MS VICTIM 'SENT CANNABIS CHOCOLATES TO FELLOW SUFFERER'

A POLICE officer who searched the home of a woman accused of supplying
cannabis-laced sweets to fellow multiple sclerosis sufferers found a
letter asking her to send on some of her "special Belgian chocolates",
a court heard yesterday.

Constable Michael Don said he obtained a search warrant to go to
Elizabeth Ivol's home in Orkney on 6 August, 2001, after she attracted
some media attention.

He found tobacco, a quantity of rolled cigarettes and several recorded
delivery slips, as well as the letter.

Mr Don, of Northern Constabulary, told the court that when he
interviewed Mrs Ivol, she told him: "I send out information packs
first and they usually contact me again if they wanted to try out the
chocolate.

"I then send out a package of chocolates with nothing indicating where
it has come from."

Mrs Ivol, 55, a wheelchair-bound MS sufferer from South Ronaldsay,
denies one charge of possession of cannabis, one charge of supplying
cannabis and one charge of cultivating the drug.

Earlier, a man who wanted to relieve his wife's suffering from MS said
he contacted Mrs Ivol, who is known as Biz, to obtain some cannabis
chocolates. John Murray told Kirkwall Sheriff Court, which is sitting
in the leisure centre, that he had learned that Mrs Ivol had developed
a technique for blending cannabis with chocolate.

Mr Murray had thought about obtaining cannabis for some time but had
lacked any contacts with suppliers of the drug.

However, after reading a newspaper article featuring Mrs Ivol, he
contacted her and she sent him several cannabis chocolates by post.

Mr Murray's home in Dalgety Bay, Fife, was later visited by police,
who removed all the cannabis chocolate before he had a chance to give
any to his wife.

The trial, before Sheriff Colin Scott Mackenzie, continues
today.

Meanwhile, the Scottish Socialist Party has tabled a motion urging the
Scottish Parliament to send a message of support to Mrs Ivol.

An internet petition was also started this week by the Legalise
Cannabis Alliance and has already received 12 pages of messages of
support, and letters have been sent to the justice minister and Home
Secretary.

Last week, Mrs Ivol said she will commit suicide after the trial, as
her condition has left her with no quality of life.