FATE OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA USER RESTS IN HANDS OF FEDERAL COURT JUDGE
. . . FOR NOW

Long-Term Cancer Patient Has Struggled With Immigration Authorities
for Four Years

A federal court judge continued over the weekend to mull an 11th-hour
plea from American refugee Steve Kubby and his family, prolonging
their four-year struggle with immigration authorities.

A former gubernatorial candidate in California for the Libertarian
Party and international icon of the medical marijuana movement, the
long-term cancer patient was tAo have departed Canada last Thursday.

But his fate is in the hands of Judge Yvon Pinard, who heard a
tearful, last-ditch appeal from Kubby's wife Michele, who said she
feared for her husband's life.

"To remove him from Canada is like removing a diabetic from his
insulin," she cried.

Kubby was said to be too ill to attend the proceedings and remained
at home with their youngest daughter, Crystal. Their oldest daughter,
nine-year-old Brooke, held her mother's hand.

It has been quite an ordeal.

A medical marijuana user for a quarter-century because of a rare
cancer, Kubby had his home raided in 1998, allegedly because he was
growing and distributing pot to California compassion clubs.

The jury refused to convict him on the cannabis charges because of
the state's Compassionate Use Act, which shields bona fide patients
from state but not federal prosecution for marijuana offences.

Still, Kubby was convicted of possessing a magic mushroom and a
hallucinogenic cactus, which were found during the police search.

The family, who believed they were being persecuted because of
Steve's political activism, moved to Canada in April 2001.

In May 2002, Steve was deemed inadmissible because of the drug
convictions and the family was ordered out of the country.

At that point, Kubby filed a refugee claim.

In November 2003, the Immigration and Refugee board turned him down.
He sought a judicial review and, in July 2005, the federal court
upheld the board's decision.

The Kubbys then applied for a final review under the immigration act
- -- a process known as a risk assessment.

Late last year, the immigration department said Kubby faced no
extraordinary risk if he were returned to the U.S. and ordered the
family out of the country by Jan. 12.

"There is protection for medical marijuana users in the U.S.," Keith
Reimer, lawyer for Citizenship and Immigration Canada, told Pinard.
"For [Kubby] to say 'I would be thrown in jail and allowed to die' is
speculative."

I don't think so. I think Reimer and the government are talking about
some parallel universe, not the reality in Bush's Zero Tolerance America.

There is no U.S. jail or prison that allows the use of medical
cannabis by inmates. None.

And the federal U.S. government insists there is no medical benefit
to marijuana. None.

And the U.S. Supreme Court upheld that stance.

As a result, Kubby is a lightning rod for attacks by Bush
Administration drug warriors and their allies who are intent on
maintaining the complete criminal prohibition on cannabis.

Yet physicians who have examined Kubby -- including those recognized
by Health Canada --agree marijuana is uniquely effective in
controlling his symptoms.

A leading expert on hypertension has testified on his behalf and
Ottawa accepted all of this by granting Kubby an exemption from our
marijuana laws to consume pot for medicinal purposes.

Pinard is reflecting on the family's request that he halt the removal
proceedings and give them time to plead with cabinet and exhaust
other legal avenues.

NDP Vancouver East MP Libby Davies has already written a letter
urging cabinet to intervene and a campaign to win public support is underway.

"If the judge takes a month, as he has suggested he might, then
that's effectively a temporary stay, which is what we were seeking,"
Michele said. "We will be using this time to appeal to both the
Canadian people and the Canadian Supreme Court, if necessary.
Nonetheless, the uncertainty adds to our family's stress."

No kidding.

"We have to have faith that this justice will do the right thing,"
Michele said.

"Living in limbo is better than dying in jail," Steve added.

I, however, see little reason to believe Ottawa will suddenly turn
sympathetic even if Pinard gives the Kubbys time to make one more pitch.

For whatever reason, rather than chase down the hundreds of dangerous
illegal refugees blithely ignoring deportation orders, the federal
government prefers targeting the sick.

They're easier to catch.