Source: The Guardian, UK Pubdate: Sat, 06 Jun 1998 Contact: http://www.guardian.co.uk/ Author: David Ward JURY CLEARS MAN WHO USED CANNABIS AS PAIN KILLER Verdict 'brings closer' legalisation of drug for medical purposes By David Ward A man who smoked four cannabis joints a day to relieve pain caused by a broken back vowed yesterday to continue rolling them after a jury cleared him of drugs charges brought following a police raid on his home. "I will carry on smoking cannabis," said Colin Davies, of Stockport, Greater Manchester. "It helps the terrible pain I get from my injuries. I feel vindicated that the jury has listened to me." The eight women and four men at Manchester Crown Court took just 40 minutes to clear Mr Davies of cultivating cannabis contrary to the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act. After the verdict Mr Davies provoked giggles when he asked for his 18 cannabis plants back. The verdict comes just two months after a jury in Warrington, Cheshire, cleared on three out of four drugs charges a man who supplied his wife with home-grown cannabis to ease her acute pain from multiple sclerosis. It will be a further boost for those campaigning for the decriminalisation of cannabis, including the thousands who marched through central London in March. Mr Davies, a former joiner who suffered severe injuries when he fell 60ft from a bridge in 1994, denounced the prosecution as a waste of money. "The only victim out of all this is me," he said. "I could not believe it when the police broke down my door. I was being arrested for something that was for my own medical benefit. Where am I on the scale of criminality?" The court heard that police, acting on a tip-off, had found the cannabis plants behind a partition in the bedroom of Mr Davies's flat. Mr Davies, who represented himself, said paracetamol and codeine prescribed by doctors prompted spasms and sickness spells, and he then had to seek hospital treatment. "I read about cannabis as a relief from pain and I actually went out and bought some off the streets," he said. "I did not like having to do that so I decided to have a go at growing some for my own use on my own property. "I did it behind my own front door, there was no interference with anyone else. I now find myself here and I feel terrible. I chose something else out of desperation. I'm offering a defence of necessity. The only choice from doctors is more pain killers." Ian Metcalfe, prosecuting, told the jury there was little dispute about the facts. "Mr Davies knew it was illegal and said the cannabis was for pain relief. But as the law stands today that does not provide the defence or justification to start growing a crop," he said. He told the jury: "You have taken an oath to give a true verdict according to the law. That is what the Crown asks. You have a duty to return a guilty verdict." During the trial, Mr Davies called as witnesses his own GP, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon and Matthew Atha, principal consultant of the Independent Drugs Monitoring Unit. "This verdict will bring closer the day when cannabis use for medical purposes is legalised," said Mr Atha after the trial. "The priority is to make sure those with legitimate medical reasons are not turned into criminals. "A not guilty verdict means the jury thinks the law is an ass and they are more sensitive to the needs of people who need to use cannabis for medical reasons than the Government." Last November, the British Medical Association published a report on the medical uses of cannabis which called for more research. "We have to recognise that there are many thousands of people who are resorting to the use of cannabis illegally because they have not been able to find conventional relief for their symptoms," a spokeswoman said yesterday. - --- Checked-by: (trikydik)