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UK: Court Move on Pain Relief Cannabis Users
Mike Taylor Press Association
Wednesday 16 Feb 2005 The legal wrangle over how the law should treat people who resort to using cannabis to relieve chronic pain returns to the Court of Appeal today. Attorney General Lord Goldsmith QC is asking the court to rule whether the defence of "necessity" is available to someone charged with possessing the drug with intent to supply it to victims of serious and painful medical conditions. The case is seen as a test of the law's attitude to cannabis in such cases in the light of it being downgraded to a Class C drug. At the same time, the court will resume the hearing of appeals by five people convicted of cannabis possession. The appeals were adjourned last October to allow Lord Goldsmith to refer a point of law for the court's opinion. Edward Fitzgerald QC had told three appeal judges that the appellants he represented, Barry Quayle and Reay Wales, were both afflicted by serious and chronic conditions. Mr Quayle had both legs amputated below the knee and suffered pain from damaged tissue and "phantom limb" sensation. Mr Wales had serious bone and pancreas conditions. Both men found that prescription drugs were ineffective and caused serious side effects with the risk of addiction. The judge at Mr Quayle's trial had ruled that a defence of necessity was not available because he had to show that the cultivation of cannabis was necessary to save life or prevent serious injury. Serious injury did not extend to the relief of pain or even serious and unpleasant pain, said the judge. In Mr Wales's case, the issue of necessity was left to the jury, but jurors were warned it was only available if Mr Wales believed that if he did not use the drug he would soon be killed or seriously injured. Mr Fitzgerald said: "Cannabis is a most effective form of pain relief and in any event it avoids the painful side effects of more conventional pain relief prescriptions. "We say the basic concept is the justification or excuse to avoid a greater evil." He said there had been a "rigid adherence" to what was thought to constitute "necessity" when in fact the defence also extended to cases where it was necessary to relieve serious pain. "Pain is capable of causing serious harm," he said. As well as Quayle, from Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, and Wales, from Ipswich, the appeals also involve Graham Kenny, from Shipley, West Yorkshire, and Anthony Taylor and May Po Lee, both from London. All were given either a fine, community service or suspended jail sentence.
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