|
|
| Nothing Easy About Life In Exile |
|
Posted by FoM on March 24, 2002 at 23:42:52 PT By Jeremy Hay, The Press Democrat Source: Press Democrat 
Steve Tuck fled his McKinleyville home nine months ago to avoid marijuana trafficking charges. Now living on British Columbia's Sunshine Coast, the self-styled medical marijuana researcher has picked up where he left off. He and five friends -- three Canadians, two Americans -- maintain a small, chalet-roofed house near Gibsons solely to grow pot. Still, life in exile is hard. "Living here would be wonderful -- if I could go home," said Lucy Tuck, who followed her husband north in November. A Kentucky native, Steve Tuck was arrested in Humboldt County in July 2000, and sheriff's deputies seized almost 800 pot plants. The district attorney chose not to prosecute, saying Tuck was "misinformed" about the county's interpretation of Proposition 215, which legalized medicinal marijuana use with a doctor's approval. Last March, sheriff's deputies descended again, seizing 900 plants Tuck was growing for the Humboldt Research Institute, which he founded to grow and study marijuana. The district attorney filed six felony charges against him, including cultivation and intent to distribute. Tuck, who studied biology and environmental sciences at Western Kentucky University, said he was producing distinct marijuana strains to treat symptoms of specific illnesses such as AIDS, cancer, glaucoma and multiple sclerosis. He and other advocates argue that Prop. 215 is a farce if people can't grow enough pot to meet the needs of medical users. But those who arrested Tuck have little patience for his claims. "He's not a medicinal marijuana man. He's a drug dealer," said Sgt. Wayne Hanson, who heads the Humboldt County Sheriff's Department drug enforcement unit. At Tuck's new pot house, a brass plaque by the front door reads: "No agents, peddlers or solicitors." The house is sparsely furnished: A small glass-topped table with three chairs, an unassembled weight bench, a partially assembled punching bag apparatus, an exercise machine, a computer on a small desk, some plastic storage bins. A Rottweiler puppy romps through the rooms. A 10-foot-by-111/2 -foot room with wall-to-wall beige carpeting is crammed with 50 healthy-looking marijuana plants; many of them, at 6 feet tall, dwarf Tuck. Suspended from two four-by-four beams, five lanterns provide the right 6,000-watt mixture of high pressure sodium and metal halide lighting. "There are hundreds of grow rooms like this on the coast," he said during a visit to the house. "This is the Humboldt County of Canada." According to Royal Canadian Mounted Police Staff Sgt. Ed Hill, 38 indoor marijuana gardens were raided in the area over the past year; none involved Americans. "In no way are we turning a blind eye to it," Hill said. But Tuck said British Columbia is a far less risky place to grow marijuana. Certainly he has a different relationship with Canadian officials than he did with those at home. This month the Canadian government accepted his offer to donate 600 marijuana seeds for use in the country's 9-month-old medical marijuana program. The seeds will be tested "to determine their acceptability for use," said a Canadian Health Ministry spokesman. A small, thin man -- he stands 5 feet 6 inches -- Tuck, in a machine gun chatter of sentences, defends a life now devoted to growing and smoking pot: "It saved my life, I'm not ashamed of it. I don't break into people's houses. I don't steal. I was trying to help people." Unlike some refugees, Tuck's U.S. charges aren't federal. So he'd be permitted to invoke Proposition 215 and medical marijuana use as elements of his defense. But the Tucks say Humboldt County law enforcement officials have it in for them. And, pointing to other cases, they fear that even if they beat the local charges, federal heat would soon turn their way. Nevertheless, said Lucy Tuck, "we've even talked about Steve turning himself in so we could go home. It's hard living here with no family." She faces no charges in the United States, but Steve's her husband and without marijuana, the Tucks say, he'll die sooner than he should. Tuck was honorably discharged from the Army in 1987 after injuring his spine. He credits marijuana with saving his life and getting him out of a wheelchair. Complications from the injury continue to plague him, and he also uses morphine for pain. The Tucks dream of returning to Humboldt County -- to open another pot club. "What I want to know is, am I going to die in a foreign country?" Steve Tuck said. "Because I'm in a lot of pain, and I want to go home." "If he'd stuck around he could have gone to court, had this thing adjudicated by now and gone on with his life," said Jim Dawson, an investigator at the Humboldt County District Attorney's Office. Note: Humboldt County Man Dreams Of Returning Home, But Threat Of Prosecution Keeps Him Away. Related Articles & Web Site: DEA Raids Medical Marijuana Club Nations' Drug Policies on Collision Course Asylum in Canada Could Be Sought in Pot Case Federal War Against The Sick Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
 |
|
Comment #3 posted by Spookk on March 25, 2002 at 08:43:44 PT:
|
| We are rooting for ya bro. My wife was a member of the Arcata club when you and Lucy where there (before it went to the elitist pot-shop). She was the one that made the earrings. She still uses her medicine regularly and wants to wish you both good fortune. I hope you are less stressed in your new home than in Arcataz. [ Post Comment ] |
|
Comment #2 posted by hempcanadian on March 25, 2002 at 05:42:37 PT:
|
| Welcome all USA people seeking safety from corruption!
All Canadians welcome you to our much free'r land!
regards
herbman [ Post Comment ] |
|
Comment #1 posted by herbdoc215 on March 25, 2002 at 02:26:54 PT:
|
| Mr. Dawson doesn't bother to mention the fact of an out of town judge who was brought in while my judge ( the same one who ordered Lewis to return the oz. to Chris G. before he was railroaded into federal prison, where he sits now I believe for less plants than I had stolen from me ) was sick, who at 8am signed an arrest warrent on me for FTA and I was not ordered to appear until 2pm THAT same afternoon! That judge had already signed my arrest warrent and ORDERED that my morphine and cannabis be withheld in jail " because 'hard' drugs were not allowed in jail, he said. Well without my morphine and cannabis for all the metal in my spine I would die from shock of pain before starvation set in, not to mention the jailers having a field day with me screaming in pain and going through withdrawl from 10 years worth of morphine was not my idea of fun or justice! They might as well have put a bullet in me as result would have been just the same only much easier for my family to endure. If cops and media are allowed to twist any fact into their desire then we all are in for a rough ride as I can tell you first hand this fugitive crap is for birds. Also I gave Health Canada a hell of allot more than 600 seeds, wonder why they didn't just say no comment instead of tell a fib? Politic's, go figure? I also want to appologize for any utterance I may have ever made of the phrase " social medicine " and have lived to regret any former opinion I may have ever had on the latter concept which like pure communism is a beautiful idea but the practice leaves much to be desired. In closing I would like to add to Hanson ( assuming he can read, if not please translate to him the following ), You better watch your slanderous tounge as I am going to sue your corrupt ass and your puppet master Lewis too as for far far to long have your ilk rode roughshod over good folks, the light of day will soon shine on all of your crimes. Steven Tuck, in exile [ Post Comment ] |
| Post Comment |  |
 |  |