Suppliers of cannabis-laced chocolate bars to MS sufferers walk free

THREE people who supplied thousands of chocolate bars laced with cannabis to multiple sclerosis sufferers walked free from court yesterday.

Mark Gibson, 42, his wife Lezley, 42, who has multiple sclerosis (MS), and Marcus Davies, 36, were each given a nine-month jail term, suspended for two years.

All three defendants argued the drug eased the symptoms of MS and believed they had a defence of medical necessity but this was rejected by a jury last month.

Sentencing yesterday at Carlisle Crown Court, Judge John Phillips said he accepted their motives were “altruistic”, that they had a genuine desire to help people who were suffering and that no profit was made from the operation.

The judge said that current sentencing guidelines substantiated a significant custodial sentence but he accepted there were exceptional circumstances in this case, although he disagreed that a conditional discharge was appropriate.

He said: “The conspiracy to supply drugs took place over a number of years in what was a sophisticated operation in which several kilogrammes of cannabis were distributed.”

All three were convicted of two counts each of conspiring to supply cannabis throughout 2004 and until February 2005.

The “cottage industry” made and supplied 20,000 of the Canna-Biz bars, each containing around 2g of the drug.