AILMENT POSTPONES KUBBYS' DRUG CASE

Medical Marijuana Trial Reset For Feb. 15

The drug trial of former Libertarian candidate for governor Steven Kubby
was postponed Tuesday when his wife and co-defendant, Michele, was confined
to bed by doctors, who cited complications related to her pregnancy.

Placer County prosecutors objected to the continuance -- which will delay
the high-profile trial for more than six months -- but visiting Judge
Robert G. Vonasek ruled that it would be judicially inefficient to proceed
against Steven Kubby now and try his wife separately.

The Kubbys are charged with two counts of conspiracy, possession of
marijuana for sale, cultivation of marijuana and five other drug possession
counts following the Jan. 19 discovery of 265 plants at their home in Squaw
Valley.

The couple contend their indoor garden was grown for medicinal purposes.

A 52-year-old cancer patient, Steven Kubby was a Libertarian candidate for
governor in 1998 who played an instrumental role in the 1996 passage of
Proposition 215, a ballot measure that allows for the doctor-recommended
use of marijuana for medicinal purposes in California. He claims that pot
has kept him alive for 15 years.

Michele Kubby, 33, had been using marijuana with a physician's endorsement
to treat a chronic stomach ailment until she learned she was pregnant.

Law enforcement officials say the Kubbys' marijuana garden was more than a
personal-use nursery. There were just too many plants, insist prosecutors,
whose expert witness testified in a preliminary hearing that the plants
were "definitely possessed or cultivated for the purpose of sale."

Experiencing abdominal pain and difficulty sitting and standing last week,
Michele Kubby consulted her physicians over the weekend and, according to
letters submitted by the doctors to the court, was restricted to bed.

On Tuesday, with Michele Kubby absent and a jury panel waiting in the
courtroom, the defense requested a continuance, pointing out that the
defendant's prior pregnancy had ended in miscarriage.

Vonasek found good cause for a continuance and set a tentative new trial
date for Feb. 15.