26th
January 2007
Carlisle Crown Court
This
story should really have be our lead item andif it ween't for the contamination
problem which was a major story at the time it would have been.
Mark
and Lesley Gibson - Lesley being an MS sufferer - and Marcus Davise ran THC4MS
for a number of years, supplying cannabis in chocolate - known as "Canna-Biz"to
MS sufferers. They were busted last year and were found guilty on Friday 16th
December. There
have been a lot of stories concerning drugs in the media recently, it's clear
that the present "zero tolerance" drugs policy is in a total mess; it's
both unjust and creating more problems than it solves. Not only are people put
at extra risk due to the uncontrolled nature of cannabis, but compassionate people
are just collateral damage. When
this government came to power in 1997 it made a point of squashing drug law reform,
preferring to breath new life into the war on drugs. Well, that's certainly what's
happened and people with MS have been dragged through the courts, but that's only
one of the sickening results. Prohibition
- the correct term for the "war on drugs" - means that so-called illegal
drugs are not "controlled substances" in any meaningful use of the word
"controlled". Recreational
and escapist use is supplied by organised crime with a turnover making it the
third biggest industry on the planet. People who use cannabis for pain releif
are treated as the enemy in this war. Well
financed and able to defend itself the suppliers of hard drugs - the drugs the
government promised to target such as heroin and cocaine - have continued to spread
like a cancer through our society. Meanwhile the full force of the law has been
directed where it's easy to get results - such as busting THC4MS. What's
happened is people who supplied cannabis for free - in a non-smoking form - to
ease pain relief in ill people have been made to go through what can only be desrcibed
as a "show trial" in order to demonstrate the law is tough and even
medical users will be prosecuted. This is sick beyond belief, but true.
Talk
to Frank says:
"Using cannabis to relieve pain is also an offence.
Possession is illegal
whatever you’re using it for". |
In
May last year, the court of appeal ruled "medical necessity" could be
no defence for the possession or supply of cannabis as a pain relief, leaving
the way open for the police to target medical cannabis users.
These
people may have broken a law, but they are not criminals. They stood trial in
a place dedicated to "justice", not "law enforcement" - justice
has not been done. Guardian
report on the background to all this here
(The Guardian) | 
