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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: MS victim cleared over cannabis use
Sarah Chapman Daily Post Staff Liverpool Daily Post
Thursday 15 May 2003 A MULTIPLE sclerosis sufferer who admits he uses cannabis to relieve his condition was yesterday acquitted of possessing the drug. Robert "Billy" Gartside was unanimously found not guilty of two charges of possessing the class B drug by a jury at Liverpool Crown Court. During his two-day trial they heard that the 35-year-old scriptwriter was caught with cannabis on two separate occasions. Police officers raided his former address in Rutland Avenue, Sefton Park, on August 15 2001 and found 11 grams of cannabis resin on a sideboard. On April 15 last year, officers stopped Mr Gartside as he drove his BMW in Aigburth Road, Aigburth. He was arrested and produced two pieces of cannabis resin to the custody sergeant and said: " That's my medicine." Mr Gartside had always admitted having cannabis in his house and smoking it as a medical necessity, but he had pleaded not guilty to both charges. He was diagnosed in March 1992 with the illness and, although he took the medication prescribed to him by a consultant neurologist, he started using cannabis a few months later and said the drug had vastly improved his condition. The muscle-wasting illness causes him pain, paralysis and spasms and Mr Gartside has been confined to a wheelchair on three occasions. He was found not guilty after the jury deliberated for just half an hour. Desmond Lennon, prosecuting, had told the court that under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, it is illegal for anybody to possess cannabis. Mr Gartside said the whole process of bringing him to court was a farce. The court case had been adjourned on four other occasions and the trial cost taxpayers an estimated £9,000. Mr Gartside said: "I have never denied using cannabis as a medical necessity. "It was the prosecution who brought these charges and it could have been heard by magistrates, but I pleaded not guilty, so the ends justifies the means." Mr Gartside added: "I would have been shocked and horrified if I'd have been sent to jail. "It was always in the back of my mind that I could be found guilty, given that I have never denied using medicinal cannabis. "I have no plans to stop using it in the near future and, if I get arrested again, it will be a matter for Mersey-side Police. "I hope it makes the law clearer - MS sufferers should not be made to feel like criminals and should not be treated like criminals."
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