California
Gubernatorial
Candidate
Steve
Kubby
Arrested
for
Medical
Marijuana
1/22/99
Steve Kubby never made a secret of his medicinal use of marijuana. In fact, his support of the implementation of Proposition 215 was a centerpiece of his campaign for Governor of California in 1998, and he was instrumental in getting the proposition on the ballot in '96. But on Tuesday morning, just days after new California Attorney General Bill Lockyer made public statements regarding his intention of seeing Prop. 215 fully implemented, Kubby found his Lake Tahoe home invaded by 14 agents of the DEA, state and local police. Kubby suffers from Pheochromocytomo, cancer of the adrenal gland, and has a letter from his doctor indicating that there is no other known effective treatment for the condition. Kubby, in fact, has forsaken drugs altogether and has, for many years, managed his condition with marijuana alone. Kubby's wife Michelle suffers from irritable bowel syndrome and also uses marijuana, which allows her to eat. Kubby, who spoke with The Week Online from jail, said that police found 350 plants in his home, of which 150 were small seedlings which had not yet been separated into male (inactive) and female plants. "Once they got me to the jail, which obviously meant that I was off of my medicine, they threw me into a freezing cold cell. My blood pressure shot up, which tends to happen when your adrenal gland isn't functioning properly. I've had three hypertensive episodes since I've been here, I've got horrendous headaches and I've been throwing up pretty constantly." Kubby, who publishes Alpine World, an online magazine (http://www.alpworld.com), told The Week Online that the police weren't interested in documentation showing the couple to be legitimate medicinal users. "We have doctors' letters, we have ID from the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Club. In fact, my grow was inspected two weeks ago by Jeff Jones from the Oakland club. One officer even told me that while 215 may work in San Francisco, it wasn't valid here." The Kubbys have been charged with unauthorized cultivation, possession with intent to distribute and conspiracy. Despite the fact that they been members of the community for over twenty years, own their home and have a two year-old daughter, bail was set at $100,000 for each of them. "We are an absolute zero risk of flight. This is absurd. I believe that this is totally politically motivated." (Good news: Just before press time, we learned that a judge had released the Kubbys on "their own recognizance," meaning without bail.)
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