STEVE KUBBY FILES $200 MILLION LAWSUIT

Auburn - Steve Kubby filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against Placer
County law-enforcement officials recently, opening a new chapter in an
ongoing court battle over a 1999 drug raid on his Olympic Valley home.

In the lawsuit, the medical marijuana advocate and former Libertarian
Party candidate for governor charges the county, Sheriff Ed Bonner,
District Attorney Brad Fenocchio and other defendants with violating his
civil rights, as well as the civil rights of wife Michele and his
children. The lawsuit also charges county officials with maliciously
harming him and his family.

Filed in Placer County Superior Court in June, the lawsuit seeks more
than $200 million in damages and compensation.

Placer County Counsel Tony La Bouff said he hadn't seen the lawsuit yet,
but he is nonetheless confident Kubby will not prevail in the courtroom.

"He'll lose," La Bouff said. "He doesn't have a leg to stand on."

La Bouff emphasized his comments were based on the legal issues raised
by the Kubby case.

"I understand his political point of view, and that's a different
issue," La Bouff said.

In the lawsuit, the 53-year-old Kubby argues county officials are guilty
of assault and battery, trespass, false imprisonment and other crimes as
a result of the 1999 raid and subsequent events.

"Government officials, and especially police, have to know that, if they
pursue their drug war, which is a total violation of everything that
America is supposed to revere, they will be held accountable," Kubby
said. "This lawsuit holds them accountable."

During the 1999 raid, law enforcement officials discovered 265 marijuana
plants in the Kubby home.

Afterward, he and his wife were charged with almost two dozen felonies.

Kubby said he used marijuana to treat cancer, emphasizing the plants
were for medicinal use under Proposition 215.

Charges that Kubby possessed marijuana for sale were dismissed after a
mistrial was declared and the District Attorney's Office decided not to
seek a new trial.

Kubby was convicted of possessing magic mushrooms and peyote and
sentenced to serve 120 days in jail.

He is scheduled to start his term July 2.

Several weeks ago, Kubby told court officials he will not accept those
convictions or comply with terms of probation, saying compliance would
harm his health.

He currently resides in Canada, and said this week he isn't sure he will
return to the United States.

Recently, the state Attorney General's Office announced it plans to
appeal a judge's decision to reduce Kubby's convictions on the mushroom
and peyote charges from felonies to misdemeanors.