Cannabis News Media Awareness Project
  Patient Arrested at Canadian Hospital Released
Posted by CN Staff on October 13, 2005 at 21:32:34 PT
By Gene Johnson, Associated Press 
Source: Associated Press  

medical Seattle, WA -- An American medical-marijuana advocate who says he was arrested at a Canadian hospital while waiting to be admitted for prostate surgery, turned over to U.S. authorities and held for several days without having his catheter removed was released from a Seattle jail to seek medical care Thursday.

"The whole time I was in jail, they put a blood-pressure cuff on me. That was all," Steven William Tuck, crying and shaking, said after his release.

His lawyer, Douglas Hiatt, and the president of Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility, Sunil Aggarwal, brought him to Harborview Medical Center, where he was being evaluated in the emergency room Thursday night.

"The doctors are appalled at the condition he's in," Hiatt said.

Canadian Border Services agents took Tuck, who fled from California to British Columbia in 2001 to avoid prosecution on charges of growing and distributing marijuana, from an admitting-room gurney at St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver on Friday, he and a witness told The Associated Press. Tuck's bid for asylum in Canada had failed, but he said he was trying to appeal the decision.

The agents drove him to the border, where he was turned over to U.S. officials. After a night in the Whatcom County Jail, he was brought to the King County Jail, where he was held to face a federal charge of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.

On Wednesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge James P. Donohue ordered him released so he could go to the hospital, on the condition that when his treatment was over, he return to California to face the federal charge.

But Tuck wasn't immediately released, because jail officials had received a detention request from the Humboldt County, Calif., District Attorney's Office, which wanted to make sure he did not flee before being tried on the original marijuana charges. Tuck lived in McKinleyville, Calif., before leaving for Canada.

The DA's office agreed late Thursday to drop the detention request, clearing the way for Tuck's release.

Tuck believes he has a urinary infection from the catheter.

"I'm not scared of getting in trouble," he said. "But I am scared of losing a body part."

Tuck said he has used morphine - with a doctor's prescription - and marijuana for nearly two decades to deal with pain stemming from a 1987 parachute accident in the Army, as well as a 1990 car accident. Those injuries have required more than a dozen surgeries over the years. He said he spent more than a year at Walter Reed Army Medical Center after his parachute failed to open properly.

In jail, he had access to no pain medicine except ibuprofen, and said he suffered severe withdrawal from the morphine.

For privacy reasons, Jail Capt. Roberta Johnson declined to comment on the treatment Tuck received, but she noted the jail has health staff on duty 24 hours a day.

King County Executive Ron Sims said Thursday he was unaware of Tuck's case, but that he would expect a prisoner who came into the jail with a catheter to have it examined and removed or changed as necessary.

A Canadian Border Services Agency spokeswoman in Vancouver said she could not specifically discuss Tuck's arrest, but that agents always obtain a doctor's permission before deporting someone with an obvious medical condition.

"We're not doctors. We rely on doctors and their advice about whether someone is OK to be removed," said the spokeswoman, Janis Fergusson.

Tuck said the agents did follow that procedure.

"They went in there doctor-shopping till they found a doctor who said I could go," Tuck said. "I saw them go around to three or four doctors asking them."

Reporter Gene Johnson has covered courts and legal affairs for The Associated Press since 2000.

Complete Title: Patient Arrested at Canadian Hospital Released from King County Jail

Source: Associated Press (Wire)
Author: Gene Johnson, Associated Press
Published: October 13, 2005
Copyright: 2005 The Associated Press

Related Articles & Web Site:

Marijuana News
http://www.marijuananews.com/

Judge Releases Patient Arrested in B.C. Hospital
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread21182.shtml

Pot Refugee On Way To U.S. After Hopes Dashed
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread21172.shtml


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Comment #14 posted by FoM on October 29, 2005 at 21:28:48 PT
Hope
Because of it being Humboldt County they might be a little easier on him as long as the Feds drop the charges. Maybe he can get help from the VA and go into a VA hospital for awhile. He needs help not jail.

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #13 posted by Hope on October 29, 2005 at 21:15:43 PT
FoM
I hope you're right.

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #12 posted by FoM on October 29, 2005 at 20:48:37 PT
Hope
I can't help but think he is ok for now or we would be told by Richard Cowan. Steve sounded strong and focussed when he posted here. He'll make it. On the other side of these hard times for him he'll have a good life I believe. Steve seems to me to be a survivor.

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #11 posted by Hope on October 29, 2005 at 20:18:02 PT
FoM
He's been on my mind, too. I'm getting jumpy.

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #10 posted by FoM on October 29, 2005 at 14:18:28 PT
Hope
I'm being quiet too. Steve is in my mind though.

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #9 posted by Hope on October 29, 2005 at 13:57:58 PT
It's getting to be very uncomfortable
being "quiet" and "ready". It's been nearly two weeks and no word at all?

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #8 posted by unkat27 on October 15, 2005 at 05:20:29 PT
Good Point from Article #7:
Excerpt from Marijuana News Article (#7):

"And while we are addressing failures to protect human rights, why has Amnesty International generally ignored the Drugwar as a major source of human rights violations in both advanced and developing countries?? Until AI stops playing it safe and starts addressing drugwar crimes, I simply cannot take it too seriously."

This is also one of my major gripes. Not only AI, but countless people I talk to in online forums seem to have the same attitude. Is it because DEAland is an "American" entity that they are ashamed to admit is responsible, rather than the typical foreign "extremists"?

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #7 posted by FoM on October 14, 2005 at 17:34:07 PT
Update On Steve Tuck By Richard Cowan
Steve Tuck Now “Free” and Getting Proper Medical Care. Will Return to Humboldt to Confront Medical Marijuana Cultivation Charges. The Many Issues In a Complex Case.

Steve Tuck’s resilience is astonishing. When I talked with him this morning, he was still physically weak from his ordeal, but his spirit is very strong.

After being released from the Seattle jail last night, he was taken to the hospital and finally given proper pain medication. He did not have to stay overnight, but he had to go back today for more tests and X-rays, MRIs, etc., so the doctors can decide on the proper course of treatment for his numerous medical problems. These problems were greatly aggravated by the abuse and neglect of the last week – and the last four years.

http://marijuananews.com/news.php3?sid=858

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #6 posted by kaptinemo on October 14, 2005 at 08:21:37 PT:

Hot stuff on the blogs, lately
I've been surfing over to Pete's http://blogs.salon.com/0002762/, Radley Balko's http://www.theagitator.com/index.php and Libby's http://lastonespeaks.blogspot.com/ 'houses' and they all have plenty of scorching and sharp observations to make about the latest DrugWar news; go see.

If this keeps up, the antis will have to borrow some Nomex undies from the military; their arses are getting royally burnt, there...with justice, sez I.

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #5 posted by FoM on October 14, 2005 at 07:41:50 PT
Hiya Hempity
I'm glad I'm still here too. How I long sometimes for the days on the Political Board with all of us kidding and hoping for better days to come. Little did we know how bad things would become but it always is the darkest right before dawn.

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #4 posted by goneposthole on October 14, 2005 at 06:22:49 PT
What colour shirts do the Canadian Fascists wear?
During the Second World War a 'Lutheran Pastor' was arrested in my mother's hometown. He was, in fact, a Nazi spy. A shortwave radio was discovered in his basement. It was an eye opener for the congregation of that church in their small, Midwestern hamlet.

The Black Shirts, the DEA, came to Canada to arrest a cannabis user.

First they came for the cannabis users, but I wasn't a cannabis user, so, I didn't speak up.

Then they came for Cindy Sheehan, but I wasn't a war protester, so, I didn't speak up.

Then they came for... you know the rest of the story. Just like Paul Harvey does, too.

A few words from Dr. Dave:



[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #3 posted by kaptinemo on October 14, 2005 at 04:45:56 PT:

The 'mighty weapon', indeed
Many's the time when I wish I lived in these places, and could get the word out about 'nullification'. This will be the only thing that can save Steve Tuck.

And with a refusal to convict noted, his case overturned and him freed of any further harassment, a message would be sent to the Feds loud and clear: BACK OFF. And they, for all their bravado (I know you're reading this, antis; yeah, takes a lot of bravery to pick on a cripple, doesn't it, you effin' SWINE!) they are terrified of this possibility. I hope the FIJA and the ACLU are aware of Mr. Tuck's dilemma and are shifting the gears...

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #2 posted by billos on October 14, 2005 at 03:41:20 PT
.......All while the Ivory Tower residents.....
enjoy life and gloat over their recent decisions. NOW is the time to pull the mighty weapon....nullification.

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #1 posted by hempity on October 14, 2005 at 00:03:53 PT
quick get him back up here
this time he can stay at my house no one comes by here

damn this shit is getting ridiculous, how long can they keep this up, i thought they would have run out of ammo by now.

now they are coming up here and arresting people that have never even in their land of the free and home of the brave staging area. even hitler didn't have that much gall.

i am sure glad you are still here FoM, missed ya

mitaoyate,

hempity

[ Post Comment ]


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