KUBBY CASE BECOMING MEDIA CIRCUS

Marijuana Activist to Appear in Court Today

The topic of jailed medical marijuana activist Steve Kubby is gaining
popularity on the Internet as he reports failing health and poor
medical attention in Placer County Jail.

Placer county law-enforcement officials say they are treating Kubby
humanely as they do all inmates. Kubby, 59, has reportedly spoken
with supporters since his Friday incarceration. Fred Colburn, of
Meadow Vista, has been friends with Kubby since the activist ran as
the Libertarian candidate for governor on the 1997/1998 ballot. He
said he spoke to Kubby early Monday morning.

"Steve's thinking they are deliberately punishing him (in jail),"
Colburn said. "He's only had one blanket, is vomiting and can't keep
food down."

Kubby, who fled Placer County to Canada to avoid incarceration in
2000 was arrested on a no-bail warrant Thursday and transferred to
Placer County Jail Friday.

Kubby contends he must have marijuana daily in order to survive and
stave off the affects of a rare form of adrenal cancer. He credits a
Canadian doctor who agrees with him, but UC David cancer specialists
said there is no scientific evidence to support Kubby's claim that
marijuana is keeping him alive.

Dr. Fred Meyers, professor and chair of the Department of Internal
Medicine for UC Davis Medical Center, has said there is no medical
proof that smoking marijuana cures or alleviates the symptoms of the
adrenal cancer that Kubby is said to have.

Kubby's Canadian doctor said cannabis alleviates the symptoms of
Kubby's adrenal cancer.

"(Kubby's) kind of cancer, metastatic pheochromocytoma, releases
adrenaline into the blood and these drugs speed up your heart making
your body run faster," said Dr. Joe Connors, a medical oncologist for
British Columbia Cancer Agency in a telephone interview Monday.

Connors said that too much adrenaline keeps Kubby's body in a
constant state of "flight or fight."

"The marijuana he had been smoking helped," Connors said.

Despite reports posted on numerous Web sites and blogs about Kubby's
physical condition, jail official's report that he appears to be doing well.

"He's been seen by the medical staff and he's being taken care of,"
Capt. John Fitzgerald, of the Placer County Sheriff's Department said
Monday. "I can't elaborate because medical records are confidential."

Technorati.com, a Web site that reports it tracks 26.7 million sites
and 1.9 billion links, lists Kubby as its most searched topic Monday
above Ted Koppel and Ipod.

Many of the postings are duplicates of press releases posted on
Kubby's own Website Kubby.com.

In one posting, Michele Kubby said she was able to get a prescription
for the drug Marinol for her husband.

Marinol has been approved by the Federal Drug Administration to treat
"nausea and vomiting associated with cancer chemotherapy for patients
who have failed to respond adequately to conventional treatments,"
according to the Marinol.com Web site.

"When Steve first entered the jail, his blood pressure had risen to
170 over 120. The jail medical staff were concerned and administered
the Marinol," Michele Kubby wrote in an e-mail. "Steve says he feels
his blood pressure lowering, but he can tell that Marinol is not
going to be effective in the long run."

E-mails and blogs report that Kubby is in "solitary confinement," and
allowed only one blanket. Jail personnel say Kubby is separated from
other inmates for his own safety.

"He's in N-tank in a private cell, not in the general population,"
Fitzgerald said. "He classifies to be in a private cell for numerous
reasons including his safety."

Michele Kubby, who remains in Canada with the couple's two children,
said she plans to be in California soon but will not make today's
court appearance.

"I will not be able to make the hearing time on Tuesday. I hope
anyone who goes tells him I am thinking of him and love him very
much," Michele Kubby wrote in an e-mail sent to the Journal.

The Kubby family had been seeking to stay in Canada, however, the
Canadian Border Services rejected the family's bid for protection
Dec. 9 and ordered them out of the country.

Kubby fled to Canada with his family in an effort to avoid
incarceration after a 2000 conviction in Placer County on charges of
possession of mescaline and psilocybin.

He was transported to Placer County jail Friday afternoon and is
scheduled to be arraigned at 1 p.m. in Dept. 13 of Placer County
Superior court today.

Kubby will most likely have to serve his custody time of 120 days and
address his probation violation, which could give him additional time
behind bars.

He was also one of the authors of Prop. 215, the compassionate-use
act passed by the voters of the state of California in 1996.