[Sundae]

The case of Lezley Gibson mentioned above has come to trial. Initial article from Times Online

Highlights:

Cannabis chocolate 'made to ease MS'
Russell Jenkins

Multiple sclerosis sufferers around the world swore by the chocolate bars made at Mark and Lezley Gibson’s gift shop in the Lake District...

...But that ingredient was to lead Mr and Mrs Gibson into the dock at Carlisle Crown Court yesterday, where both are accused of conspiring to supply cannabis.

Along with a family friend, Marcus Davies, 36, they set up the campaign group Therapeutic Help from Cannabis for Multiple Sclerosis and on their website, www.thc4ms.org, offered their “Canna-Biz” chocolate bars, the court was told.

Mrs Gibson, who suffers from MS, her 42-year-old husband and Mr Davies made no secret of their campaign to legalise cannabis for therapeutic pain relief.

They made no charge but there was a request that each “buyer” establish that they were an MS sufferer and that they make a donation to meet production costs.

Over a period throughout 2004 and up to February last year about 22,000 of the 150g (5oz) bars were despatched, each one of them laced with 3.5g of cannabis. A mailing list with 460 addresses was later found by police.

Jeremy Grout-Smith, for the prosecution, told the jury that while the trio might be well intentioned, they had no defence against the charges which carry a maximum sentence of 14 years’ imprisonment.

“To supply cannabis, even if you believe it is doing some good, is not a defence,” he said.

The court was told that police became involved in January when the duty manager at the Royal Mail sorting office in Carlisle contacted them about a package which had spilled open during sorting. Officers seized 33 Jiffy bags containing the Canna-Biz product. Each of the packets carried a PO box address in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, as the return address. The wrappers also carried the website address which was later found to be run by the three defendants.

Mr Grout-Smith said that they were not conventional drug dealers but believed their actions would help to alleviate the pain of a debilitating illness. MS is a progressive disease which attacks the central nervous system.

“So this seems to be distribution on quite a large scale and, to some extent at least, the defendants may have benefited financially, although the Crown does not claim this was their main motivation.”

A juror who made it known to the judge that she had a relative in the family with MS was told this was no bar to deciding guilt or innocence in the case.

The trial, expected to last seven days, continues.