 2003 Orkney MS sufferer Biz Ivol was rushed to hospital after taking a suspected= =20 drug overdose - just hours before cannabis charges against her were dropped. An ambulance took Mrs Ivol (55), an outspoken cannabis campaigner, to=20 Kirkwall's Balfour Hospital on Wednesday morning. A hospital spokesman described her condition as stable when The Orcadian=20 went to press yesterday. The wheelchair-bound woman, of Herston, South Ronaldsay, was due back in=20 court for the final part of a trial in which she was charged with=20 supplying, possessing and growing cannabis. However, the charges were dropped on the grounds of Mrs Ivol's=20 deteriorating health, confirmed in a letter by her GP. Before the last hearing Mrs Ivol claimed she would take her own life once=20 the trial was over, and had already organised her funeral. According to reports, Mrs Ivol was disappointed at the way the case ended=20 as she wanted to use it to publicise her campaign for the legalisation of=20 medicinal cannabis, which she claims is the only drug to ease her pain. At a specially convened court at the wheelchair-friendly Pickaquoy=20 Centre, procurator fiscal Ms Sue Foard said: "In view of the last report=20 from Mrs Ivol's GP, indicating that she is now unfit for further court=20 appearances, I am satisfied and happy for the prosecution to desert the=20 diet simpliciter (simply, absolutely), thus bringing proceedings to an end." Sheriff Colin Scott Mackenzie commented that it was a sad and possibly=20 unsatisfactory ending for the case. "It has attracted a great deal of attention throughout the country with the= =20 media and it may well be that Mrs Ivol has been unable to invoke what was=20 primarily a defence of necessity properly." He continued: "That apart, given the publicity that this has attracted, I=20 feel I ought to say any question of legalisation or decriminalisation is a= =20 matter for the politicians and not for the courts." The sheriff added that the Crown may not raise these particular proceedings= =20 again. Questions are now being asked as to why the case was ever brought to=20 court costing tax-payers thousands of pounds - and according to Mrs Ivol,= =20 leading to attend the short hearing at the specially-convened court. Her supporters, including Orkney and Shetland MP Mr Alistair Carmichael,=20 have called for an end to cases such as these. He praised Biz's "tremendous strength of character" and said suicide would= =20 be a tragic end. "She takes my breath away sometimes. She has been through so much, to end=20 it in that way would be awful," he said. Mr Carmichael commented on the Crown position, saying: "It is the worst of= =20 all possible outcomes. We have spent a lot of public money prosecuting a=20 woman who clearly was not well. Now we have no satisfactory outcome. Having= =20 said that, I have been predicting this would be the outcome. It has been=20 apparent to me she was not fit to stand trial. You only have to see her to= =20 know that." The MP said he had always been a supporter of the licensing of medicinal=20 cannabis." "That is something we have made progress on and we are getting a product at= =20 the end of this year. I only hope that Biz's will be the last case of this= =20 kind." Mr Carmichael, a lawyer, said the costs involved would be substantial,=20 running to thousands of pounds. "Biz's advocate David Moggach will be on a legal aid-based rate which is=20 about =A3400 a day for a junior counsel. Then there is the solicitor and his= =20 preparation and the cost of the expert witness, the police operation, the=20 cost of me hire of the Pickaquoy Centre'- it will have run to thousands of= =20 pounds." It was alleged that Mrs Ivol supplied cannabis chocolates to John Murray,=20 of 28 Dalgety Bay, Fife, between May and August, 2001. She was further=20 charged with possessing cannabis and growing two cannabis plants at her=20 home on August 6,2001. During the first sitting of Mrs Ivol's trial in the Pickaquoy Centre at the= =20 end of last month, she readily admitted the charges, although denied=20 committing a crime. Speaking from his home in Dalgety Bay, Mr Murray said he was relieved to=20 hear the charges had been dropped. Mr Murray had told the court earlier that he had contacted Mrs Ivol after=20 reading about the cannabis chocolates she made in a newspaper article. He said his wife suffered from MS and he was looking to find some kind of=20 relief for her. After contacting Biz, he said she sent them a package of=20 seven chocolates, which his wife never used. "What she did tor us she did not have to" do. She was not doing it for=20 anything other than the goodness of her heart which we very much= appreciated." Don Barnard, of the Legalise Cannabis Alliance - a registered UK political= =20 party - was in Orkney yesterday in support of Mrs Ivol. On hearing of Mrs Ivol's suspected overdose, he said that the fight had to= =20 go on for all sufferers who benefited from cannabis. "We came up here to highlight me injustice of bringing Biz to court. "Whatever Biz has done, I believe that as a result of the pressure by the=20 Scottish media on the Scottish justice System and Westminster that whoever= =20 is in charge here has had instructions to drop this case because it is=20 going to become a massive embarrassment to national government," Mr Barnard= =20 concluded. Inspector Bob Pollock, of Northern Constabulary said: "We have a duty to=20 enforce the law in relation to me illegal supply of controlled drugs and=20 any person who deals in illegal substances. "Cannabis remains an illegal drug and its reclassification from B to C in=20 no way represents a move towards decriminalisation or legalisation.'"
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