CANNABIS campaigner Jeff Ditchfield was last night considering a final appeal to the House of Lords after top judges dismissed calls to legalise the drug for chronic pain relief. Three appeal court judges ruled against the argument that otherwise unlawful conduct could be "excused or justified by the need to avoid a greater evil". They also dismissed the defence of "necessity" to those who used or supplied the Class C drug to alleviate severe pain. The judges said the defence should not have succeeded in the case of Mr Ditchfield, 43, of Rhyl, Denbighshire, who was acquitted in January last year of possessing the drug with intent to supply it to victims of serious and painful medical conditions. Despite yesterday's decision, Mr Ditchfield cannot now be convicted of that offence. The Rhyl shop owner, who stood as a Legalise Cannabis candidate in the general election in Vale of Clwyd, polling 286 votes, said last night: "I have been in touch with my solicitor, who is trying to get a transcript of the ruling. "I have been granted leave to seek an appeal at the House of Lords and I'll be doing that." He said that he had also been on bail for 12 months on suspicion of conspiracy to cultivate cannabis. "I'm now expecting I may be charged with that offence and I could be facing another crown court case within months. "I have had this hanging over me for four years. But do I ignore someone's suffering knowing I could help them just to save my own skin? "I still feel inclined to help them. "We were hoping for a ruling that would actually let the police, public and those who are ill know where they stand. "There will be an outcry at this ruling to put it mildly, probably going down the Fathers For Justice style with bells on. "I have been contacted by at least 20 people today who are seriously ill and they all want to protest. We will have to wait and see. It's a human rights issue. It just can't be right to criminalise people in wheelchairs for using a plant." Mr Ditchfield was acquitted at Chester Crown Court on January 16 last year after being allowed to use the defence of "necessity" by the trial judge Elgan Edwards. Attorney general Lord Goldsmith asked top judges to look at the defence behind his acquittal. The appeal court judges ruled yesterday that the defences of necessity or duress should be confined to cases where someone committed what would otherwise be an unlawful act to avoid "imminent danger of physical injury". John Rees, for the attorney general, told Lord Justice Mance, Mr Justice Newman and Mr Justice Fulford, that Mr Ditchfield was in effect "a quack doctor" by supplying drugs without medical training. He argued the court would be encouraging unqualified people to practice medicine if it upheld Judge Edwards' ruling.. Keith Sutton, for Mr Ditchfield, argued special exceptions to the cannabis laws, which allow MS suffers to possess seeds and cultivate the drug for their own use, should also apply to his client. The judges also dismissed appeals by Barry Quayle, 38, from Market Rasen, Lincolnshire; Reay Wales, 53, of Ipswich; Graham Kenny, 25, from Shipley, West York-shire; and Anthony Taylor, 54, and May Po Lee, 28, both from London. tom_bodden@lineone.net | 
