STEVE KUBBY'S CANCER REAL, NOT JUST AN EXCUSE FOR POT

I see Dave Ryland, in his letter of Oct. 10, is still in denial about Steve
Kubby's adrenal cancer. Like other staunch prohibitionists, Mr. Ryland
suspects people like Kubby hide behind the law, as prosecutors are wont to
say, using Proposition 215 as a 'loophole' to protect their druggie
lifestyle. He may be interested to know that a survey by California
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws showed that medical
users represent only 1 of 100 California pot smokers.

In some rare cases like Kubby's, cannabis can be a lifesaver. Like Placer
County prosecutors before him, Mr. Ryland questions 'the current status' of
Kubby's disease. Vincent DeQuattro of USC Medical Center, the world's
foremost specialist in the one-in-a-million pheochromocytoma (adrenal
cancer) before his untimely death, told a Placer County judge that he was
floored in 1998 when he learned that Kubby was still alive 20 years after
he last saw him. He described Kubby's survival as a 'miracle.' (Mr. Ryland
may recall reading the copy of DeQuattro's letter to the Placer County
judge that I sent him at his request.)

Dr. DeQuattro then conducted a battery of tests on Steve Kubby, before
testifying that Kubby still possesses malignant cancer, although the
diagnosis cannot be certain without cutting Kubby open. When informed that
Placer County prosecutors continued to question Kubby's medical status
after the trial, DeQuattro wrote in an e-mail letter that the evidence of
Kubby's likely malignant adrenal cancer is 'incontrovertible.'

Patrick McCartney

Auburn