'98 candidate is arrested in marijuana case

TAHOE CITY -- The 1998 Libertarian Party candidate for governor and his
wife were arrested after authorities said they found about 300 marijuana
plants in their home.

Steve and Michele Kubby were detained Tuesday at their Olympic Valley home
near Tahoe City for investigation of cultivation of marijuana, possession
of marijuana for sale and conspiracy.

They were being held Wednesday at the Placer County jail in Auburn in lieu
of $100,000 bail each and were scheduled to be arraigned today in Tahoe City.

Lt. Mike Allen of the North Tahoe Task Force, a law enforcement unit made
up of investigators from Placer and Washoe counties and the Nevada Division
of Investigation, said officers found about 300 marijuana plants at the
Kubby residence.

Officers said the plants are capable of producing five ounces to a pound
each of marijuana and have a street value of about $420,000.

The couple's attorney, Dale Wood of Truckee, said the marijuana officers
found at the Kubbys' home was being legally grown for medical purposes and
that the amount of bail was "insane."

"You find people who committed robbery, crimes of violence who have lower
bail settings than that," Wood said. "It's like they have some heinous
criminal who has hurt someone. In fact, what they are growing is medical
marijuana."

Proposition 215, approved by California voters in 1996, attempted to allow
seriously ill patients to grow and use marijuana to ease pain and nausea
with a doctor's recommendations.

But efforts to implement the measure have largely failed because opposition
from former state Attorney General Dan Lungren and the federal government.

Lungren's successor, Democrat Bill Lockyer, has said he wants to make the
proposition work.

Wood said Steve Kubby uses marijuana as part of his treatment for cancer
and hypertension.

"Marijuana is the only thing that has been able to assist him," Wood said.
"He has been advised by more than one physician to use marijuana."

Wood said Michele Kubby also uses marijuana for a medical condition but he
said he didn't know any details about her illness.

Steve Kubby, 52, publisher of an online recreation magazine, ran fourth in
the race for governor in November, taking nearly 1 percent of the vote.

Mark Hinkle, chairman of the California Libertarian Party, called the
arrests "an outrage and a slap across the faces of California voters."

"Steve and Michele Kubby are law-abiding citizens, and the police have no
authority to raid their home, throw them in jail and jeopardize Steve's
health," Hinkle said in a statement.

"How long will the state of California continue violating the will of the
voters? How many people will have to suffer or die before the government
realizes the extreme harm it is causing medical marijuana patients who are
denied their rightful medicine?"