Source: News & Star, Carlisle, UK

Pub Date: Wednesday 17 April 2002

Subj: No prosecution after cannabis cafe arrest

Web: http://www.news-and-star.co.uk

Contact: letters.carlisle@cumbrian-newspapers.co.uk

NO PROSECUTION AFTER CANNABIS CAFE ARREST

CANNABIS crusader Lezley Gibson will not be prosecuted for possessing the drug despite being caught red-handed in an illegal Dutch-style cafe.

Multiple sclerosis sufferer Ms Gibson was locked up for four hours after being caught in a raid at the Dutch Experience in Stockport last January.

She has waited 14 weeks to hear if she would be hauled before the courts. The Criminal Prosecution Service (CPS) has decided not to press ahead with charges, the News & Star can reveal.

Ms Gibson, from Alston, said: "I hope this will make things easier for other medicinal users."

The move comes less than two years after a jury refused to convict 38-year-old Ms Gibson of possession of cannabis on the grounds that it was the only drug that could ease her MS symptoms