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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: 'Chronic Pain Should Be Defence for Cannabis Users'
Mike Taylor Press Association
Wednesday 16 Feb 2005 People who use cannabis to relieve chronic pain should not be deemed to be breaking the law, three appeal judges were told today. Conduct that would otherwise be unlawful is "excused or justified by the need to avoid a greater evil", said Edward Fitzgerald QC, for two convicted men afflicted by serious, chronic conditions. Cannabis was more effective than conventional forms of pain relief and did not have the potentially serious and life-threatening side effects of alternative treatments, he told the Court of Appeal in London. The defence of "necessity" should be available to anyone who used cannabis to remove or alleviate the greater evil of chronic pain, he said. The three judges are being asked to rule that victims of severe and chronic pain who use cannabis to relieve their suffering are not breaking the law. Mr Fitzgerald was appearing for Barry Quayle and Reay Wales in their appeals against convictions of possessing cannabis. Lord Justice Mance, Mr Justice Newman and Mr Justice Fulford heard that 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, he held. In Mr Wales's case, the issue of necessity was left to the jury, but jurors were warned the defence was only available to someone who committed an unlawful act in the belief that otherwise he would soon be killed or seriously injured. Tomorrow counsel for Attorney General Lord Goldsmith QC will set out the current attitude of the Crown Prosecution Service in such cases.
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