MEDICINAL-POT ADVOCATE LIGHTS UP

American medicinal-pot advocate Steve Kubby and his wife Michelle are
"terribly excited" to learn they'll be getting their grow-op back after
marijuana charges against them were stayed.

The couple, who moved to Sechelt to escape pot-related charges in
California, were charged by RCMP in April with cultivating marijuana and
possession for the purpose of trafficking.

Grow-op equipment and about 160 plants were seized at the time.

In May, Kubby was ordered deported, but his removal was delayed pending the
outcome of the charges and a refugee claim that he had been persecuted by
U.S. drug authorities.

Since then Kubby, who says he takes marijuana to ease the pain from adrenal
cancer, has been granted an exemption by Health Canada to grow and possess
pot.

Yesterday, he and his wife showed up in Sechelt Provincial Court to seek a
return of the grow-op and the plants. They were given permission to have the
equipment returned and also learned the charges were stayed.

"We're just terribly excited about Canada being so fair and so just," said
Kubby, 56.

"Anyone who reads my medical records will see that I literally have
life-and-death medical necessity [and] that's now been confirmed by Canadian
doctors.

"If I'm deprived of medical marijuana for more than a few days, I will have
a heart attack or stroke because of the nature of my disease."

Kubby believes he got off because of the Health Canada exemption, which he
says allows him to possess 2.7 kilograms of pot at any time and travel
anywhere in the country with 340 grams of it.

Kubby's refugee-claim hearing is scheduled for March.

RCMP referred questions to the Department of Justice, where a spokeswoman
said she had not seen the documents relating to the case and had no comment.