THE KUBBY CASE

Following a remarkable ruling by Placer County Judge Robert McElheny, the
trial of Steve and Michele Kubby, two medical marijuana patients, on
charges of cultivating marijuana with intent to sell, just might get under
way this week.

The couple had their home in Tahoe City raided Jan. 19 and all the plants
they were growing, along with their computer, books, numerous personal
possessions and the $200 cash they had in their wallets at the time, were
confiscated.

Steve Kubby, you may recall, was the Libertarian Party candidate for
governor last year and a key proponent of Proposition 215, the
medical-marijuana initiative passed by voters in 1996.

Both Kubbys are patients with written recommendations from physicians to
use marijuana medicinally - Steve for adrenal cancer and Michele for
irritable bowel syndrome.

The couple, who have been living in Orange County since shortly after their
arrest, had made no secret of the fact that they were growing marijuana for
their own medical use in the basement of a rented home in Tahoe.

The couple ran an online outdoor sports and adventure magazine and the
computer was the source of the livelihood.

After it was confiscated they had to declare bankruptcy. They had requested
and the court had ordered that the prosecution at least return the
information contained on the computer (including all their financial
records for the last 15 years).

Although the court issued an order early in March, the information wasn't
furnished (in the form of two CDs) until last week.

Mr. Kubby's attorney, Dale E. Woods, told us that didn't give him enough
time to study the contents of the CDs thoroughly enough.

"Mr. Kubby will be cross-examined about individual transactions from years
ago that nobody can be expected to remember in detail," Mr. Wood told us.
"Getting the records one week before trial is not enough time to prepare a
defense."

Meantime, based on some of the information on the CD and in details of some
charges, Mr. Kubby is suspicious that somebody might have tampered with the
computer's hard drive.

His attorneys asked Judge Robert McElheny to order the prosecution to
return the computer to them last week.

He refused to do so. Mr Kubby has challenged the prosecution to return the
computer so an independent expert can check the hard drive for tampering -
or drop the charges. That seems unlikely to happen.

Michele Kubby's attorney, Joe Farina of Sacramento, told us he has a delay.
He has to handle a court-assigned case in Sacramento the same day - Tuesday
- - the Kubby trial is scheduled to begin in Auburn. Under most circumstances
that should be grounds for a routine continuance of the case. But very
little about this case seems to be routine.

It is hard to avoid the suspicion that Placer County prosecutors brought
this case and continue to play hardball essentially to frustrate the will
of the voters and to discourage and harass medical marijuana patients.

They have decided to re-try a dentist and his wife whose situation was
similar to that of the Kubbys - physician-certified patients who were
growing their own marijuana in their own home but had "too many" plants to
suit the police - even though they got a hung jury the first time.

It is high time for police and prosecutors in Placer County and elsewhere
in California to recognize that Prop. 215 - now Section 11362.5 of the
Health and Safety Code - is the law in California. State and local law
enforcement agents are not supposed to arrest physician-certified patients
for use or cultivation of marijuana - period. What federal authorities do
might be a different matter, but state and local officials have an
obligation to follow California law.

Will they get the message if a Placer County jury acquits the Kubbys? We'll
be following this case closely.