POT ACTIVIST HELD FOR THREE DAYS IN CANADA

The Associated Press reported out of Sechelt, British Columbia, on April 18
that medical marijuana activist Steve Kubby was arrested there by Royal
Canadian Mounted police on April 16. Kubby had fled to Canada last summer
rather than report to jail on misdemeanor charges stemming from a 2000
marijuana raid on his Olympic Valley home (near Lake Tahoe).

Sgt. Bryon Hodgkin of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police reported a search of
the Kubbys' residence resulted in the seizure of what he called "a
sophisticated marijuana grow" featuring "approximately 160 marijuana
plants."

Kubby, 54, the 1998 Libertarian candidate for governor of California, was a
leading force behind the passage of the Golden State referenda that
legalized medical marijuana. An adrenal cancer survivor and medical
marijuana user, Kubby has been living in Canada rather than submit to a
court-ordered 120-day jail sentence in California.

Although Kubby has appealed that conviction, a court in Sacramento this
month dismissed his appeal, citing his fugitive status. Apparently
Californians waive their right to appeal if they refuse to let the state
kill them in the meantime. It's worth noting that Kubby's original
California jury unanimously acquitted him on all charges that he did
anything wrong by growing his own marijuana at home -- the convictions
actually involve only small pieces of dried cactus or mushroom stem found in
a spare bedroom of the California home.

At any rate, Kubby failed to surrender to the Placer County jail in
California as ordered on July 25, 2001, instead fleeing north where he has
maintained a high profile in the pot legalization movement, founding the
American Medical Marijuana Association and hosting (along with his wife)
Canada's Internet-based Pot-TV news.

Canadian sources indicate it was that high profile which led to pressure on
Canadian authorities from south of the border to crack down after Steve and
his wife Michelle invited press photographers to tour their home recently,
resulting in the publication of photos of the medical marijuana they grow
there.

Kubby was bailed out April 19, to the tune of $17,000 (plus $10,000 in legal
fees) by Marc Emery, owner of Pot-TV (www.pot-tv.net) and publisher of
Cannabis Culture magazine.

"We're getting into very dangerous territory because the last time we were
incarcerated (the late) Dr. (Vincent) DeQuattro said that if Steve was
incarcerated for four days we would have been studying him via autopsy," an
obviously shaken Michelle Kubby told me on April 19.

"As a result of the 'necessity defense', no patient in Canada has ever been
convicted for growing medical marijuana," Mrs. Kubby wrote in a follow-up
April 21 e-mail to supporters, after her husband was released. "In fact,
medical marijuana continues to be supported by 93 percent of the people in
British Columbia. For these reasons, it's difficult to imagine that a jury
would even consider convicting Steve. ..."

Responding to the California court's threat to dismiss his appeal if he did
not return to California to die unmedicated in one of their jails, Kubby
wrote to his appellate attorney Scott Concklin of Redding, Calif. on April
14:

"Dear Mr. Concklin -- How ironic that the state of California, having driven
me into bankruptcy, now demands that I return to California where I would be
unable to make bail and forced to participate in my own murder. ...

"The justices accuse me of being a fugitive and mocking the law, but I have
worked my entire life to obey and uphold the law. It is these judges, all
former prosecutors, who make a mockery of the law by refusing to uphold the
will of the voters who passed Props. 215 and 36, laws which are supposed to
protect me from such legal abuse.

"I invested two-and-a-half years of my life and everything I owned to prove
I was innocent of all marijuana charges. To this day, I have never received
any of the money or property stolen from me by the police and now I face the
death penalty over a mushroom stem and a cactus button. This isn't justice
and it isn't what America is supposed to stand for.

"To continue to threaten my life and my family over such a trivial issue as
non-usable amount of natural substances is bizarre and perverted to the
extreme, making a mockery not only of the law, but of the brave men and
women who gave their lives for our Constitution and Bill of Rights."

In her April 21 e-mail, Michelle Kubby added, "I know many of you are
concerned about Steve's health and I wish the news in that department were
as positive as other areas, but it is not."

Kubby lost 20 pounds due to nausea and vomiting as his blood pressure spiked
during his three-day incarceration, he and his wife report.

"Steve is now in a unique situation: His 'life-and-death necessity' defense
will force the authorities to deal with the reality of medical marijuana. My
husband has never started these fights, but he seems uniquely suited to
stand up for all of our rights when everyone else has been forced to back
down."

In California, despite the passage of Propositions 215 and 36, "Patients are
still being arrested," Mrs. Kubby points out. "The federal government is
systematically closing cannabis clubs by force or legal action. The Bush
administration has also re-opened the federal case the Clinton
administration started against doctors shortly after the Compassionate Use
Act passed. Things keep getting worse and worse for sick people. We need
this case, in this jurisdiction, to finally end this war against Steve and
sick people like him. ... "