CAMPAIGNER BIZ HITS OUT AT 'CLEAR AS MUD' LAW CHANGES

The rules surrounding the downgrading of cannabis are as "clear as mud",
according to Orkney campaigner, Biz Ivol.

Cannabis is due to be downgraded to a class C drug today, Thursday, but the
police and government warn that possession is still illegal.

Kirkwall Police Inspector David Miller admitted that he had not received a
lot of information about the downgrading, but he was clear in his message:
"The reclassification will make no difference to the way which we deal with
the misuse of drugs.

"The message is clear - nothing has changed."

But Mrs Ivol, from South Ronaldsay, who was involved in a high profile
prosecution case in Kirkwall last year, maintains that the drug helps to
alleviate the symptoms of multiple sclerosis.

The Crown case against her was eventually dropped on medical grounds, and
she remains outspoken in her use of cannabis.

She said: "These new rules are as clear as mud. The police can still
charge you with possession and, as such, what are they going to do with me?

"When I first started this cannabis campaign, I kept recreational and
medicinal cannabis separate.

"The more I learn, the more I think it should be legalised. Cannabis
cannot kill you", she claimed. The 55-year-old is now bed-ridden for much
of her life, having suffered from the crippling disease for more than ten
years.

"The MS has well and truly taken over now. I can barely use my hands any
more. I just wish to God it would hurry up and take my brain."

She feels that policemen should be doing more to help people like herself
and legalise the drug.

"That is one thing that makes me very cross - why the policemen couldn't do
the fighting from the start. They are all coming out in favour of it now."

With declassification (sic) comes a penalty of up to two years in jail for
possession but a tougher approach to dealers as the sentence for supplying
class C drugs rises from a maximum of five years to 14 years.

Other class C drugs include mild amphetamines, valium and anabolic steroids.

Don Barnard of the Legalise Cannabis Alliance, who was in Orkney to support
Mrs Ivol during her court case, believes the way forward is legally
regulated control of the drug with licensed outlets such as cannabis cafes.

"We need to examine the successes, failures and costs of past and present
control regimes.

"Can we really justify punishing people for cannabis possession or growing
a few plants when clearly neither individual nor society benefits through
the prosecutions? Mr Barnard questioned.