Pubdate: Sat, 14 Oct 2000
Source: News & Star (UK)
Copyright: 2000 News & Star
Contact:  Newspaper House, Dalston Road, Carlisle CA2 5UA
Fax: 594088
Website: http://www.news-and-star.co.uk/
Author: Phil Coleman

CANNABIS WOMAN CONSIDERED POLITICAL ASYLUM

A CUMBRIAN woman cleared of possessing cannabis after arguing that she
needed the drug to ease her multiple sclerosis (MS) has told how she
considered seeking political asylum in Holland.

Former hairdresser Lezley Gibson, 36, said she was urged to apply for
asylum during a family holiday in Holland last August.

Just weeks before Mrs Gibson's trial at Carlisle Crown Court, Dutch
cannabis campaigner Ger de Zwann, who is a leading expert in Holland on the
medicinal use of cannabis to ease illness, told Lezley and her husband
Mark, 36, that he would support their application for political asylum.

The couple did not take up his offer of help because their 13-year-old
daughter Tracey has yet to finish her schooling.

After her trial last week, Mrs Gibson, from Front Street, Alston, said
cannabis had helped her to escape the most crippling and terrifying effects
of MS, in which nerve damage can cause severe disability.

She went on to vow that she will continue to use the drug because she
considers it is the only effective treatment for her illness.

But senior officials from Cumbria's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said
they will not go soft on cannabis possession, in spite of the jury's
decision to clear Mrs Gibson. The issue also made national headlines this
week as Tory shadow home secretary Ann Widdicombe voiced support for a
"zero tolerance" policy on drugs, with those caught in possession of drugs
such as cannabis being given on-the-spot fines.

Mrs Gibson said: "The Dutch gentleman's offer of help was very tempting.

"Unfortunately, I have no guarantees that they (the police) will leave me
alone. It would have given me peace of mind to know that I don't face the
risk of being prosecuted again for using the medicine I need.

"Mr de Zwaan has a lot of influence in Holland, with the media and
politicians, and he was confident that we could have got asylum. In
Holland, you can legally possess five grams. If Tracey hadn't been still at
school, we'd probably have taken up his offer."

When Mrs Gibson was first diagnosed with MS in 1985, the illness left her
paralysed down one side and doctors predicted she would be confined to a
wheelchair within five years.
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