CANNABIS CAMPAIGNER MAY BE FORCED TO GO

Pot activist Steve Kubby - who says he depends on marijuana to ward off a
rare form of cancer - is now fighting to stay in Canada.

Kubby, 56, is under a departure order from Citizenship and Immigration
Canada that would force him, wife Michele, and two daughters, out of the
country as early as Jan. 15.

The Immigration and Refugee Board denied his application for refugee status.

Michele has filed an appeal, but there is no requirement for Federal Court
to hear it.

"We're not going to pack up and leave voluntarily," a defiant Steve Kubby
said yesterday from his home in Sechelt, B.C.

"We love Canada, we love our new Canadian friends. Please let us stay and
let us become tax-paying Canadian citizens."

Kubby, who suffers from adrenal cancer, was in Edmonton last year for
radiation treatment at the Cross Cancer Institute. But the treatment wasn't
effective.

Kubby said cannabis is the only medication that helps his condition. He has
a Health Canada medical exemption to grow and smoke pot.

"I'm going to do what I have to do to save my husband's life," said Michele.

If he's forced to set foot on American soil, Kubby said he'll be thrown in
jail.

"They will not give me marijuana while I'm in jail," he said.

"It means in all probability I will suffer heart attacks, seizures and
strokes until it kills me."