DUTCH MS PATIENT ALLOWED TO GROW POT

THE HAGUE - A Dutch appeals court on Tuesday handed down a landmark
ruling allowing an MS patient to grow cannabis for his personal use
to alleviate the symptoms of his illness.

Although it is legal in the Netherlands to sell and consume small
amounts of cannabis and hashish in licensed cafes, growing and
trafficking the drugs are banned. Tuesday's ruling is the first time
Dutch authorities have made an exception on the ban on growing
cannabis for personal medical use.

The case before the appeals court in Leeuwarden in the northern
Netherlands involved 51-year old Wim Moorlag, who suffers from
multiple sclerosis, and his wife Klasiena Hooijer, who grew cannabis.
They cultivated just enough to meet Moorlag's daily use of three
grams, namely some 300 grams per harvest every 15 weeks.