12.09.2003
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I DO NOT TRUST POLICE!
Anyone who will cage a human for using a plant
IS NOT TO BE TRUSTED!
They fail the litmus test.
-- anonymous
"The government's drug-reform policy is driven by a fundamentalist Christian
sense of morality that sees any of these illegal substances used as evil!"
-- John Sperling, Arizona billionaire to Time magazine
"There is no distinctly American criminal class except Congress."
-- Mark Twain
"Do you think the Russians allow dope? Hell no. Not if they can catch it, they send them up.
You see, homosexuality, dope, immorality in general: These are the enemies of strong societies.
That's why the Communists and the left-wingers are pushing it. They're trying to destroy us."
-- President Richard Nixon, May 26, 1971
"There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos
and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz and swing, result from marijuana usage. This marijuana
causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others."
-- Harry Anslinger, U.S. Commissioner of Narcotics, testifying to Congress on why marijuana should
be made illegal, 1937. (Marijuana Tax Act, signed on Aug. 2, 1937; effective Oct. 1, 1937)
"It is an unacceptable state of affairs when people suffering
from a serious disease feel driven to break the law."
-- Lorna Layward (MS Society - U.K.)
"It would be unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious for DEA to continue to stand between
those sufferers and the benefits of this substance"
-- Judge Francis Young, the DEA's Chief Administrative Judge
"I smoke two joints in the morning, I smoke two joints at night
I smoke two joints in the afternoon, it makes me feel alright"
-- The Toyes, "Two Joints"
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"What became of Common Sense or better yet, Sensitivity?"
Steve Kubby and Don Nord are teaching us about the human condition in respect
to the dynamics of health. When governments and rules get in the way of our own
well being and complicate the issue into a posture that is scripted from the govern-
ments own false tales and laws about herbal plants. Medical Marijuana is centuries
old in use and has brought today's science to the reality of it as an adjunct in many
healing uses versus the use of pharmaceuticals. Wondrous leaps of applied uses
keep creeping to the fore front of modern science. One prime example is the exist-
ence of Cannabinoid Receptors in the human brain and throughout the body.
Hmm, why would they exist, if that which activates them is banned? So many thera-
pies are reaching into the world of "witches", pagan herbal lore and momma's kitchen
cures. Many of these held basis for quite some time till the influence and banning by
the churches and governments around the planet. A few courageous doctors are aid-
ing their patients by recommending them in spite of the government and pharmaceuticals
corporations that control their interest. The articles below will note the plight of Steve
Kubby and his family requesting Canadian sanctuary in order to maintain his precarious
health condition. The government rejected his initial request for asylum, yesterday. Steve
was one of the candidates who ran for governor of California in 1996. He was arrested
for growing medicine for his personal health needs. The other gentleman hails from Colorado
and was arrested for growing Medical Marijuana as well for his personal health issues.
These two illustrate the harm not just to themselves and those in the similar situations,
but also point out the false premises of government's fallacious intolerant policies towards
a plant and medically needy patients. It is time for this government to stop, realize the
benefits and utility of Medical Marijuana, and get off of the need to control our lives
(when in all reality, they do little to nothing to aid us) plus release the huge volumes of
humans incarcerated in the U.S. just because of a plant!
The time is now for this government to offer leadership not hardship and change their
need to control to Compassion. There is no one who is immune to disease or illness
nor is there the need for pharmaceutical means, when plants such as Medical Marijuana
to help us. One wonders if any of these Christians than are involved in government ever
read Genesis or any of the numerous other passages that bring light to this issue!
"And the earth brought forth grass and herb yielding seed after its kind,
and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind:
and God saw that it was good."
-- Genesis 1:12
"And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed,
which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which
is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat."
-- Genesis 1:29
************************************************************************
from: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N08235307.htm
U.S. "reefer refugee" loses asylum claim in Canada
By Allan Dowd
08 December 2003
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Dec 8 (Reuters) - A Canadian immigration panel
refused political asylum on Monday to a marijuana advocate who says he fled the
United States to escape persecution in the "War on Drugs."
Steve Kubby, an unsuccessful California gubernatorial candidate, had argued he
was a political target of the police because of his outspoken views in favor of medical
marijuana and against U.S. anti-drug laws.
"What Mr Kubby alleges does not amount to persecution," Immigration and Refugee
Board member Paulah Dauns wrote in dismissing Kubby's application -- along with
those of his wife and two young children.
Kubby, 56, is among a handful of "reefer refugees" who have moved to Canada in
recent years to escape U.S. drug laws -- a movement they liken to the draft dodgers
who fled the United States in opposition to the Vietnam War.
Canada allows the medical use of marijuana and has even supplied government-
grown pot for people with illnesses such as AIDS, cancer or multiple sclerosis.
Kubby began smoking pot in the 1980s to offset the effects of cancer and was
active in the campaign that led to California's Proposition 215 in 1996, making
marijuana legal for treating some sick people.
He was the Libertarian Party's gubernatorial candidate in California in 1998.
Kubby was convicted on drug procession charges in Placer County, California,
in 2001, but moved to Canada before serving his sentence of house arrest. He
now lives in Sechelt, British Columbia, north of Vancouver.
Kubby argued in his refugee hearing that his need for marijuana was the same as
a diabetic who requires insulin to stay alive.
He claimed his life would be threatened if he was returned to the United States
and denied the drug.
Dauns ruled it appeared pot was helping Kubby cope with his cancer symptoms,
but it was unclear if it was actually keeping him alive. She noted that he would
have access to the drug under the California law he helped pass.
"He argues that a medical marijuana patient should be protected from persecution.
What he has demonstrated is that in fact, they are," Dauns wrote in her nearly
60-page decision.
Dauns noted that the U.S. federal government has opposed state medical marijuana
laws, but Kubby had failed to show the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency had any
special interest in prosecuting him.
Marijuana is a touchy issue in U.S.-Canada relations, with White House drug czar
John Walters warning that Ottawa's plan to decriminalize procession of small amounts
of pot could lead to tighter security on the border.
Marijuana growing is estimated by police and advocates to to be worth more than
C$2 billion ($1.5 billion) annually in British Columbia, with most of the potent "B.C.
Bud" eventually sold in the United States.
CBC'S THE NATIONAL - THE MOST WATCHED NEWS PROGRAM IN CANADA
Pot advocate denied refugee status in Canada
Written by CBC News Online staff
09 Dec 2003
VANCOUVER - A U.S. medical marijuana advocate who sought refugee status in
Canada had his claim rejected Monday. Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board
ruled that Steve Kubby did not have a well-founded fear of being persecuted or tortured,
or that there was any risk to his life if he returned to his home state of California.
Kubby had said the 120-day jail term he was ordered to serve in California on minor
drug charges would be a death sentence.
He claimed that he would die from complications from adrenal cancer if he did not
smoke pot every hour.
Kubby fled to British Columbia in 2001 to avoid the jail sentence. He then filed a
refugee claim to avoid being deported.
The board noted that California does permit the medical use of marijuana in some
cases.
The board also ruled against the refugee claims of Kubby's wife, Michele, and their
two daughters.
More Links - KUBBY REFUGEE DECISION - stories & videos:
Los Angeles Times, CA
Santa Rosa Press Democrat, CA
RICHARD COWAN ANALYSIS ON POT TV ABOUT DECISION
CBC News, Canada
The Globe and Mail, Canada
Australian News
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A Special Letter from Michele Kubby:
Dear friends,
I'm very concerned that the continual harassment by government officials is
killing my husband. This entire Refugee process has put Steve's health into
a terrifying tailspin.
Yesterday, I was shocked to see Steve so sick that he could barely walk.
When he did walk, he had great difficulty with his balance. He is suffering
from extremely elevated high blood pressures. He is nauseous, has diarrhea,
he's weak, shaky, has difficulty urinating from kidney damage and soaking
his sheets from night sweats.
All of this is the direct result of the Refugee Protection Board Ajudicator,
Pauhla Dauns' dishonest, shameful and cowardly decision. She denies that
returning Steve to the States will cause him harm, but her very decision has
put his life at risk.
It wasn't easy for Dr. Connors to find the time or the courage to testify on
Steve's behalf, but he did it because he clearly feels, as we all do, that
Steve's life is at risk. Dr. Connors explained in very graphic frightening
details how my husband is a walking time bomb.
For the first time in my marriage with Steve I am truly frightened about his
welfare. He's still struggling from the radiation he subjected himself to
to prove that there are no other therapies but cannabis. Steve has never
hurt a fly. It's always the government that accuses him of criminal
behavior. This woman, Pauhla Dauns is a criminal for putting my husband's
life in danger.
Steve saw by the third day of our hearings, in March, that Pauhla Dauns and
the Refugee Protection Officer were dyed in the wool prohibitionists and
could never provide a fair hearing. This is in the transcripts. However,
when Steve officially objected and asked for a new hearing with the full
Refugee Board, as is his right, Pauhla Dauns assured him that she would look
solely at the facts. Now with this decision, we know that Ms. Dauns
deliberately excluded key evidence and testimony or completely
misrepresented testimony by Dr. Connors and Judge James Gray.
This is murder, happening before our eyes, and I need your help now. I know
that with cannabis and some peace, Steve can recover, but not with this
continual and criminal harassment by government officials.
I beg you, please write a letter today to any of the major newspapers that
have published articles about this decision and help us expose this murder
in progress. Please, I don't want my husband to become another Peter
McWilliams, but that is exactly what is going to happen if we don't act
together as a community to help one of our own.
Gratefully,
Michele Kubby
Papers that have covered this story and need letters to the editor:
* Canada no pot haven, refugee ruling shows
The Globe and Mail, Canada - 9 Dec 2003
* Medical marijuana activist loses bid for refugee status
Vancouver Sun - Dec 09 1:15 PM
* Pot User's Refugee Bid Is Rejected
Los Angeles Times - 9 Dec 2003
*US refugee who smokes pot to fight rare cancer loses bid to stay ...
Winnipeg Sun, Canada - 8 Dec 2003
* Medical marijuana activist loses bid for refugee status
The Province Tuesday, December 09, 2003
* US refugee who smokes pot to fight rare cancer loses bid to stay ...
Toronto Sun, Canada - 8 Dec 2003
* Canada to decide status of medical pot advocate
Auburn Journal - Dec 07 12:41 PM
* Cancer patient who smokes pot is denied refugee claim in Canada
San Jose Mercury News, CA - 9 Dec 2003
=======================================
32545 B Golden Lantern, Suite 101
Dana Point, CA 92629
=======================================
To all our relations.
Greetings in the name of the most high, Jah Rastafari, ever faithful, ever sure, Jah Rastafari.
One Love Brethren.
Brethren please call upon Jah for overstanding of the time. Recall the lessons of Jesus of Nazareth,
who defeated that Levite mafia that owned the Temple in Jerusalem, those who extorted from the
nation in the name of Jah.
Jesus said that it was for each of us to live our flesh in keeping with the law of Jah. Should we accomplish this and to the extent that we accomplish this, we bring the light of the Holy Spirit of Jah thru our flesh into the presense of those amongst us. Steve Kubby has chosen to use his flesh to this purpose. The proof is that we feel and see, hear and can touch the EVIL that seeks to torture his body; that we see ourselves more clearly in that light; that we are empowered to come forwardin to bring that light to those amongst us.
Combat is difficult. Combat brings death, disfigurment, sufferation, and ultimately liberation from the oppressor. Rejoice in the persecution of Steve Kubby as it brings us all closer to the decision we all must make to either submit to the EVIL or LIVE in the Holy Spirit of Jah. Rejoice in the persecution of Steve Kubby as this brings us all closer to the strength to overcome our little trouble and make this world a little better for All Our Relations. For this we are born, this we can chose as Steve Kubby has chosen, for this we pay the price and achieve the objective Steve Kubby has declared and put his life on the line for.
Gandhi said, "First they laugh at you, then they beat you up, and then you win."
Perhaps Steve Kubby and his family will be welcomed at Eddy Lepp's Medicinal Gardens in Clear Lake California. If you do a www.google.com search on Eddy Lepp and chose the second mention of his Medicinal Gardens you will have the pictures of the 5 acres of medicanal pot he harvested this year and the details on the multimillion dollar lawsuit he has filed agaisnt the DEA for having stolen his produce last year.
Brethren it is not for me to deny the danger that Steve and his family face now, the tribulations they have suffered, or the rightousness of their cause. Take heart Brethern that the murder of Peter McWilliams at the hands of the federal judge King in Los Angeles has not gone unnoticed by Jah. Our sufferation acts like a generator of a Spiritual Energy which is used to expose and defeat the EVIL in our LIVE. There is no pain unnoticed, no sacrafice uncounted.
Steve Kubby and his family have set a standard for us all to achieve. Weep not for them but for those too blind and fear ridden to come forwardin in this time of need. Weep for those who will sit astride their own comfort and allow the CIA/NSA drug nazi's to round up another load of the drug war Jews of our day. Any Jew in the death camp is of more count then those who rest easy in the closet of their concealment.
So Brethren, it is for all of us to overstand the Time and to bring our LIVE into the presense of Jah, to take comfort and refuge in the ways of Jah, to make Truth and Rightousness our path and our way. Truely then our children will sing great songs of us and we will all live in the paths of rightousness we have cut thru the wilderness of our ignorance, our fear, our weakness, and our shirking of the duty we see before us.
One Love,
Rev. Tom Brown
First Church of the Magi
P.O.Box 2827
Fayetteville, Arkansas 72702
479-251-1780
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Note form MAP,inc.: It is with great sadness that we at MAP read of this incomprehensible decision.
Steve Kubby has been an active MAP supporter since it's early days.
The fact is, without question, that if Steve Kubby is sent back to California he will most likely be
jailed. When he was originally jailed in California, and again when he was jailed once in Canada,
he came very close, within hours, of death. Local California officials have stated, repeatedly, that
he will be denied his life saving medicine, which he now grows with the approval of Health Canada,
when he is jailed.
More Information: http://www.mapinc.org/kubby.htm (Kubby, Steve)
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The (CO) Steamboat Pilot & Today
another article on a patient plight from: http://www.stmbt-pilot.com/
Medical Marijuana Conflict
By Susan Bacon
06 December 2003
Resident's Plants Were Seized In A Raid, But He Is Registered As A
Legal User Don Nord, 57, moves his heavy form slowly, step by step,
as he carries a box of firewood up to his Hayden townhome. When he
reaches the top step, he stops to catch his breath.
Inside, his home is dark. In the living room, a hospital bed and easy
chair are aimed at a large television, which is turned on. Nord sits
down at his kitchen table and hooks himself up to an oxygen tank.
For Nord, each day can be measured in a series of pains. Since a fall
in 1985, in which he hurt his neck and was put out of a long-term job,
his health has deteriorated. He has battled kidney cancer, diabetes,
a lung disease, phlebitis -- an inflammation of veins -- in both of his
legs, and now is worried cancer has moved to his prostate.
He takes about 20 different physician-prescribed medications.
He also smokes marijuana.
Although a physician can't prescribe the drug, the state does allow
Nord to register as a legal user and grower of marijuana for medicinal
purposes. "I smoke marijuana to help me relax at night, so I can go
to sleep at night," he said. "Otherwise, I don't sleep."
In mid-October, officers with GRAMNET, the Grand, Routt and Moffat
County Narcotics Enforcement Team, obtained a warrant to search Nord's
home for drugs and confiscated his plants and growing equipment.
On Monday, Nord has a hearing in front of a Routt County judge to try
to get his plants and equipment back. Conflicting state and federal
laws may make that difficult. Under federal laws, Nord can't have the
marijuana. Period. But under Colorado's law, he hasn't done anything wrong.
The rules
In 2000, Colorado voters approved a law allowing people suffering from
debilitating medical conditions, such as cancer, HIV/AIDS, glaucoma and
chronic severe pain, to smoke marijuana. That clause is now written into
the state's constitution. Colorado is one of eight states that allow medicinal
use of marijuana. The practice also is accepted in Hawaii, Alaska, California,
Oregon, Washington, Nevada and Maine.
Science shows that smoking marijuana can help relieve nausea, appetite
loss and pain that people with severe illnesses experience, said Bruce
Mirken, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, a Washington, D.C.
-based advocacy group trying to remove criminal penalties for marijuana use.
"The long-term trend has got to be toward allowing seriously ill people to
use marijuana with a doctor's recommendation," Mirken said. Nord, along
with 280 other Coloradans, is a registered marijuana user through the
Medical Marijuana Registry program, which is administered by the Colorado
Department of Public Health and Environment.
To get on the registry and receive an identification card, a Colorado resident
with a debilitating illness that can be eased by use of marijuana must submit
a letter from a doctor and a $140 fee.
Being on the list isn't a go-ahead to grow acres of marijuana, though. The
Colorado law specifies that a registered user can have no more than 2 ounces
of a usable form of marijuana and no more than six marijuana plants, only three
of which can be mature. It gives no suggestions for how registered users legal-
ly can obtain the marijuana or plants.
According to statistics updated a week ago by the state health department,
the average age of applicants for the registry is 45. Almost 70 percent are
male. Almost 40 percent of the registered applicants live in the Denver-metro
and Boulder areas. In Routt County, there are three registered applicants.
Nord has been part of the registry since Aug. 28, 2002.
To date, there have been no marijuana-related convictions of patients or
caregivers listed on the registry, according to the health department's up-
dated report. "However, reluctance to participate due to the inconsistencies
between state and federal marijuana laws has been expressed by doctors
and patients alike," the report stated.
Federal supremacy
To the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the inconsistency is not an
issue; in the DEA's eyes, it simply does not exist. That's because federal
law does not permit marijuana use, said Dan Reuter, special agent and
public information officer for the DEA's Denver field division.
"We really don't see it as a conflict because our mission is clear and our
mandate is clear," Reuter said. The mandate, he said, is to crack down on
users, sellers and producers of illegal drugs, including marijuana.
The federal supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution says that
federal law overrides state law whenever the two conflict, which means
that Colorado's medicinal marijuana law doesn't hold up in federal courts,
Reuter said. That's something the DEA does not want to change.
No other medicinal drug comes in a smokeable form, and marijuana is
addictive and dangerous, he said. Plus, there is a legal marijuana pill on
the market called Marinol. "There's really no excuse for using marijuana,"
Reuter said. "It's not a bridge to a better place; it's not medicine."
In Nord's case, some of the officials who searched his house were part of
GRAMNET, a federal task force that Reuter said should follow federal law.
Reuter said he is aware of at least 10 other instances in Colorado in
which federal officers searched someone for drugs and then found the
person was registered with the state's medicinal marijuana program.
In those cases, the officers seized plants, drugs and growing
equipment and did not return them. In Nord's case, as well, Reuter
said, administration officials have decided the confiscated drugs and
equipment should not be returned.
The search
Attorney Kristopher Hammond is representing Nord at the hearing Monday
in front of Routt County Judge James Garrecht. He said that the search
warrant and charges against Nord were filed through a state court with
a state judge, and so he believes that state law should be followed.
That means, he said, Garrecht should order that the usable marijuana,
marijuana plants, paraphernalia and growing equipment be returned to
Nord.
"I'm hoping the judge follows the Colorado Constitution, which requires the
police to give the stuff back," Hammond said. "It requires them to take care
of it and to return it."
The state law that Hammond referred to says that any property connected
with the use of medicinal marijuana "shall not be harmed, neglected, injured
or destroyed while in the possession of state or local law enforcement officials
where such property has been seized in connection with the claimed medical
use of marijuana."
It also states the property should be returned "immediately" when officials
decide the user was legally registered and that charges would not be pressed.
The search at Nord's house took place Oct. 14. A warrant for the search was
issued by Garrecht. Hayden Police Chief Jody Lenahan said officers were expect-
ing to find a large growing and selling operation in Nord's house.
But they didn't.
They found three marijuana plants, a baggie with some usable marijuana at
the bottom, and dried marijuana leaves, which Nord said he was using for fer-
tilizer, in a closet along with seeds, some growing equipment and several other
items. After the search was finished, Nord was issued a ticket charging him with
possession of between 1 and 8 ounces of marijuana and possession of drug
paraphernalia, according to court documents.
The ticket, which called for a court appearance Nov. 4, was not turned in to the
courts until Nov. 6 because it was misplaced, Lenahan said. Garrecht dismissed
the charges Nov. 17 because they were filed late. Charges could be refiled, how-
ever, if officials desired. Deputy District Attorney Marc Guerette, who is represent-
ing GRAMNET in the case, first filed a response to Hammond's Nov. 17 motion Nov. 20.
In that response, Guerette contended that under Colorado law, a person with a
medical marijuana license can possess no more than 2 ounces of usable marijuana,
so that any amount seized exceeding 2 ounces should not be returned. Guerette
then changed his motion five days later to state that, after consulting with the U.S.
Attorney's Office and GRAMNET detectives, it was apparent that the return of drugs
and equipment would be against federal law. The amended response asked the
court to deny Hammond's motion to return the property.
"GRAMNET is required not to return the property because ... possession of (the
property) is a violation of federal law, and GRAMNET is a federal agency," Guerette
said. If the judge denies the request, Hammond said he and his client will appeal
to a higher court.
Both Guerette and Hammond agree the case is novel for the state. Depending
on how far it goes in the legal process, it could set a precedent for other conflicts
between state and federal rules on medicinal marijuana.
The waiting game
Nord's grow room is now mostly empty, except for a few florescent tube
lights and pots of leftover soil. Nord spends his days as he did before the search,
watching television, driving to the post office and running errands, and sometimes
visiting or talking on the phone with friends.
Sitting in his living room, he's surrounded by paintings and statues of eagles, which
he said give him a feeling of freedom.
There's a Bible on the mantle above the fireplace, and a picture of Jesus that reads:
"Jesus, I trust in you." God, Nord said, helps him deal with his loneliness and pain.
So does marijuana, he said. Without his plants, during the past few weeks he's
had to find the drug where he can. He said he knows that the medical marijuana
card he carries is a privilege, so he is careful to stay within the parameters of the
state law.
When his house was searched, he said he felt confused and upset. "I didn't know
what I did wrong," he said. "I said to them that day I didn't know I did something
wrong. I said that over and over. "After they left, I broke down pretty hard. It made
me feel like I didn't want to be here anymore."
He wouldn't mind officials looking around his house to make sure he's legal, he said.
And, though he used marijuana when he was younger, he says he's not proud of
that and doesn't think anyone without medicinal reasons should use the drug.
What he wants from the hearing on Monday is to get his plants and equipment returned.
2003 The Steamboat Pilot & Today
Contact: editor@steamboatpilot.com
