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A Last, Desperate Appeal to Stay in Canada
By FRED GARDNER | counterpunch | January 14 / 15, 2006

Canadian Immigration authorities had a "Removal Order" dated January 12, but Steve Kubby and his family remain north of the border while Judge Yvon Pinard considers their last, desperate appeal. Kubby, 58, suffers from a rare form of adrenal cancer that has been in remission for decades thanks to cannabis use. He fears that a return to California -where he faces jail time- could be a death sentence.

Kubby is an activist who played a key role in getting Prop 215 on the ballot in 1996. He and his wife Michele were busted in January '99 and charged with growing 265 indoor plants at their home in Squaw Valley. Placer County prosecutors charged that the plants were for sale to Bay Area clubs; the Kubbys maintained they were for personal use (and that more than half were unsexed seedlings).

Kubby's defense included a letter from Vincent DeQuattro, MD, the USC Medical Center cancer specialist who in the early 1980s diagnosed Kubby's condition as Pheochromocytoma, a cancer that stimulates overproduction of adrenaline (inducing heart attacks and strokes). DeQuattro was surprised to learn that Kubby had survived when in 1998 he saw his name listed in the Voter's Handbook as the Libertarian Party candidate for governor of California.

"I contacted him to determine how it was that he had survived all these years," DeQuattro recounted. "He told me that he was treating himself with the advice of his physicians in northern California with marijuana and has been taking no other medical therapy for several years." DeQuattro consulted another specialist who confirmed "that every patient other than Steve with Steve's condition had died during this interval of time. Steve was the only survivor."

DeQuattro hypothesized that "in some amazing fashion, this medication has not only controlled the symptoms of the pheochromocytoma, but in my view, has [also] arrested its growth." He also advised the court that a very sharp spike in Kubby's blood pressure during his three-day imprisonment following the bust suggested that the cancer, though in remission, was still present in his adrenal system.

"Please consider the consequences of Steve's condition not being controlled," DeQuattro wrote. "His tumor is manufacturing large quantities of norepinephrine (noradrenaline) and possibly epinephrine (adrenaline). Either compound in minute quantities could kill him instantly by causing sudden cardiac death due to arrhythmia or acute myocardial infarction, or sudden death due to cerebral hemorrhage or cerebral vascular occlusion."

A mostly female jury acquitted 11-1 on the sales charges but found Steve Kubby guilty of misdemeanor possession of a peyote button and a psilocybin mushroom turned up during the raid. (Kubby claimed they'd been left by a guest.) Rather than risk four months' incarceration, he left with his wife and children for British Columbia, and was declared a fugitive by Placer County.

In 2002 Kubby got permission from Health Canada to grow 117 plants and to possess 12 pounds for personal medical use; but he was denied refugee status by the Immigration and Refugee Board in December 2003 on the grounds that he would not be "at risk of cruel and unusual treatment or punishment, or a risk to his life" back in the U.S. The ruling by Adjudicator Paula Jones was seen as a signal to U.S. marijuana users not to consider Canada a political haven. Prohibitionists on both sides of the border feared a wave of political immigrants reminiscent of the war resisters (many of them active-duty military personnel) who streamed north during the 1960s.

Kubby filed for judicial review by the federal court in Canada. In connection with his appeal he was examined by Joseph M. Connors, MD, Chair of the Lymphoma Tumor Group and the Research Ethics Board at the BC Cancer - who confirmed that marijuana use was apparently protecting Kubby from a fatal heart attack or stroke. Again the legal authorities chose to ignore the medical expert. An attorney for Immigration Canada, Keith Reimer, argued successfully that there was no proof Kubby would be arrested if returned to the U.S., and, anyway, prisoners in the U.S. get adequate medical care. (Reality: U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson has ordered a receiver to take control of California's prison health care system and correct conditions of "outright depravity.")

Kubby's key contribution to the passage of Prop 215 came back in January, 1996, when Dennis Peron had just about given up hope of obtaining enough signatures to get an initiative on the ballot. Kubby had a connection to George Soros's lieutenant for drug-policy reform, Ethan Nadelmann. At Kubby's suggestion, Nadelmann flew out to SF, assessed the situation, and decided to underwrite a professional signature drive. Not at Kubby's suggestion, Nadelmann hired a professional campaign consultant from Santa Monica named Bill Zimmerman, who hired a signature-gathering firm in Venice, and for about $800,000 they obtained 735,000 signatures by April. Republican secretary of state Bill Jones then decided to recognize Zimmerman rather than Dennis as the Yes-on-215 campaign manager, and the co-optation process was well underway.

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castklear

While in Texas they have licensed Peyote pickers. Yes 6 licensed Peyote harvestors, licensed by the State, that sub-contract to harvest Peyote for the American indians in Texas. California Peyote almost whiped out in the 1900's is being replanted .......naturally! Arrest that desert!

LSD is making a comeback in the professional mental health world.....I think all republicans need a Vipranna on peyote/mushroom session to get that corruption slowed down.

Why can't we ever find a great guy or gal for President?

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killer12382

"Kubby's defense included a letter from Vincent DeQuattro, MD, the USC Medical Center cancer specialist who in the early 1980s diagnosed Kubby's condition as Pheochromocytoma, a cancer that stimulates overproduction of adrenaline "

The 1980's.......medical science has come a long way since then...time to get a more recent diagnoses.

"A mostly female jury acquitted 11-1 on the sales charges but found Steve Kubby guilty of misdemeanor possession of a peyote button and a psilocybin mushroom turned up during the raid. (Kubby claimed they'd been left by a guest.) Rather than risk four months' incarceration, he left with his wife and children for British Columbia, and was declared a fugitive by Placer County."

OMG.....he took a misdemeanor conviction and turned it into a felony. Way to go Stevie. Is peyote and psilocybin mushrooms illegal?

killer12382

" Kubby had a connection to George Soros's lieutenant for drug-policy reform,"

The way people post here, you'd think Kubby wrote prop 215 all by himself instead of just hooking up the money man. I hearby withdraw my claim that Steve Kubby is a marijuana saint.

FitShaced

A 4 month jail term would probably kill the guy. and yea, they are illegal

 

killer12382

It MIGHT kill him.....don't worry though...they'll give him some Marinol and he'll be just fine.

dedbr

Please. Stay in Canada. I agree with you. The cop's screwed you, even though you told them, with notes in the trash, to leave you alone.
It's because of who you are.
The court's screwed you. That was pretty cool, telling the judge you were sick. They usually say that they have medical staff in the jail, though. If you die, they say that's just too bad. Should of thought about that before you broke the law,huh?
Doctor's and lawyer's told you to go to Canada and flee the United States in lieu of prosecution, see ya.
Now Canada, and probably the D.E.A.,are trying to ship your butt back home to do your time.
No. Uh uh. Please stay in Canada. Your right. I was so wrong.

Deddy

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MrIMStoned

I certainly hope that this dangerous criminal dies in jail. Then he will no longer be a threat to society and I could get some sleep again.

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Tolerance4all

Would your posts would be the same heartless assinine posts that they are now if Steve were your brother, husband or best friend? With all the medical experts on this forum you should be able to come up with a cure for cancer. Then Steve could go do his time without fear of dying.

Not wanting hippies promoting Cannabis reform is a matter of stradegy.

Advocating putting fellow humans in cages for victimless crimes is abhorent.

Advocating putting a person in a cage, that medical specialist's warn will die without Cannabis, is sick.

All of you who are so bent on following the law should all go turn yourselves in for everytime you broke the law and were not caught. Then when they put you in a cage, will see if you sing the same tune.

killer12382

He's had cancer for 20 years? Sure he has. NOBODY has cancer for 20 years. Don't you know when someone is pulling your leg? Time to WAKE UP.
The man doesn't have cancer.....he has an excuse.