Steve Kubby is to Die for a Crime he Didnt Commit

[KC]

“I don’t want our daughters to see what US law enforcement will do to their father.”

01/20/2006 - VANCOUVER — American cancer patient and medical marijuana refugee, Steve Kubby and his family have been ordered to leave Canada on or before Thursday, January 26th.

Steve Kubby said, “The Immigration Ministry claims that its departure orders are not subject to appeal, but we’re still trying to get a court to simply grant us our due process and allow us to appeal.”

If the appeal is not successful, the Kubbys will all have to leave Canada no later than Thursday (January 26), according to Rachel James, Immigration Enforcement Officer.

Placer County Assistant District Attorney Chris Cattran told the Auburn Journal on January 6th that Kubby would be arrested and jailed for at least 120 days, and possibly much longer. Nonetheless, on January 9th, Immigration Counsel Keith Reimer told Justice Yvon Pinard that Kubby faced no risk of arrest if he is forced to return, and Pinard ignored Cattran’s statement and ruled accordingly last Friday.

If he is forced to leave, Steve Kubby will fly directly to San Francisco, where he will be greeted by both US law enforcement and California medical marijuana activists, including representatives of California NORML. Every effort will be made to keep Kubby from being forced to return to Placer County.

In his testimony to a Canadian Refugee hearing in April of 2003, Cattran said that Placer County had arranged for two “specialists” to fly in and testify at Kubby’s trial that Kubby didn’t really have cancer, but if he did, cannabis was contraindicated and would just make his condition worse. Of course, neither doctor had ever seen Steve Kubby, and the leading cancer specialist in BC had just testified to the contrary. Because of this attitude, Kubby’s friends and family believe that his life will be in great danger there.

Consequently, Michele Kubby and their two daughters will not be flying down. They will drive to California, instead.

“I don’t want our daughters to see what US law enforcement will do to their father. How can you explain to children that their father is going to be murdered by their government because he uses a medicine that it doesn’t like?” she asked.

Mrs. Kubby added, “Today is election day in Canada and tomorrow all of the Ministers who can prevent Steve’s life from being endangered will be free to act and do the right thing. I hope that all our friends, especially in Canada, will call the Ministers and urge them to stop this injustice.”

[KC]

An American couple seeking refugee status in B.C., so they can have access to medical marijuana, hopes for a quiet existence near Kamloops – their cause, however, has been highly visible and controversial


June 11, 2005 - SUN PEAKS B.C. -- Steve Kubby doesn't look 58 years old and to hear him proudly boast about skiing more than a million vertical feet this past winter, he doesn't sound 58, either.

He and his wife Michele don't look like the droopy-lidded, weed-smoking pot-grower stereotype that appears in movies or TV shows for comic relief.

They also don't look like a couple seeking political refuge in Canada.

If anything, the Kubbys resemble an all-American couple with two energetic, ski-loving daughters, Crystal, 5, and Brooke, 9.

The Kubbys are activists fighting to get marijuana legalized, especially for medical use, and are going through the courts to get the drug laws changed.

And in the face of the u.s. Supreme Court decision earlier this week that people using medical marijuana do so risking prosecution, they feel their own refugee case was just made stronger.

"We're pretty excited about that because we're in federal appeals court (over refugee status)," said Steve. "We're disappointed for our American friends."

In the comfort of the Sun Peaks townhouse they have called home since last fall, the Kubbys have closely followed the plight of fellow medical marijuana users in the States.

"We love Kamloops. We love Sun Peaks," said Steve, who has a licence from Health Canada that allows him to grow a maximum of 13.7 plants -- a supply that he says is adequate to feed his daily regimen that he says has kept him healthy and his adrenal cancer at bay for 30 years.

He said he's among 800 people across the Canada with licences to grow their own medical marijuana.

Although Michele does not have a licence, she, too, sometimes uses marijuana to ease the symptoms of her irritable bowel syndrome. For her, it's a quality of life issue. For her husband, it's a life issue.

About 12 times a day, every day, Steve lights up a one-gram joint to help him deal with the effects of his cancer, which has also shown up on his liver, aorta and spinal cord. It calms his blood pressure and heart rate and has other healing properties, he said.

"I'm a walking time bomb," said Steve. "Medical marijuana is my only medicine."

The Kubbys emphasize the fact they aren't growing their plants anywhere near their Sun peaks home.

Their plants are in another comer of the province, a few hours' drive away.

"We're trying everything we can to be good neighbours and be safe," he said.

They don't sell their marijuana and won't go that route because they are so public in their lobbying efforts, Steve said.

In 1996, the Kubbys fought politically in California for Proposition 215, a referendum that passed allowing people using marijuana for medical purposes, to get and use it legally in the state.

"Michele and I dedicated two years and raised half a million dollars to get sick people off the battlefield in the war on drugs," said Steve.

In 1998, Steve ran for governor of California on the Libertarian Party slate.

Two months after the vote, their Placer County home was raided by the sheriffs department and 265 plants were seized. '

The couple was arrested and spent three days in jail, during which time Steve had no access to marijuana a situation he likens to depriving a diabetic of insulin that was life threatening for him.

While they were cleared on their pot charges under California's Compassionate Use Act, police had also found a few peyote buttons and a magic mushroom that Steve said he was using for exhibits in a book he was working on.

In spring of 2001, the Kubbys moved to Canada. Michele is still fighting to get him cleared in the U.S.

The B.C. Interior is their second stop in Canada. They first landed in Sechelt, where they set up a marijuana garden in their garage, complete with security system and sprinklers.

Steve's health was assessed by Dr. Joseph Connors of the B.C. Cancer Agency.

Connors couldn't be reached this week, but in a previous interview with'CBC's The National, he said if Kubby has found a medication that's effective for him, why should he use. something that's less effective.

He testified at the couple's Immigration Refugee Board hearing that the life expectancy of someone with Steve's type of cancer is usually three to five years.

While they were in Sechelt, the Kubbys faced another run-in with the law over their grow, this time spending four days in jail after their home was raided.

Drug charges were dropped.

Michele sounded like a lawyer as she cited case law regarding court decisions that are relevant to their situation.

"What I've learned is real change happens from a judge's decision," she said.

They are' awaiting the results of an appeal on the refugee board ruling on their status here.

Having met on the ski lift at Squaw Valley, Calif., it seemed only natural for the couple to gravitate to a B.C. resort like Sun Peaks.

During the interview, Steve takes a couple of smoke breaks on the deck.

He slides the glass doors closed.

While they continue with their medical marijuana battles, the Kubbys say they want to sit back and coast for a while. That's why they moved to Sun Peaks.

Kubby, who published Ski West magazine from 1987 until 1991, said his passion is skiing.

He lived in Tahoe when it was quiet, and through his publication turned skiers' focus on that resort community.

He'd like to do the same for Sun Peaks.

“I see this area as being the next Colorado or Utah" he said. 'If I’m allowed to stay, my dream is to do for Sun Peaks and the Interior resort what I did for Tahoe."

Michele said they will always passionate about the medical marijuana issue, and she'd eventually like to get into immigration counseling for others who are in the same situation as them.

"If you never give up you never lose," she said. "Why can't we at least agree that people who are ill should have access to this medicine without having to jump through all these insane hoops?"

Steve said Canada is his home; his heart and his hopes are here.

"Benjamin Franklin said wherever liberty dwells, there be my country. And liberty, doesn't shine any brighter than here in British Columbia."




Pubdate: Sat, 11 Jun 2005
Source: Kamloops Daily News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2005 Kamloops Daily News
Contact: [e-mail]
Website: www.kamloopsnews.ca/
Author: Michele Young, Daily News Staff Reporter
Bookmark: www.mapinc.org/kubby.htm (Kubby, Steve)
Bookmark: www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n403/a08.html (Kamloops
advocates Legalization)

[KC]

THE KUBBY CHRONICLES

www.kubby.com/index.html

[CRAZYGIRLSUSAN]

While the government fights for the rapist , child molesters and murders in america, That is a disgrace its an herb not a drug. The only two people with money in america, is the government and mofia, before americans took over the marijuana over sees, all got to smoke good herb, but now it comes to murdering , someone because they smoke herb.

I believe we are in hell, and if you rest your head at night is your heaven , and most dont sleep.

You dont mess with mother nature and I say its to late, hemp is good for the natural enviroment, and should be grown for the natural resources that is needed for mother nature.