Pubdate: Thu, 05 Oct 2000
Source: Express, Express on Sunday (UK)
Copyright: 2000 The Express
Contact:  +44-171-922-7794
Website: http://www.express.co.uk/
Forum: http://bbs.lineone.net/community/forums.html

CANNABIS-MS VICTIM IS CLEARED

A WOMAN suffering from multiple sclerosis who smoked cannabis to relieve
pain was cleared by a jury yesterday.

Lezley Gibson, 36, always admitted owning UKP40-worth of marijuana leaf that
police found at her home.  But she refused to accept having done anything
wrong because conventional medicine had failed to help her condition.

Gibson, of Alston, Cumbria, who has suffered from the wasting disease for 15
years, denied illegal possession of a class B drug.

The jury at Carlisle Crown Court accepted her defence that she needed
cannabis out of necessity.  Outside court, she said: "I am overwhelmed."
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