CHOCS AWAY...WITH A CANNABIS FILLING

HUNDREDS of chocolate bars containing cannabis are being made in Cumbria
and exported around the world.

A group called Therapeutic Help from Cannabis for Multiple Sclerosis
(Thc4MS), which has around a dozen members in the county, mix the
drug-laced chocolate at a secret location in North Cumbria.

The bars, dubbed "pot chocolate", are then packaged and posted to multiple
sclerosis (MS) sufferers in the UK and abroad, who use it to ease their
symptoms.

Mark Gibson, from Alston, is spokesman for the group, which is run on a
not-for-profit basis.

Wheelchair

Mr Gibson, whose wife Lezley is an MS sufferer, hit the headlines two years
ago when a Carlisle jury found her not guilty of possession of cannabis.

He says that although those involved risk being arrested, their work is too
important to give up.

"The group doesn't have a choice," he said.

"It is a case of having somebody ill and asking 'please help me'. You can't
refuse them, not when you know it works.

"How could you turn somebody away when they come to you in their wheelchair
in the middle of the night begging for help? It is a necessity."

The 150g bars of chocolate contain at least two per cent cannabis.

They are available free to anyone who can supply a doctor's note confirming
they suffer from MS.

Ingest

Wrappers contain the warnings: "150g Milk Medicinal Cannabis Chocolate, For
Patient Use Only!" and "Keep Out of the Reach of Children".

Those who order the bars are advised to eat one square three times a day,
for medicinal purposes.

Taken at this dose, the MS sufferer will not ingest enough cannabis to get
"high."

Thc4MS currently supplies more than 160 sufferers, which is up from 50 last
year and around 10 two years ago.

The chocolate is advertised by word of mouth, with around 600 bars posted
from Cumbria in the past 12 months.

It has been exported as far afield as Italy and Denmark.

All the raw materials, including the drug, are donated.

Thc4MS says is has chosen to speak freely about its work after Internet
vigilantes threatened to expose the group.

A spokesman for Cumbria police said: "If that is what these people are
doing it is against the law, and we'll be monitoring the situation.