CANNABIS WOMAN TO 'TRY SUICIDE AGAIN'

BIZ Ivol, the terminally-ill cannabis campaigner, yesterday described
how she tried to end her life with 25 paracetamol tablets,
two-and-a-half joints, and a glass of lemonade.

She said: "I am so disappointed that I'm still here. Now I can't wait
to get home. I'll make sure I do it properly next time." From her bed
in Balfour Hospital, Kirkwall, Ms Ivol said regaining consciousness
after the unsuccessful suicide at-tempt was like "waking from a nightmare".

Ms Ivol, an MS sufferer, tried to raise awareness of the medicinal
uses of cannabis during a high-profile court case.

The 56-year-old had faced three charges of possessing, distributing,
and producing can-nabis, but prosecutors an-nounced earlier this week
that the case was to be dropped because of Ms Ivol's deteriorating
medical condition.

"Once I knew the case had been dropped, I knew I could fight no
longer," she said yesterday. "I just decided when I went to bed that
there are plenty of people who can carry on the fight for the
medicinal use of cannabis to be legalised."

After smoking a joint in the early hours of Wednesday morning, Ms
Ivol, from Herston, South Ronaldsay, took 10 paracetamol tablets with
a glass of lemonade. "I felt happy and relaxed after smoking the joint
and I soon fell asleep. I woke up a couple of hours later, smoked
another joint and took another 10 paracetamol.

"I wasn't feeling guilty or upset, just happy that things were coming
to an end and that I was in no pain. I woke again at about 5.30am and,
as the paracetamol didn't seem to have worked, swallowed five more
tablets I found lying in the bed.

"I smoked half of another joint and figured out it would be at least
another four hours before anyone found me, and that the paracetamol
should have worked by then. But I was still fully conscious when my
next door neighbour came round just before 8am and I told her what I'd
done."

Ms Ivol's condition was described as comfortable, but she was still
struggling to come to terms with her failed suicide attempt. "I'm
really cross with myself and I feel like having a good cry. I don't
want to live any more. This disease has taken over my body and life is
just too painful for me to carry on.

"I'm going to commit suicide properly next time. Waking up in hospital
and finding that I made a mess of it was like a nightmare for me."

She also described the disappointment after hearing that her court
case was being dropped. "I was bitterly disappointed. It was not how I
wanted it to end. I wanted to change the law. I wanted to go all the
way to the House of Lords and the European Court of Human Rights."

Margo MacDonald, the independent MSP, said her case had shown the need
for the executive to use its legal powers to halt prosecutions for the
medical use of cannabis. She recognised overall drug policy was
reserved to Westminster, but argued that criminal law and prosecution
policy was devolved to Holyrood.

"We need to look at possible derogation on prosecution where there is
a certificate from a GP on, for example, a case of multiple sclerosis.
The fiscal and the police could decide that use of cannabis or its
supply for pain relief could be dealt with in a sympathetic way."