MEDICAL MARIJUANA ADVOCATE MUST LEAVE

VANCOUVER (CP) -- After losing his last legal challenge to stay in
Canada, medical marijuana advocate Steve Kubby has been told to leave
the country by Thursday.

A federal court judge rejected Kubby's last appeal to stay in the country.

His wife Michele told the judge her husband would die if he had to
return to California to serve out a jail sentence.

Kubby has adrenal cancer and uses marijuana to ease the symptoms.

Before Kubby came to Canada he was convicted for having a small
amount of drugs and sentenced to house arrest.

Kubby and his wife now say he would have to serve his sentence in
jail, and that officials at any U.S. jail wouldn't allow him to smoke
his marijuana.

Kubby, a former ski magazine publisher, lost his legal bid last week
to stop his deportation by Immigration Canada.

The family moved to B.C. in 2001, settling in Sun Peaks Resort after
living in Sechelt. Immigration Canada ordered them out by Jan. 12,
but that deadline came and went while the Federal Court judge made
his decision.

While he has been ordered to leave, Kubby said he is still fighting
to stay in the country through the courts.

"The immigration ministry claims that its departure orders are not
subject to appeal, but we're still trying to get a court to simply
grant us our due process and allow us to appeal," he said in a news
release on Monday.

Kubby's claim for refugee status in Canada was rejected a few years ago.