CANNABIS LAW IN CHAOS AS DEALER IS CLEARED

A MAN who supplied cannabis to the sick was cleared of drugs charges in a
landmark case yesterday.

Colin Davies admitted growing the drug, but argued that he was providing a
valuable medical service.

A jury accepted his defence and found him not guilty at the end of the
first case of its kind in a British court.

Their decision was last night hailed as an important breakthrough by MPs,
doctors and campaigners who support the use of cannabis for medical reasons.

It is also expected to increase pressure on the Government to change the
law. Mr Davies, who uses cannabis to alleviate the pain he suffers from a
spinal injury, described the jury's verdict as a "triumph for genuine human
values".

Last year Home Secretary Jack Straw rejected recommendations from a House
of Lords select committee that the use of cannabis should be allowed for
medical reasons.

But the House of Commons is today due to debate a motion tabled by Labour
MP Paul Flynn proposing a change in the law.

Mr Flynn said yesterday: "This is a ground-breaking verdict. It shows that
the law is falling into disrepute.

"Cannabis has been used as a medicine for 3,000 years. What we are doing is
unfair and cruel - putting the fear of imprisonment into people who are
committing no greater crime than taking their medicine of choice."

Mr Flynn said 102 MPs have signed his motion, including 30 Tories and
added: "The law could be changed as long as the Government doesn't object.
I appeal to them to let it go forward in the light of this verdict."

Gordon Prentice MP, secretary of the Commons multiple sclerosis group,
said: "I have argued for many years that cannabis ought to be available for
medicinal use.

"I hope to see that happen in the next few years because it does seem to
give relief to conditions which are not responsive to conventional medicine."

The Government has granted a licence for scientists to grow the drug for
medical trials, due to start in October this year.

Mr Davies was arrested after police found 26 cannabis plants being
cultivated at his home in Stockport. He had set up a non-profit-making
co-operative to supply the drug to more than 100 sufferers of multiple
sclerosis and other illnesses.

The jury at Manchester Crown Court was told by prosecutor Howard Baisden
that, no matter what their views on its medical benefits, Mr Davies had
committed a criminal offence.

He said: "The law is that, unless you have a special dispensation by the
Home Secretary, it is illegal."

But at the end of a four-day trial, the jury cleared Mr Davies of all charges.

Previously defendants have been cleared of possessing cannabis for medical
use, but Mr Davies was the first to be found not guilty of supplying it as
a pain reliever.

After walking free the 42-year-old father of two said: "The jury have
played their part in helping people with a wide range of illnesses. They
have given people like me and them a chance that we might be able to get a
little bit of stability back into our lives."

Wheelchair-bound MS sufferer Andrew Caldwell from Huddersfield has received
cannabis from Mr Davies. He said: "The people of this country have spoken
and the politicians should please, please listen to what's been said."

Last month doctors narrowly voted against a call to support the
legalisation of cannabis for medicinal use at the British Medical
Association conference.

A spokesman for the Multiple Sclerosis Society said: "We would not
encourage members to break the law as it stands, but we sympathise with
people who find it of benefit in alleviating their symptoms and would ask
the courts to be sympathetic, as they have in this case."

A Home Office spokesman said the Government would only consider changing
the law if cannabis preparation had passed clinical trials.