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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Dope fight suicide bid
Mark Smith The Mirror
Thursday 03 Jul 2003 MS sufferer Biz tries to take own life as cannabis charges dropped CRIPPLED cannabis crusader Biz Ivol was rushed to hospital after an apparent suicide bid yesterday. The wheelchair-bound MS sufferer from South Ronaldsay, Orkney, vowed she would take her own life after her controversial drugs trial was over. However, Biz, 55, attempted suicide just hours before legal bosses dropped the charges against her on medical grounds. She had gone on trial after being charged with distributing, possessing and producing cannabis. She pleaded not guilty, even though she admitted in court that she made chocolates laced with hash to help fellow MS sufferers. Last night, court authorities were accused of driving Biz to the suicide bid. Cannabis campaigner Kevin Williamson said: "There's no doubt the stress of the case made her condition worse. "The pain would have become unbearable as a result and that certainly contributed to what happened." He added: "It was inhumane to threaten this woman with jail for simply trying to alleviate the horrific pain she and others were suffering from. "Any system that can do this to a woman crippled by MS has no compassion." An ambulance was called to Biz's home at 9am yesterday morning. Supporters who had camped outside her house saw her being stretchered into the ambulance unconscious. The campaigners had travelled to Orkney In a bid to convince Biz not to take her life. Clara O'Donnell of the Legalise Cannabis Alliance (LCA), said: "We had set up a tent in Biz's garden last night. "The next thing we knew we bad woken up this morning and a neighbour had found her lying unconscious." A spokesman at Orkney's Balfour Hospital later described Ms Ivol's condition as stable. The latest twist in the case came as the Crown agreed to drop charges against Biz on medical grounds. Yesterday's hearing at Kirkwall Sheriff Court was told that Ms Ivol's GP had produced a report stating she was unfit for any further court appearances. This was accepted by fiscal Sue Foard who said It would Inappropriate for the case to continue. During her trial. Biz told how she started smoking cannabis to dull the incredible pain that she had to endure. The court heard her life had become almost unbearable since she was diagnosed with the incurable condition in the early 1990s. Biz said: "I feel like somebody's pulling, barbed wire through my spine. I have muscle spasms and my eyesight Is failing. It is very, very painful. "I'm completely paralysed from the neck down, more or less." Ivol had already made preparations for her death before her suicide bid. A cardboard coffin was in place at her home and she'd spoken openly about her death wish, saying: "I'm too tired to fight on and I no longer have any quality of life." The Crown Office yesterday defended their decision to prosecute Ms IvoI. A spokesman said: "The Crown has a duty to prosecute where there is sufficient evidence and where it is in the public interest to do so."
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