>Sender: >To: >X-Original-Message-ID: <001101bf1859$4de87860$9acf69cf@pacbell.net> >From: "Peter McWilliams" >Subject: The Kubby Case >Date: Sat, 16 Oct 1999 21:37:22 -0700 >X-Mozilla-Status: 8001 >X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000 > > >Pubdate: Sun, 10 Oct 1999 >Source: Orange County Register (CA) >Copyright: 1999 The Orange County Register >Contact: letters@link.freedom.com >Website: http://www.ocregister.com/ >Author: Steve Kubby >Note: This OPED piece ran as a letter and was awarded this week's "Golden >Pen Award." The Register ran a photo of Steve with the following sidebar: >"Mr. Kubby, who played a key role in the Proposition 215 campaign in 1996 >and was the Libertarian candidate for California governor last year, was >arrested for marijuana cultivation and sales several months ago when he >lived in Placer County. Their trial was postponed to early next year." > >MARIJUANA IS NO HOAX > >I should be dead. That's what doctors recently told me after completing >extensive medical tests at the University of Southern California's School >of Medicine. According to Dr. Vincent DeQuattro, a USC professor and world >authority on adrenal cancer, my blood contains deadly levels of adrenaline, >more than enough to kill anyone else. > >That's really not surprising, since everyone who has ever had my disease >has died within a few years. Except for me. Thanks to medical marijuana, >I'm now entering my 23rd year of survival, something DeQuattro considers a >"medical miracle." > >Dr. DeQuattro even wrote a letter advising that I could suffer a heart >attack or stroke if deprived of marijuana and that no other form of therapy >is available. > >Unfortunately, none of this seems to matter in Placer County, where 20 >armed officers from four different agencies stormed our Squaw Valley home >early on the morning of January 19, 1999. Armed with laser guided automatic >weapons, body armor and a battering ram, a SWAT team from the North Tahoe >Narcotics Task Force blocked off our street, raided our home and >confiscated almost everything of we own. > >Besides taking my plants, gardening equipment and medicine, they seized all >of our electronic publishing equipment. That action effectively killed our >on-line magazine, Alpine World, which had been rated as the 25th top >electronic magazine in the world. This raid destroyed our primary source of >income, forcing us out of our home and into bankruptcy. All of these >officers believed that medical marijuana is a hoax and that we deserved to >be destroyed. None of the officers had read or been briefed on the new >medical marijuana law. > >The Task Force confiscated our passports and social security cards. They >stole our company's petty cash and then went through our safe deposit box. >They even took the cash out of our wallets. Then they arrested us, >handcuffed us, and took us away to jail for three days. After taking >everything we own, they arbitrarily set bail at $200,000. Fortunately, our >attorneys were able to persuade a judge to drop all bail and release us on >our own recognizance. > >When the invaders threw us in jail and deprived me of my medicine, my body >went into the equivalent of diabetic shock. Without medical marijuana to >protect me from the deadly effects of my tumors, I began to experience >severe vomiting by the end of the day. By the end of my three days in jail, >I was blind in my left eye and suffering excruciating painful bouts of high >blood pressure. My wife told everyone that my life was at risk, but she was >told only, "If he dies, we'll let you know." > >During the entire three days I was incarcerated, my tormenters mocked me as >a medical marijuana patient, going out of their way to punish me. For >example, although I was in my cell vomiting into the toilet, I was forced >to attend breakfast where my repeated bouts of vomiting could be witnessed >by the rest of the inmates who were trying to eat their meal. > >Although both my wife and I are legal patients with doctor recommendations >we face a 19 count criminal indictment, just for the crime of using a >medicine, which is not government, approved. Absolutely none of our medical >marijuana was ever sold or illegally distributed. > >The City of Oakland is the only jurisdiction in California that has set >guidelines since the passage of Proposition 215. We carefully kept our >home-grown medicine within that one set of The Oakland Guidelines - which >also happens to be lower than the 7.1 pounds of marijuana our federal >government currently sends to each of the eight patients on the >Compassionate IND program each year. > >Those eight federal medical marijuana patients are doing very well thank >you. They work, travel and even drive while using their medication and >there are no problems. In fact, each of the federal patients is doing much >better than their counterparts on conventional drugs, enjoying a productive >and reasonably comfortable life. > >Unfortunately, the Compassionate IND program was suspended years ago and no >one, no matter how desperately ill can qualify. The program has become such >an embarrassment to the Clinton Administration that they refuse to >acknowledge that these federal standards for medical marijuana already >exist. > >While the Feds love to argue that federal law supersedes state law, the 9th >Circuit Court of Appeals recently disagreed. In a unanimous decision, a >three member panel of judges found that seriously ill patients should be >exempt from federal laws regarding marijuana. The federal court has sent >the case back to District Court where the case is scheduled to be heard in >November 1999. > >No one can dispute that there are basic legal, medical and human rights >issues at stake here. Sick, disabled and dying people are being dragged out >of their beds, frightened, threatened, arrested, jailed and exposed to >deadly opportunistic infections. Innocent, law abiding sick people, are >being vilified and persecuted simply because they rely upon a politically >incorrect medication. Worst of all, the police we pay to protect us against >violent criminals are out raiding sick and dying people instead. > >We hope our case will achieve in the jury box what we were supposed to have >won at the ballot box -- the right for medical patients to not be treated >as criminals. Medical marijuana is not a hoax. It's time to stop arresting >sick and dying people. > >Steve Kubby > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >Pubdate: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 >Source: U.S. Newswire >Copyright: 1999, U.S. Newswire >Related: http://www.kubby.com/ > >PLACER COUNTY, CALIF., SHERIFF'S DEPT. INITIATES FORFEITURE OF KUBBY ASSETS >AFTER PREGNANCY COMPLICATIONS > >AUBURN, Calif., Aug. 12 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Following Tuesday's grant of a >continuance in the medical marijuana trial of Steve and Michele Kubby due >to complications with Mrs. Kubby's pregnancy, Placer County law enforcement >officials are moving to seize the couple's assets. > >According to Truckee Attorney Dale Wood, who represents Mr. Kubby, Placer >County Deputy Sheriff Michael Lyke telephoned today to discover where he >could serve the Kubbys with papers to initiate civil asset forfeiture >proceedings. On Tuesday, Judge Robert G. Vonasek found good cause that >Michele Kubby, 33, could not proceed to trial for medical reasons. He ruled >to continue the trial to Feb. 15, 2000, over the objection of prosecutors. > >Michele Kubby's medical condition stems from complications with her current >pregnancy. Last fall, while her husband was the Libertarian Party candidate >for governor in California, she suffered a miscarriage. > >According to Wood, law enforcement officials are moving to claim as their >own $2,374 in currency, one digital camera, and one computer, which >officers seized from the Kubbys on Jan. 19. Earlier the Kubbys had moved to >take possession of their computer for an independent examination to see if >law enforcement officials had tampered with the evidence. > >"It's absolutely unbelievable that the sheriff and district attorney want >to take this kind of retribution against Steve and Michele Kubby right >after two medical doctors found her condition so dire as to persuade Judge >Vonasek to postpone the trial," said attorney Wood. > >"This shows the heavy political motivation behind this prosecution," said >Steve Kubby. "What kind of human being goes after a pregnant woman facing >serious medical problems with this kind of behavior?" asked Kubby, adding, >"'to serve and protect' cannot be the motto for law enforcement types in >Placer County." > > > > >================================================================ > >This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to > the mailing list . >To unsubscribe, E-mail to: