Subj: UK: Cannabis law in chaos as dealer is cleared



Date: July 23, 1999



Source: The Express (UK)



 

Cannabis law in chaos as dealer is cleared 

BY PAUL GALLAGHER 



A MAN who supplied cannabis to the sick was cleared of drugs 

charges in a landmark case yesterday. 



Colin Davies admitted growing the drug, but argued that he 

was providing a valuable medical service. 



A jury accepted his defence and found him not guilty at the 

end of the first case of its kind in a British court. 



Their decision was last night hailed as an important 

breakthrough by MPs, doctors and campaigners who support the 

use of cannabis for medical reasons. 



It is also expected to increase pressure on the Government 

to change the law. Mr Davies, who uses cannabis to alleviate 

the pain he suffers from a spinal injury, described the 

jury's verdict as a "triumph for genuine human values". 



Last year Home Secretary Jack Straw rejected recommendations 

from a House of Lords select committee that the use of 

cannabis should be allowed for medical reasons. 



But the House of Commons is today due to debate a motion 

tabled by Labour MP Paul Flynn proposing a change in the 

law. 



Mr Flynn said yesterday: "This is a ground-breaking verdict. 

It shows that the law is falling into disrepute. 



"Cannabis has been used as a medicine for 3,000 years. What 

we are doing is unfair and cruel - putting the fear of 

imprisonment into people who are committing no greater crime 

than taking their medicine of choice." 



Mr Flynn said 102 MPs have signed his motion, including 30 

Tories and added: "The law could be changed as long as the 

Government doesn't object. I appeal to them to let it go 

forward in the light of this verdict." 



Gordon Prentice MP, secretary of the Commons multiple 

sclerosis group, said: "I have argued for many years that 

cannabis ought to be available for medicinal use. 



"I hope to see that happen in the next few years because it 

does seem to give relief to conditions which are not 

responsive to conventional medicine." 



The Government has granted a licence for scientists to grow 

the drug for medical trials, due to start in October this 

year. 



Mr Davies was arrested after police found 26 cannabis plants 

being cultivated at his home in Stockport. He had set up a 

non-profit-making co-operative to supply the drug to more 

than 100 sufferers of multiple sclerosis and other 

illnesses. 



The jury at Manchester Crown Court was told by prosecutor 

Howard Baisden that, no matter what their views on its 

medical benefits, Mr Davies had committed a criminal 

offence. 



He said: "The law is that, unless you have a special 

dispensation by the Home Secretary, it is illegal." 



But at the end of a four-day trial, the jury cleared Mr 

Davies of all charges. 



Previously defendants have been cleared of possessing 

cannabis for medical use, but Mr Davies was the first to be 

found not guilty of supplying it as a pain reliever. 



After walking free the 42-year-old father of two said: "The 

jury have played their part in helping people with a wide 

range of illnesses. They have given people like me and them 

a chance that we might be able to get a little bit of 

stability back into our lives." 



Wheelchair-bound MS sufferer Andrew Caldwell from 

Huddersfield has received cannabis from Mr Davies. He said: 

"The people of this country have spoken and the politicians 

should please, please listen to what's been said." 



Last month doctors narrowly voted against a call to support 

the legalisation of cannabis for medicinal use at the 

British Medical Association conference. 



A spokesman for the Multiple Sclerosis Society said: "We 

would not encourage members to break the law as it stands, 

but we sympathise with people who find it of benefit in 

alleviating their symptoms and would ask the courts to be 

sympathetic, as they have in this case." 



A Home Office spokesman said the Government would only 

consider changing the law if cannabis preparation had passed 

clinical trials. 



© Express Newspapers Ltd