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Medical Pot Activist Steve Kubby: Sick and Imprisoned

By Jeralyn, Section Crime in the News
Posted on Sat Jan 28, 2006 at 05:36:16 AM EST
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Medical marijuana activist Steve Kubby, afflicted with a rare form of adrenal cancer, was deported from Canada Thursday to begin serving a four month sentence in the U.S., and it could be his death sentence. He was taken into custody when his plane landed in San Francisco. The jail is refusing to provide him with marinol, a lawful prescription drug that is a synthetic form of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, that relieves the debilitating pain and other symptoms of his disease.

Steve Kubby, a cancer patient, began coming ill two hours after his 8:10 p.m. arrest following police refusal to provide Marinol, NORML spokesman D. Gieringer reported...."I'm really sick already," Kubby told Gieringer by telephone said from jail. "I'm gonna start puking my brains out."

"He says his guards laughed at him when he requested Marinol. Kubby says he hasn't had marijuana for half a day and has begun to experience all of the symptoms of his life-threatening disease -- nausea, headaches, swollen kidneys. He has chills and has not been able to get a blanket from the guards," Gieringer stated.

A little background from yesterday's news. Kubby had a prescription in Canada that allowed him to smoke up to one ounce of marijuana a day. The only charge against him right now--and the one he was arrested on--is a probation violation for which he would serve 120 days.

The Kubby family had been seeking to stay in Canada, however, The Canadian Border Services rejected the family's bid for protection Dec. 9 and ordered them out of the country.

Kubby fled to Canada with his family in an effort to avoid incarceration after a 2000 conviction in Placer County on charges of possession of mescaline and psilocybin. Placer County deputies reportedly found a small mount of peyote button and magic mushroom during a 1999 raid of Kubby's Olympic Valley home. Two hundred sixty-five marijuana plants in various stages of growth were reportedly seized, officials said.

Kubby received probation for the offense, but left for Canada. The only charge pending against him is a petition to revoke his probation, for which the penalty is a maximum of six months, and which he would max out in 120 days.

There are significant political overtones to his case.

Kubby ran as the Libertarian candidate for governor on the 1997/1998 ballot. He was also one of the authors of Prop. 215, the compassionate-use act passed by the voters of the state of California in 1996. He contends he requires marijuana daily to stay alive and stave off the affects of his life-threatening adrenal cancer.

For lots more background, see TalkLeft's 2003 post about Kubby. And read the Kubby Chronicles.

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    Medical Pot Activist Steve Kubby: Sick and Imprisoned | 12 comments (12 topical)
    Re: Medical Pot Activist Steve Kubby: Sick and Imp (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Jan 28, 2006 at 12:30:45 AM EST
    One ounce of marijuana a day? ...

    Re: Medical Pot Activist Steve Kubby: Sick and Imp (none / 0) (#2)
    by Edger on Sat Jan 28, 2006 at 01:37:10 AM EST
    One ounce of marijuana a day? life-threatening adrenal cancer? hmmm... One ounce of marijuana a day. Any questions?

    Re: Medical Pot Activist Steve Kubby: Sick and Imp (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Jan 28, 2006 at 03:30:33 AM EST
    edger and JM: I think you're missing the point. We've become a country of institutionalized sadism.

    Re: Medical Pot Activist Steve Kubby: Sick and Imp (none / 0) (#4)
    by Edger on Sat Jan 28, 2006 at 05:21:55 AM EST
    Institutionalized sadism is only one symptom of malignant Cancer of the Attitude, which is even more widespread than the sadism. This type of cancer, like lupus, is a "disease of a thousand symptoms", the most serious being that it rapidly destroys higher reasoning centers of the brain, and causes the eyes to filter all threating images before nerve transmission to what remains of the brain, and unlike most forms of cancer, is highly contagious. There are unconfirmed studies that show that an ounce a day of marijuana, combined with zero exposure to the lighting in the WH press briefing room, will cure the disease nearly overnight in 99% of cases, however.

    Re: Medical Pot Activist Steve Kubby: Sick and Imp (none / 0) (#5)
    by jen on Sat Jan 28, 2006 at 06:26:31 AM EST
    not giving a prescribed drug to a man with a life threatening disease? thats not sadism, thats trying to kill someone.

    Re: Medical Pot Activist Steve Kubby: Sick and Imp (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Jan 28, 2006 at 07:40:45 AM EST
    Not the first time a medical marijuana activist has been murdered by sending them to jail this is just stupid -pot should be legalized for however people want to use it or alcohol should be a banned substance as well

    Re: Medical Pot Activist Steve Kubby: Sick and Imp (none / 0) (#7)
    by Che's Lounge on Sat Jan 28, 2006 at 10:56:07 AM EST
    UP TO an ounce a day, OK? They set a limit. Jeez.

    Re: Medical Pot Activist Steve Kubby: Sick and Imp (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Jan 28, 2006 at 11:11:50 AM EST
    the entire "conservative" culture is a culture of death.

    Re: Medical Pot Activist Steve Kubby: Sick and Imp (none / 0) (#9)
    by Dadler on Sat Jan 28, 2006 at 02:54:50 PM EST
    First off, his deportation is ridiculous. The entire prohibition is. Period. Secondly, an ounce of pot is a pretty good amount. I'd be really surprised if he was actually smoking that much a day. You'd have not much time for anything else, as you'd have to be chain-puffing all day. You'd need some kind of automatic munchie machine to feed you.

    Re: Medical Pot Activist Steve Kubby: Sick and Imp (none / 0) (#10)
    by scarshapedstar on Sat Jan 28, 2006 at 04:38:13 PM EST
    What I can't figure out, yet "compassionate conservatives" like JM seem to know, is who would be harmed by this guy getting what he needs. But then I could never understand their argument for how every gay marriage causes 10,000 straight marriages to fail (like CFCs destroying their ozone layer?) either.

    Re: Medical Pot Activist Steve Kubby: Sick and Imp (none / 0) (#11)
    by kdog on Sun Jan 29, 2006 at 09:41:21 AM EST
    Madness.

    Re: Medical Pot Activist Steve Kubby: Sick and Imp (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Jan 30, 2006 at 10:22:11 PM EST
    See this news article for more information. Also, the misdemenor charge on which Steve Kubby's jury returned a conviction was respecified as a felony after trial by the DA and judge. The Kubby's flight to Canada was due to the abuse received in custody, the disregard of this on the part of the state, and the real possibility of an extended custodial sentence without cannabis, which per all expert opinion on the matter would likely kill him. Also, the Marinol has now been provided, but it is not enough (see this article for a fuller explanation)

    Medical Pot Activist Steve Kubby: Sick and Imprisoned | 12 comments (12 topical)