A multiple sclerosis sufferer who vowed to take her own life at the end of her trial for using cannabis to alleviate her symptoms was taken to hospital yesterday hours after she apparently learned that the charges against her were to be dropped.

Biz Ivol, 55, from South Ronaldsay, had said she would commit suicide following her trial for possession, distribution and production of cannabis in Orkney.

Ms Ivol had said that her health had deteriorated to the point where she did not want to carry on, and she hoped her death would be a final protest for the decriminalisation of cannabis for medical use.

Ms Ivol was well-known in the islands for making cannabis chocolates which she sent to fellow MS sufferers. After being diagnosed with MS in the early 1990s, she was encouraged to try the drug by a doctor who was unable to alleviate her symptoms with conventional medicines.

Ms Ivol was taken to Balfour hospital in Kirkwall after she was found unconscious by friends yesterday.

Rumours that the case was about to end were confirmed at Kirkwall sheriff court shortly afterwards, when the charges against Ms Ivol were dropped on medical grounds.

Friends who had travelled to the Orkneys to support Ms Ivol said the alarm was raised at 9am, when she did not answer the door or respond to phone calls.

Her condition in hospital was said to be stable.

· Doctors' leaders yesterday rejected a call to urge the legalisation of cannabis for the treatment of patients suffering from multiple sclerosis, adds John Carvel.

After a heated debate at the British Medical Association conference in Torquay, a majority decided legalisation would send the wrong message to other drug users. The BMA will press for cannabinoid drugs to be made more widely available on prescription.