Dale Gieringer, director of California NORML, reports that incarcerated medical cannabis patient Steve Kubby tells friends that he's in serious medical distress from symptoms related to his adrenal cancer.

According to Gieringer, a friend of Steve Kubby's, Fred Colburn, received a call from Kubby early this morning. Kubby told Colburn that he is in excruciating pain, vomiting, weak from inability to eat for the last several days, with blood in his urine, and without a blanket or even Tylenol. Kubby has been held at the Placer County Jail for four days.

Kubby's supporters will be holding an 8:30 am press conference and then a rally at noon at the Placer County Courthouse in Auburn, California. Kubby has a hearing set for 1 pm.

Below are two long telephone interviews with Kubby conducted by journalist Pat McCartney over the weekend. Kubby claims that jail officials are denying him needed medical care and forced him to sign a document absolving them of responsibility for his health.

Steve Kubby
Phone call from Placer County Jail
January 29, 2006

Around 5 p.m.

SK: Please take notes of everything I'm going to
tell you, and at seven you can get back to me.
[PM: Okay.] I am getting zero medical care. I'm
unable to even get Tylenol for pain and headaches.

PM: And you've requested it?

SK: I have requested it repeatedly. I'm told I
don't have a prescription for it.

PM: Have you requested anything other than Tylenol?

SK: Anything for pain, but most pain medications
are a problem for me, and Tylenol is all I need.

PM: Did you get the second shipment of the Marinol?

SK: I don't know. They keep that. They are
completely ignoring the bloody urine. I was told
on Friday at noon when I came in, that they would
test me for that, and they're not testing me. And
I'm really concerned that they don't want to test
me, that they don't want to document that I've
got blood in my urine as the resul! t of medical
incompetence and torture that I'm getting here.

PM: I hear you.

SK: The first follow-up since admission Friday
was today, about two hours ago they checked my
b-p. [Blood pressure.] No other care or exam. By
b-p on examination was one-sixty-six over
one-oh-eight, which is way high for me. Now, I
believe that the medical director thinks that I'm
a fraud, or ignorant, or something, because when
I told him that I cannot take Š Well, I don't
know if he even got the message. They said, you
got to Š They said, um Š I told them I can't take
regular meds, so they said, well then, you're
refusing treatment. And I said I'm refusing
conventional treatment, yes. So, you know I went
through that whole thing with the deputy
yesterday. After the confrontation with the
hostile deputy Š [PM: So you went through a
similar thing today?] No, but after this
confrontation with the hostile deputy, I'm afr! aid
to push this issue and I need help from friends
calling. And by the way, I'm getting the message
that they're getting a lot of calls. I'm under
the impression that I cannot expect any help from
the medical director due to my refusal to take
conventional medicines.

PM: Now, is this what Michele put in her note?
Beta blocker and alpha blocker, or something?

SK: These things are deadly for me. My Doctor
Conners in Canada understands, but people need to
understand that I do not have [high] blood
pressure, I have episodes of [high] blood
pressure. So, if you treat me when I'm running
one-sixty-six, if you treat that right now, as
soon as my tumor lets up, I'm going to bottom out
and turn into a vegetable. [PM: I see.] I can't
move. I have trouble speaking. I have, like, no
blood pressure. On the other hand, if I have an
attack and I'm only medicated for one hundred,
sixty-six over one-oh-eight,! and it goes to
two-fifty over two-twenty, which it does and
which I believe it went last Friday, if it gets
that high, it blows completely through the
protection of the blood-pressure medication, and
it fools my body into thinking that I'm protected
until that moment, and that's what's deadly.
That's where I get killed. That's where I get
hammered with terrible, terrible attacks, because
I've been through this for fucking years [anger
rising in voice], and this Š These people here
gave me an informational sheet on hypertension. I
know I know more than the top medical authorities
in California, and they're giving me an
information sheet. I'm really, really disturbed
by what is going on.

PM: So you're not in the infirmary? You're in a solitary cell?

SK: Yes. No, I'm not in any sort of an infirmary. I don't see anyone. [Sighs.]

PM: Have you received any more comments from staff that is memorable.

! SK: I've got a lot more to report. But there's
one sergeant here, Minden Sanders, who's
attempting to straighten things out. He told me a
lot of folks are calling and complaining. He got
me a pillow. He got me an extra pillow. [PM:
Good!] I sent him a written statement that I am
not Š This blood thing, they could fucking settle
it with one fucking test! They could have done it
Friday in two minutes. [PM: What kind of test are
you talking about?] Blood in urine; it's a simple
process. I don't know. I've never had blood in my
urine before. They told me they can test for this.

PM: Steve, I'm transcribing our first
conversation for Eric Bailey, Martin, and maybe
Fred Gardner, or Ann Harrison. I'll put something
together for like DPFCA based on all our
conversations.

SK: I told you yesterday that the Marinol
appeared to be helping. I honestly thought I
could make it. But everyone needs to know that I
was mistaken. Dr. Conners said it would not
control my blood pressure. He was correct. It
does provide partial effective relief for my
symptoms, but it is not very effective on the
adrenaline production.

PM: Is that because CBD is better for that?

SK: There's something in the whole plant that
keeps me at one-twenty over eighty, or better,
and it is outrageous that I'm being kept to the
point that I'm worried my kidneys are being
damaged. Now, the vomiting and nausea are gone,
and I ate my first meal today, but it just went
right through me as diarrhea. So I'm losing
weight, and I'm weak.

PM: I'll also copy it to Dick Cowan, the
transcript. I'm sorry to hear this, Steve. You
know, I've received a couple requests to say
hello to you. Certainly, Eva, Dale Schafer, and
Debbie Debord, and practically everybody I see.

SK: Let me get back to my report, OK? I urgently
need for Dr. Conners in Can! ada to contact the
medical director, and separately contact the head
of the jail here, and explain to them why no
conventional therapy is going to be able to keep
me alive. They need understand that they're going
to fucking kill me. I'm sorry, but you know,
three days and they can't even test or verify
that I have blood in my urine? What kind of
fucking care is that? I need Fred [Colburn] to
find a male barber. He knows Š His daughter is a
female barber. I need a haircut, man. I don't
want to go to the hearing without a haircut, if I
can get one. They say you can bring a male barber
in at any time and get a haircut. Will you look
into that?

PM: Yes. I can ask my barber here in town. Can it be anybody?

SK: Anybody at all. But not your barber; your
hair looks funny. Nah, I'm just kidding.

PM: [Laughs.] Well, Steve. Anything else you want
to tell me before I come tonight. Do you know if
I can hav! e a tape recorder with me, or a camera?

SK: I don't know.

PM: Well, I'll find out. Eva's going to try to
see you, too, but I'm not sure if you're allowed
two individuals per week, or just two visiting
periods per week.

SK: I don't know, either.

PM: I'll find out. [SK: Pat Š] Well look, hang in there, buddy.

SK: This is really getting serious. I really
thought yesterday that we had found an answer.
And please, don't misunderstand me, but Marinol
is tremendously helpful. It helps me with the
nausea. I'm not getting any more of the Š I was
vomiting so bad that my cellmate was getting
pissed at me. I requested a private cell, because
I don't want to keep these guys up puking all the
time. When I started the Marinol, the puking went
away, but now I got diarrhea, so it just goes
through me, boom. I'm weak, I'm shaky, and the
worst thing of all is I honestly think that
there's an effort here to n! ot document what is
happening, to not document that I am passing
blood, to not document my blood-pressure attacks.
Now, the big attacks, the worst one I had was
Friday, it knocked me down, I got disoriented,
but I have not had a super-high blood-pressure
attack since then. But one-sixty-six over
one-oh-eight is enough to make me feel pretty
darn sick all fucking day.

Oh, and the officer got me a copy of the Auburn
Journal story. I'll tell you, my blood really
boiled when I saw that yet another police officer
has decided to practice [medicine], and told the
Auburn Journal that I looked "fine." Well, I want
everyone to contact the Auburn Journal and tell
them I'm not fine, and doctors, police who make
those kind of Š Not just the police, but for the
Auburn Journal to put that in is fucking
bullshit, as sick as I am, to say that he looks
fine.

PM: They've got to talk to everybody on all
side! s of it, Steve. That's just part of the news.
But I want to know where they got that yahoo
medical expert. That was an embarrassment. [SK:
Who? The cop?] No, the UC Davis person who
pooh-poohed the Š [SK: Yes.] That was the worst
thing the Auburn Journal has done.

SK: They're going to kill me with that kind of
stuff. [PM: I hear you.] They're going to
convince people that it's not a big deal. It is a
big deal.

PM: You've got to take care of yourself to at
least Tuesday. How often do you take the Marinol?

SK: Three times a day.

PM: I see. Is that sufficient, do you think?

SK: It's all I'm going to get from that. There's
only one medicine that has ever worked for me. I
have thirty fucking years of documentation,
goddammit! [PM: Yeah.] Now, Dr. Conners is a very
high-ranking doctor. I'm hopeful that he can
persuade Š You know, he's not American, so they
might just blow him off. People need to
understand what is on the line. So, I'm going to
get off the phone, and let you contact people.
I'd like you to contact my wife and find out what
is going on. I don't want you to scare her, but I
want you to tell her to tell Ed [Pearson] that
I'm passing blood.

PM: So, let me get this straight again. They
have not tested for blood in the urine yet?

SK: No, they have not. [PM: I see, Steve.] The
only follow-up I've had in three days was a
blood-pressure check today.

PM: I got you. Well look, I will see you in a
couple hours and I'll make a few calls before
then.

SK: Just let everyone know that the calls work.
They're rattled here. They're just ignorant.
They're ignorant! They think it's a fraud or a
joke or something. They've got to understand that
they're going to fucking kill me! I've never had
blood in my kidneys before. I don't deserve to
have damaged kidneys now. I don't dese! rve that. I
want people to help me any way they can, because
at this point, I am really, really concerned. So,
I'm going to say good-bye.

PM: Take care. Try and stay calm, Steve. You can't let the stress get to you.

SK: When you see blood come out in your urine, it's hard to remain calm.

PM: I hear you. I hear you, Steve. [SK: All
right, thank you.] Hang in there, buddy. [SK:
I'll see you at seven.] Take care.

Steve Kubby
Phone call from Placer County Jail
January 28, 2006

A little after 1 p.m.

SK: I want to give you a statement [PM: Sure.],
and I want you to take notes. [PM: OK] [Reads
from prepared remarks.] OK. I entered the Placer
County Jail around noon yesterday. At that time
my blood pressure was one-seventy over
one-twenty, and I reported that I had passed
blood in my urine. I also reported that I had one
of the most severe blood-pressure attacks of my
life, with chest pains fo! r the first time ever
for me, and I became so disoriented that I
collapsed and I injured my back and head.

I was told by the nurse that the medical director
wants me on convention b-p [blood-pressure]
medications. I replied that I am under doctor's
orders to not use conventional b-p medication,
since I don't have a conventional b-p problem.
These meds would be worse for me and put me at
high risk, according to my doctors. So, they also
have denied repeated requests from me to talk to
my attorneys; this is the first time I've had
access to a phone, except yesterday. I had one
call, so I used that to call Michele in Canada.

PM: Steve, did you receive the Marinol?

SK: Yes, that has been a godsend for me. The
blood has stopped passing through my urine. My
kidneys, which were just throbbing with pain, are
starting to calm down, and it's not doing what
cannabis does for me, but it's keeping me alive. I am so grateful for that.

[Resumes reading remarks.] I am being held in
24-hour solitary lock-up until now; they let me
out for one hour, I get one hour out of every 24
hours.

PM: I tried to visit you. [SK: Yes? What did
they tell you?] They told me you're only allowed
two visitors a week, and for you, it's Sunday
night and Thursday night. I called Michele to let
her know that, because I will try to visit you
tomorrow night unless you want to reserve the
visit for somebody else.

SK: Yes, I'd like to arrange for me Š Well, I
get to see my attorney anytime, right?

PM: Right. They wouldn't let me in as a professional visitor.

SK: Yes, I'd like to see you tomorrow. Let me
continue giving my report. I assume you'll
disperse it to the media?

PM: Yeah. In fact, Eric Bailey asked me to give
him a call. But if you like, I'll put it up in
notes and pass it along to Michele and DPFCA.

! SK: Well, I'd like you to get to Eric first.
[PM: OK.] OK, so let me continue with my report.
Here's the spooky part, Pat. The medical director
has refused any further medical care for me, and
has forced me to sign a paper that if I die, it's
my fault for not taking conventional b-p
medication. When I protested that the statement
did not include the statement that I was under
doctors' orders from my doctors not to take these
medications, I was confronted by a deputy, who
told me, I want to get the quote right, told me,
"Sign the paper, and sign it as is." And, you
know, just got in my face and made it clear that
I was under physical duress to do it, that I was
forced to sign that paper.

No further b-p checks, or any physical
examination, has been since I reported chest
pains and blood in my urine.

PM: And when did you report that?

SK: Upon entering Placer County yesterday at noon.

PM: And no f! urther Š I mean didn't one-twenty, one-ten catch their attention?

SK: One seventy!

PM: Yeah. One-seventy over one-twenty. That didn't get their attention?

SK: They basically told me if I'm not going to
do it their way, they're not going to deal with
it. I've also been exposed to continual episodes
of cold, where officers will put me in a
situation, take my blanket from me. When I tell
them that I'm cold and I need the blanket, I mean
they're sitting there with a hat on, they got the
heavy uniform and everything, they just give us a
T-shirt! I'm a cancer patient! I haven't been
able to hold any food down since I got here,
since I was arrested. I'm being exposed to
episodes where I get so chilled that my teeth are
chattering and I'm shivering and it takes a
half-hour to warm up. I'm afraid I'm going to get
pneumonia or something if I continue to receive
abuse like that.

PM: Steve, I was actually at! the airport
Thursday night and spoke to Bill McPike briefly.
Did I hear him right that there were police cars
on the runway?

SK: Here's what happened. We landed, we pulled
into the tarmac, and they announced that Steve
Kubby, please come to the front. So I go to the
front and I get outside of the plane, and there
are federal agents everywhere. I don't know,
maybe six or eight federal agents. And they put
me up against the wall, and they do the handcuff
thing, and they were kind of rough with me, and
then they start telling me I've got all these
multiple warrants.

And I'm thinking, oh man, is this the federal
government getting bad-ass with me? Are they
going to come after me? Then, no sooner than they
- and they went over everything I have with a
fine-tooth comb trying to look for a flake of pot
or something - then they take me down to this cop
car and put me in there, and the guy just cranks !
the, the Asian guy with Border Patrol, just
cranks it down on my wrists until they're just,
I'm screaming with pain. I tell the guy, this is
really hurting me. And he basically just says
tough. So, get this, the officer that's
transporting me said, why don't you go ahead and
loosen the cuffs. He says, he'll be a security
risk, and he says, I'll take that chance.

So, they loosen up the cuffs, we take off, and
the guy says, so are you a senator or something?
I said why. He says, because of all the people
and press that were there. I said, no. I said I
was one of those people who helped passed a law
that police and prosecutors and judges don't
like. So, he tells me, well, it wasn't supposed
to go down this way. Quote - Someone has a big
hard-on to get you. Otherwise we would have let
you go to voluntarily surrender in Placer County.
- Unquote. [PM: Hmm.] Let's see what other
information I have for you Š

PM: What was the rest of that? Someone has a
hard-on to arrest you? It wasn't supposed to go
down? What did you say?

SK: "Otherwise, we would have let you go and
voluntarily surrender in Placer County."

PM: And who told you that? The guy transporting you?

SK: Yeah, and he said he would never admit to it if I told.

PM: OK

SK: So, what else do I have to report Š [Apparently scanning a list.]

PM: So, was there [sic] police cars on the
runway or not? Did I misunderstand? [SK: Yes.]
Yes? [SK: Yes.] They pulled up to the Š [SK: the
plane Š] yeah, but at the gate before they
disembark?

SK: They got on and off out of everyone's view.

PM: So, did you exit through the normal gate, or did they, oh OK.

SK: I exited through the plane, and right
outside the plane were these guys, between the
plane and the gate.

PM: In the maneuverable hallway, or whatever.

SK: Yes.
PM: How was your treatment at the border, getting on the plane?

SK: Superb.

PM: So, Canadian officials were Š

SK: Very polite. They went overboard to be
polite and understanding and helpful.

PM: But you're saying you have not received that
kind of treatment on the U.S. side of the border?

SK: I thought they were pretty rough with me.
They were treating me like I was some kind of Š

PM: You said they read all these charges, but
you're not under arrest for those charges, are
you?

SK: They just said I was under arrest for
multiple warrants. I thought it was federal at
the time; I was crapping in my pants. I took it
pretty cool, actually.

PM: Bill [McPike] said you were in a pretty good
mood, that you seemed to look forward to getting
it resolved. Is that a fair description? [SK: Who
said that?] Bill McPike.

SK: Yes. Yes. I want everyone to understand three
things. First of! all, I never fled. I had the
permission of the court to leave. Two, I opted
not to return when it was clear to me that
illegal and damaging things were being done
behind the scenes to harm to me and to come after
me. And three, I came down to voluntarily
surrender myself.

PM: Well, did you have any choice?

SK: Yes, I had the choice to run, I had a choice
to duck out in another country, but I came right
to Placer County to face the music, and for them
to face the music.

PM: So, you could have engineered an escape from the Canadian airport?

SK: Oh, I had all kinds of offers to go to
Amsterdam, Europe, Australia, New Zealand.

PM: How about St. Vincent?

SK: Hey, if I'd had that, I might have taken it.
[Pause.] Oh god, this Marinol has been so much a
godsend for me.

PM: Dr. Tod told me yesterday that it was the
first time he'd ever prescribed or recommended,
prescribed I guess, in t! hese kinds of
circumstances. It has to be enough to give you an
initial, uh, I forget the term, but Š

SK: You know, I was pissing blood until I got on the Marinol.

PM: Wow. [Pause.] So, did you sign that paper or not?

SK: You bet I signed it. They made it pretty
clear I was in for a bad time if I didn't.

PM: But even with that cooperation, they have
not monitored your health closely?

SK: I have only received one blood-pressure
check and that was upon entry, at one-seventy
over one-twenty.

PM: And now it's more than 24 hours later.

SK: Yes, that's correct.

PM: Steve, you said you've been kept in solitary
since then. Is it at least an open-air cell?

SK: Yeah, it's part of a facility where each guy
has one cell, and there's probably a dozen other
guys locked down with me. Each of us gets out,
now that I've been here a while, I get out one
hour a day. I get out one hour a day, ! right now,
and I'm locked down the rest of the time.

PM: When did you receive the Marinol, and has
that been given to you regularly?

SK: Yes, I received the Marinol upon entering
Placer County. And if you look at my mugshot,
you'll see that within an hour I was already able
to muster a smile for my mugshot. [PM: Good, so
you had the Marinol before you took the mugshot?]
Yes, and I remembered what you said, that they'd
probably print it, so I smiled.

PM: You know. Good point. Even Tom Delay learned
that one. [Laughs.] [SK: Yeah.] So, have you had
any other comments either by inmates or
law-enforcement officials that stand out, Placer
County officials?

SK: [To someone else:] Yes, ma'am. I have to go.

PM: OK. Say, thanks Steve for giving me a call.

SK: OK. I gotta go. They want me to go.

PM: I'll see you tomorrow.

SK: Bye-bye.

Posted by ann at 03:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Shona Gochenaur, director of the Axis of Love medical cannabis activist group, says San Francisco City Supervisor Tom Ammiano may introduce a resolution at tomorrow that all medical marijuana patients be allowed to use cannabis while in state custody.

The proposed resolution, which may also have the backing of city supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, was sparked by the imprisonment of medical cannabis patient Steve Kubby who was taken into custody by San Francisco police officers after arriving on a flight from Canada Thursday.

Kubby, who suffers from a rare form of adrenal cancer that he treats with cannabis, is now in a Placer County jail cell. Kubby tells supporters that jail officials are allowing him to use Marinol, a synthetic form of cannabis, but he is still suffering from nausea and extreme pain.

Kubby is scheduled to for a hearing at the Placer County courthouse in Auburn, California tomorrow at 1 pm. Gochenaur says she is arranging to transport 20 to 40 activists, patients and organizers from the steps of San Francisco City Hall to the Placer County Courthouse at 5 am tomorrow. The group plans to hold a press conference on the steps of the courthouse at 8:30 am.

Gochenaur asks that those who want to be transported be dressed for court. Axis of Love, which is headquartered at the California Marijuana Party bookstore at 223A 9th Street in San Francisco, is also looking for donations of food and gas money to Auburn.

Posted by ann at 02:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

San Francisco city supervisor Ross Mirkarimi says he is looking into why medical cannabis patient Steve Kubby was taken off the plane by SFPD officers at San Francisco International Airport last night.

"I am not fully aware of the context as to why they moved on Steve, but I will inquire," wrote Mirkarimi in an e-mail to Kubby's supporters.

Kubby's attorney, Bill McPike, said he had made arrangements for Kubby to turn himself in to Placer County Superior Court on Tuesday. But San Francisco police summoned Kubby to the jetway after his Alaska Airlines flight landed. He was met by officers who escorted him to a Redwood City jail.

A San Francisco police officer, who identified himself at Sgt. Mike Hughes, said at the airport that Kubby was arrested on a no-bail warrant for violation of probation on a narcotics charge. He said Kubby was polite as he was taken into custody at the request of the Placer County Sheriff's Department.

In a letter to Mirkarimi asking him to look into the matter, medical cannabis activist Clark Sullivan pointed out that the voters passed a resolution in 2001 making San Francisco the City of Sanctuary for medical cannabis.

"The SFPD has again, blatantly disregarded the policies of the government of San Francisco," wrote Sullivan. "Their actions are but another slap in the face of the public's will."

Kubby, who has a rare form of adrenal cancer that he treats with cannabis, fears that county officials will not permit him to use cannabis in jail. According to supporters, Kubby smokes cannabis every thirty minutes and consumes it before sleeping to regulate the levels of adrenalin in his body.

Kubby phoned Dale Gieringer of California NORML last night from jail to say that he was beginning to suffer from nausea, headache and chills.

After an uncomfortable night, McPike reports that Kubby has been transported to the Placer County Jail where he is to receive Marinol, a synthetic version of marijuana. Kubby is scheduled to be arraigned at 1 pm on Tuesday at the Placer County courthouse in Auburn, California.

Kubby was one of the authors of California's medical marijuana law, Prop. 215, and ran in 1998 as a libertarian candidate for the governor of California. Kubby fled California in 2001 after he was sentenced to four months of house arrest and probation on state felony narcotics charges stemming from the discovery of a psilocybin mushroom stalk and a peyote button in the guest bedroom of his Squaw Valley home. Kubby was also charged for having 265 marijuana plants in his home but those charges were dismissed when he was able to prove that the cannabis was for medicinal use.

Kubby was deported from Canada where he had sought asylum. According to McPike, Kubby was met at the airport at Vancouver, British Columbia by Canadian officials who spoke with him privately for at least an hour. McPike said Kubby wanted to return to the U.S. and face the warrant against him instead of fleeing to another country. "He just wants to get it over with," said McPike.

But McPike noted that Kubby's detention has been hard on his family and supporters.

"I'm worried about his health it would be a death sentence if he can't get his medicine," said McPike after he got off the phone with Kubby's wife Michele. "She's crying and worried about his health."

"Steve Kubby is someone who really relies on marijuana forhis life," said Gieringer. "And it would really be a crime for Placer County to deprive him of his marijuana."

McPike says state law allow for the use of medical cannabis in jail, not just Marinol. He says he will file a motion to let Kubby use cannabis while locked up.

"San Francisco is a sanctuary for medical marijuana, but that is a symbolic gesture," said activist Shona Gochenaur, who brought a dozen medical cannabis patients to the airport to greet Kubby last night, "I wish the city could lift up her skirts and shelter Kubby who is a person with cancer and has a condition that could get worse without life saving medical cannabis."

Medical cannabis patient Mira Ingram, who was there at the airport to greet Kubby in her wheelchair along with two dozen other supporters, said Kubby's arrest at the airport is intended to send a message to medical cannabis patients. "Medical cannabis helps us when other medicines don't work, but they want to come and take it away from us," says Ingram "The government wants to murder him."

As the San Francisco police were describing Kubby's detention, someone from the crowd yelled, "Welcome to the land of the free and the home of the dead."

Posted by ann at 06:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The federal case against medical cannabis grower Eddy Lepp was continued last week and has been rescheduled for 10 am Monday at U.S. District Court in San Francisco. Lepp's attorney, star civil rights lawyer Tony Serra, is expected to ask Judge Marilyn Patel to postpone the case until 2007 when Serra will be released from jail.

According to his colleague Omar Figueroa, a fellow attorney at the Pier 5 law offices, Serra will being serving a 10-month term on March 31 for his long standing refusal to pay taxes. Or as the court stated it, "failure to pay war taxes."

This is potentially bad news for Lepp who Serra was representing pro bono. Lepp says he can not afford to pay a private attorney. Lepp is arguing a religious use defense for his cultivation of cannabis – an argument which could set an important precedent. If Lepp looses Serra as an attorney, chances are that his federal public defender will have far less fire in the belly to make the religious use defense that Lepp wants.

Posted by ann at 04:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Steve Kubby, the medical marijuana patient who was denied asylum in the U.S. was escorted off a plane at San Francisco International Airport by San Francisco police officers last night. Kubby, who needs cannabis to treat a rare form of adrenal cancer, is now sitting in the Redwood County jail and will be arraigned tomorrow morning on charges of violating probation.

Posted by ann at 11:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A collection of medical marijuana activists from Axis of Love San Francisco, Hemp Evolution, and the California Marijuana Party are assembling tomorrow night to welcome medical cannabis patient Steve Kubby back home from Canada.

The gathering, which will take place at 8 pm at Alaska Airlines Terminal 1 at San Francisco International Airport, is a show of support for Kubby who was denied refugee statues by Canada where he had fled after being arrested in Placer County California for growing cannabis.

Kubby, a former Libertarian candidate for California governor, says he suffers from pheochromocytoma, rare adrenal cancer which causes deadly amounts of adrenaline to enter his blood stream. After surviving 20 years with the condition, Kubby says he is alive because he uses medical cannabis to help control the levels of adrenaline in his blood stream.

Placer County Assistant District Attorney Chris Cattran told the Auburn Journal on January 6th that when Kubby returns, he would be arrested and jailed for at least 120 days and possibly longer.

But on January 9, Immigration Counsel Keith Reimer told Canadian Justice Yvon Pinard that Kubby faced no risk of arrest if he was forced to return to the U.S. Kubby's request for refuge status was subsequently turned down.

When Kubby arrives in San Francisco tomorrow night, he is expected to be greeted by both law enforcement and medical cannabis activists who say every effort will be made to keep Kubby from being forced to return to Placer County.

Cattran told a Canadian Refugee hearing in April 2003 that Placer County had arranged for two "specialists" to fly in and testify at Kubby's trial that Kubby did not have cancer, but if he did, cannabis would make the condition worse.

Kubby's wife Michele and his two daughters are driving to California because they say they want to shield their children from having to watch their father taken into custody.

Posted by ann at 11:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Can a county board of supervisors sue a state in federal court to overturn a state law? Medical cannabis supporters in California say counties have no jurisdiction to carry out such a lawsuit, but they're taking their objections to court just to be sure.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Americans for Safe Access (ASA), the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), and several patient plaintiffs filed a motion in federal court today to intervene in the San Diego County Board of Supervisors’ lawsuit against the State of California. The Supervisors’ lawsuit seeks to overturn California’s Compassionate Use Act (Prop. 215), which permits patients to use medical cannabis with a doctor's recommendation.

San Diego is the first county in California to defy the state-mandated medical marijuana ID card and registry program that went into effect this month. The County Board of Supervisors voted in December to sue the state rather than follow Proposition 215 and implement the program. This is the first such lawsuit to overturn medical marijuana laws which have been passed in 11 states.

The Board of Supervisors of San Bernardino County also voted this morning to file their own lawsuit against the state of California opposing Prop. 215.

ASA director Steph Sherer, and other critics of the lawsuit, assert that a subdistrict of a state cannot sue the state itself in federal court. A letter delivered by medical cannabis supporters to supervisors this morning reemphasized their postiion that the lawsuit has no merit. "Unambiguous binding Ninth Circuit precedent clearly holds that as a political subdivision of the State, San Diego County has no standing to sue the State in federal court alleging claims premised upon the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution," reads the letter.

"The case law is very clear," said Sherer who accompanied the patient plaintiffs to the Supervisor's meeting today.

"We went in and testified in front of the board and held a press conference at noon and asked them for one more chance to remove their lawsuit and they said no, so we are intervening," said Sherer. "We feel very confident that this whole case is going to be dropped after the attorney general files the motion to dismiss. But just in case, we wanted to make sure that someone was looked out not just for California, but for the patients of California."

Posted by ann at 11:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

While traveling in Switzerland earlier this month, I wrote a story for Wired News about the 100th birthday of Albert Hofmann - the Swiss chemist who discovered LSD. Listening to Dr. Hofmann address a symposium in his honor was an astonishing experience. I will post my own transcript of Hofmann's remarks here on this blog when I get chance. Until then, you can read the version of my story edited by Wired entitled LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug? or my own unedited version below. The headline written by the Wired editors still makes me smile, but I like my version of the story a bit better.

BASEL, Switzerland -- When Kevin Herbert has a particularly intractable programming problem, or finds himself pondering a big career decision, he seeks insight with a powerful consciousness expanding tool -- LSD-25.

"It must be changing something about the internal communication in my brain. Whatever my inner process is that lets me solve problems, it works differently, or maybe different parts of my brain are used, " said Herbert, 42, an early employee of Cisco Systems who intervened to ban drug testing of technologists at the company.

Herbert says he's solved his toughest technical problems after dropping LSD and listening to drum solos by the Grateful Dead – who were among the many artists inspired by LSD.

"When I'm on LSD and hearing something that's pure rhythm, it takes me to another world and into another brain state where I've stopped thinking and started knowing," said Herbert.

Herbert, who lives in Santa Cruz, California, joined 2,000 researchers, scientists, artists and historians from 40 countries who gathered here over the weekend to celebrate the 100th birthday of Albert Hofmann, the Swiss chemist who discovered LSD in 1938.

In many ways, the conference LSD: Problem Child and Wonder Drug, an International Symposium on the Occasion of the 100th Birthday of Albert Hofmann, was a scientific coming-out party for the substance Hofmann uncovered.

Lysergic acid diethylamide, a derivative of lysergic acid found in the alkaloids of the ergot grain fungus, has been illegal worldwide since the early 1970's and still generates controversy.

The conference was picketed Saturday by a splinter group from Scientology opposed to drug use. But Hofmann received a congratulatory birthday letter from the Swiss president, roses, and a spontaneous kiss from a young woman in the crowd.

The storied history of LSD began during the darkest days of World War II, five years after Hofmann discovered the molecule. The chemist had what he described as a "peculiar presentiment" compelling him to resynthesize the drug. Soon afterwards, without intentionally ingesting the substance, Hofmann had a transcendent experience akin to one he experienced as a child. In a second
intentional trip, Hoffman took too large a dose and had a frightening experience that gave way to a feeling of rebirth.

"LSD wanted to tell me something," Hofmann told the gathering Friday. "It gave me an inner joy, an open mindedness, a gratefulness, open eyes and an internal sensitivity for the miracles of creation." During the 1950's and 1960's, LSD was used by psychiatrists and psychotherapists and was studied by the CIA as a potential interrogation weapon. LSD was criminalized after it was rejected by the government and widely embraced by the youth culture.

Aged but still eloquent, Hofmann said Friday that he hoped the symposium would encourage the renewed therapeutic and ceremonial use of LSD in supervised settings.

Hofmann says he would like to see a modern version of the Eleusinian Mysteries, an ancient Greek ritual of renewal which persisted for two millennium beginning in 1500 BC. Mythologist Carl P. Ruck and chemist Peter Webster said at the symposium that they believe that an ergot preparation was the active ingredient for the Kykeon beverage used to promote spiritual awakening during the ritual.

"When Hofmann synthesized the chemical in LSD, he stumbled upon a 4,000-year-old secret," said Ruck, author of Road To Eleusis.

In 1958, Hofmann was the first to isolate the psychoactive substances of psilocybin and psilocin from Mexican magic mushrooms Psilocybe
mexicana which were among a variety of sacred plants used around the world to invite ecstatic and spiritual experiences.

The United States Supreme Court is now considering an appeal brought by the New Mexican chapter of the Uniao do Vegetal (UDV) which uses the outlawed ayahausca brew in its ceremonies and cites the Eleusinian Mysteries as a precedent for a psychoactive Eucharist.

In Basel, symposium attendees sang, talked, danced to music, and viewed works by visionary artists including painter Alex Grey. Conversations and gatherings stretched long into the night -- especially for those in altered states of consciousness.

Participants wishing to describe their LSD experiences were
encouraged to contribute to a library of drug experiences at the Erowid web site. Earth and Fire Erowid, who operate the site, presented a sampling of comments at the symposium and document the 2-5 known deaths that have been associated with LSD. They note that according to the National Household Survey, the percentage of Americans who say they have tried LSD has held steady at about ten percent for about twenty years.

Geri Beil of Cologne, Germany, who attended the symposium, recalled his own ecstatic LSD experience on an Indian beach on New Year's day 2000. "I was crying from happiness, thankful that life was given to me and so thankful to my parents that they created me," said Beil. "This experience has not disappeared, it has had a lasting effect."

Like Herbert, many scientists and engineers also report heightened states of creativity while using LSD. During a press conference on Friday, Hofmann revealed that he was told by Nobel prize winning chemist Kary Mullis that LSD had helped him develop the polymerase chain reaction which helps amplify DNA sequences.

"When you study natural science and the miracles of creation, if you don't turn into a mystic you are not a natural scientist," said Hofmann. He believes LSD brings users closer to nature, a bond that he says has been damaged by the intrusion of technology.

In his presentation, artist Alex Grey noted that Nobel prize winner Francis Crick, discoverer of the double helical structure of DNA, told friends that he received inspiration for his ideas from LSD - a revelation covered by href="http://www.mayanmajix.com/art1699.html">news reports.

The gathering included a discussion of how early computer pioneers used LSD for inspiration, including Douglas Englebart, the inventor of the mouse, Myron Stolaroff, a former Ampex engineer and LSD researcher who was attending the symposium, and Apple-cofounder Steve Jobs. In the 2005 book
What the Dormouse Said, New York Times reporter
John Markoff quotes Jobs as describing his LSD experience "one of the two or three most important things he has done in his life."

In addition to enhancing creativity, supporters say LSD has promising medical uses. Psychotherapists and psychiatrists at the symposium discussed research into the therapeutic usefulness of psychedelic drugs.

Dr. Michael Mithoefer presented the preliminary findings of his study in Charleston, South Carolina, which is investigating whether MDMA is effective for treating post traumatic stress disorder in people traumatize by crime or war.

Dr. John Halpern of Harvard University discussed his proposed study using MDMA to treat anxiety in cancer patients which is now awaiting DEA approval.

The Florida-based Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) is sponsoring these inquiries and research in Canada investigating the use of ibogain to treat drug addiction.

And a study at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, supported by the Heffter Research Institute, is investigating whether psilocybin effectively eases the anxiety of terminal cancer patients. Psychiatrist Charles Grob says his research group has located six of the needed twelve subjects and is looking for more participants.

While the data has yet to be analyzed, Grob told the gathering that study results have been promising and applauded the opportunity to share the data in an international gathering.

"It's very encouraging to see such a large number of people, including very knowledgeable people, getting together and sharing a common vision that these compounds have tremendous potential to facilitate healing, especially in areas that do not respond well to conventional treatments," said Grob.

"There is global healing in these compounds which have been used for millennium by indigenous people that have much to teach modern man and modern woman."

MAPS founder Rick Doblin says his goal is to make psychedelic medicines into prescription drugs. But he notes that LSD is not yet being studied for therapeutic purposes. "We have been deeply touched by our experiences with psychedelics and it is hard that there is not a single legal study with LSD given to humans anywhere in the world," said Doblin. "We need to bring what is underground and illegal back into a legal context."

But Doblin notes that a group of people who say LSD provides relief from their cluster headaches have organized
online and are pushing for a study at Harvard to explore this possible therapy. Doblin says that if Harvard accepts the MDMA study, it could pave the way for the symbolically important return of psychedelic research at Harvard. His goal, says Doblin, is to secure an LSD study in time for Hofmann's 101st birthday.

Dr. Andrew Sewell, a psychiatrist and neurologist from the Harvard Medical School who studies alcohol and drug abuse, says most problems with LSD occur when users take an unknown dose they don't feel comfortable with, in an uncontrolled setting, without supervision to shield them from dangerous situations.

"LSD flashbacks are well-confirmed phenomenon but they are relatively rare and don't seem to cause as much trouble as the media would have you believe," said Dr. Sewell who is attending the LSD symposium.

Dr. Sewell says people who have underlying mental disorders should not take LSD because it could make their symptoms worse. "Like any powerful drug, if LSD is used incorrectly it can cause more harm than good," said Dr. Sewell. "LSD is a potentially dangerous drug and should be taken under medical supervision."

"There is no evidence that LSD causes permanent brain damage and quite a lot of evidence that it doesn't," continues Dr. Sewell. "We are lucky that we have over 1,000 papers written in the 50's and 60's when LSD was given to thousands and thousands of research subjects so we have a pretty good idea at this point what it does and does not do."

Asked if the world need his invention, Hofmann said he hoped that the Basel LSD symposium would help create an appropriate place for LSD in society. "I think that in human evolution it has never been as necessary to have this substance LSD," said Hofmann. "It is just a tool to turn us into what we are supposed to be."

Posted by ann at 12:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)