Cannabis News Media Awareness Project
  Drug Police Raid Home of Cannabis Sweets MS Woman
Posted by FoM on August 08, 2001 at 21:44:10 PT
By David Hartley 
Source: The Scotsman 

medical A Multiple sclerosis sufferer who makes cannabis-laced chocolates for others with the condition has had her Orkney home raided by police. Yesterday, Biz Ivol, 53, vowed to carry on her fight for the legalisation of the drug.

Mrs Ivol said: "I’ve had so many phone calls from people who support me and I now feel I’ve got my fighting spirit back. I’m determined to fight to the bitter end for what I believe in." She said officers took away a small amount of cannabis, several joints, a cannabis plant, her computer, address book and campaign literature after searching her home at Herston, South Ronaldsay.

The raid, involving four officers, followed publicity surrounding Mrs Ivol’s decision to make chocolates laced with cannabis available to fellow MS sufferers across Britain.

She melts chocolate in a microwave, mixes in finely grated cannabis and pours the mixture into the paper cases used for small cakes.

"I’ve sent out 30 parcels with a week’s supply - seven of the sweeties - to people all over the country," Mrs Ivol said. "Ninety five per cent of them have gone to middle- aged women with MS. But one of the phone calls I had after the raid was from a man in Scotland who has MS and whose legs are paralysed.

"After taking the chocolates for five nights he had feeling in his legs again for the first time in 12 years."

Mrs Ivol, who was diagnosed with the condition 10 years ago, began smoking cannabis on her GP’s advice to ease the pain.

Four years ago, after a previous police raid on her home, she was admonished at Kirkwall Sheriff Court after admitting growing cannabis plants and possessing the drug. It was the first case of its kind after the British Medical Association called on courts to be compassionate when people - including MS sufferers - use cannabis to ease pain.

Despite the experience of having to struggle into court on walking sticks, Mrs Ivol carried on using cannabis herself and became a spearhead of the campaign to legalise the medical use of the drug.

"The people I’ve sent the chocolates are utterly helpless," she said. "I don’t feel like a criminal - the only criminal is the government for refusing to let us use something that really helps people with MS. I’ve never taken any money for the cannabis chocolates. Some people have sent me stamps and one old man with glaucoma sent me a cheque for £10 to help cover my costs."

Police confirmed they had searched a house in Herston, South Ronaldsay, under a warrant issued under the Misuse of Drugs Act.

Kirkwall-based Inspector Paul Eddington said a number of items had been seized and sent for analysis.

"After the outcome of that analysis, and other ongoing inquiries, we anticipate a report will be submitted to the procurator fiscal," he added.

Source: Scotsman (UK)
Author: David Hartley
Published: Thursday, August 9th 2001
Copyright: The Scotsman Publications Ltd 2001
Contact: Letters_ts@scotsman.com
Website: http://www.scotsman.com/

Related Article:

MS Sufferer Sells Cannabis Chocs
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10382.shtml

CannabisNews Articles - UK
http://cannabisnews.com/thcgi/search.pl?K=UK


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Comment #4 posted by Sam Adams on August 09, 2001 at 10:45:34 PT
Thugs Scotland, too
It is scary. Never underestimate what people can do to each other when programmed with propaganda and hatred.

I think it's so funny how we all grow up hearing about the awful Nazis and what they did to the Jews and how bad it was - I think it's all a big exercise to keep exploitation and repression at arms length - it's always something done somewhere else, in the past, by evil people. Wake up! We all share 100% of the genetic content of Hitler and every SS guard and thug that every killed or raped or tortured someone.

Idealogical repression and propaganda are the tools of the fascist. How else can you explain why armed thugs ROUTINELY raid, loot, and kill people in their own homes for plants or other substances that are less harmful that many of the products on the shelf at CVS or Walgreens, and this is totally normal in our society. People hear the trigger word "marijuana" and all of the sudden the poor woman is stigmatized, and it's okay for our thugs to f*ck her over.

Think about it: Walk through a bookstore, flip on a TV, look at a newspaper, we are assaulted daily by a BARRAGE of sexuality - women seductively learing at us, breasts all over the place, 15 year old girls modeling stuff. Yet in my state, if a woman bares her breast -even for an instant- in public, she can be arrested and taken into custody by the police. (And I'm not exaggerating, this is happening a few times each year in my city). It's okay for 20 people to be violenty murdered in movies, but not to show people having loving sex with each other.

Home of the free my ass. We are SO repressed. And look out, it's going to get worse before it gets better.......

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Comment #3 posted by Doug on August 09, 2001 at 09:16:15 PT
Way to go, Coppers
This was such a heartless and cruel arrest that it must surely be a public-relations nightmare. I wonder why the police would get involved in something like this -- there must certainly be real crime happening somewhere in Britain. The police must believe their own propaganda so strongly that they have ceased not only to think but to be able to think.

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Comment #2 posted by Kevin Hebert on August 09, 2001 at 08:37:36 PT:

We have to keep fighting until we win
And this is why:

"After taking the chocolates for five nights he had feeling in his legs again for the first time in 12 years."

Seriously, this is amazing. Can you imagine if you couldn't walk, let alone not feel your legs? And a few days after being treated with our favorite herb, you could? We have to win, for people like this, for people like you and me, for us all, for everyone.


[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #1 posted by Colin on August 09, 2001 at 03:20:30 PT
Thank You
Great idea Mrs Biz Ivol, thanx for helping people in pain and need of medication. RESPECT.

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