COMPASSIONATE RESULT IN CANNABIS COURT CASE

Ms Sufferer Used Drug To Counter Excruciating Pain

By David Hartley

A Woman who suffers from multiple sclerosis struggled to court yesterday to
face sentence for growing cannabis the only drug that relieves the
severe pain she suffers.

Elizabeth Ivol, 50, had to use two walking sticks to clamber up the steep
flight of stairs leading to Kirkwall Sheriff Court, in Orkney.

Hers was the first case of it's kind since the British Medical Association
called on courts to exercise compassion and understanding when sick people
including MS sufferers use cannabis to alleviate their symptoms.

After warning Mrs. Ivol that she could face six months in jail, Sheriff
Colin Scott Mackenzie admonished her on two charges growing 27 cannabis
plants and possessing the illegal drug.

Mrs. Ivol, of Craigflower cottage, Herston, South Ronaldsay, had pleaded
guilty on an earlier occasion.

Her defence agent, Graham Sutherland, said Mrs. Ivol appreciated the
seriousness of the offences she had committed and had made an enormous
physical effort to go to court to face sentence.

"There was no criminal intent behind her cultivating cannabis plants they
were not intended for anyone else," Mr. Sutherland told the court. "My
client intended to use the drug privately and discreetly. This was an
experiment she had never grown cannabis plants before.

"Unfortunately for my client, she is not aware of any drugs available on
prescription which provide the degree of relief which she obtains from her
home grown cannabis."

Mrs. Ivol's consultant neuropsychologist had confirmed that no legally
available drug could offer the same relief for her symptoms as cannabis, he
told the court.

"My client was not using cannabis for pleasure," said Mr. Sutherland.

"She was attempting to relieve the awful physical symptoms she suffers and
to obtain a degree of selfrespect, something which most people take for
granted."

Fiscal Colin McClory had earlier told the court the offences came to light
after police heard workers carrying out community service had found
cannabis plants at a house in South Ronaldsay.

"They had helped themselves to a number of leaves taken them back to
Kirkwall, used them themselves and shared them out with others," he said.

Tests had shown that the 27 plants would have produced 86.7g of dried
cannabis with a black market value of 430ukp, he said.

Sheriff Mackenzie told Mrs. Ivol, who sat looking very weary and solemn in
the dock, that cultivating cannabis could result in a six month prison
sentence, a 5.000ukp fine, or both.

"In administering the law, the High Court has frequently said that
offenders will be severely dealt with." he said.

"I have little doubt that cannabis might have a beneficial pharmaceutical
effect in certain circumstances. That is not to say that it is the only
drug which can provide a beneficial effect.

"However, that is possibly something which interested people should put to
Members of Parliament."

After the case, Mrs. Ivol lit up a totally legal cigarette outside Kirkwall
Sheriff Court and said she was enormously relieved.

"I felt like a criminal all the time I was in there," she said, as she sat
on the steps of the court. "But I don't now I'm outside in the fresh air
again."

Mrs. Ivol said she had to cope with unimaginable pain before she discovered
relief through smoking homegrown cannabis.

"It felt like a strand of barbed wire being dragged though my spine up to
the top of my head," she said.

She was diagnosed as having MS seven years ago, but started using cannabis
only four months ago.

"Painkillers just weren't working anymore," she said. "I knew I was
breaking the law, but it was a risk I had to take because there was nothing
else left for me.

"I'd seriously wondered about whether I could carry on living. Then, when I
started smoking a joint every five days, I'd find all the pain had gone
within about an hour.

"I suddenly found I could feel my toes for the first time in three years.

"It's also given me a bit of independence. I can look after myself and my
dogs. Without the cannabis , they'd probably have to put me in a home."

Mrs. Ivol makes soft toys for charities such as Age Concern and the Royal
National Lifeboat Institution and was presented with a certificate recently
for her outstanding voluntary work.

After leaving court yesterday, she went home to put the finishing touches
to a 7ft dragon she is making for a Christmas pantomime in South Ronaldsay.