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Thursday, Apr. 06, 2006

“I am very grateful for the support of activists. Your help worked, and quickly,” Kubby said.

Contact: Steve Kubby (530) 823-3040

Medical-marijuana advocate Steve Kubby left Placer County Jail Wednesday, thankful to supporters for his early release after serving 22 days of a 60-day sentence for violation of his 2001 probation.

“I am very grateful for the support of activists. Your help worked, and quickly,” Kubby said. “It made all the difference in the world in me surviving my involuntary tour through the criminal-justice system.”

Kubby is a 30-year survivor of malignant adrenal cancer, and has controlled the always-fatal disease for the past two decades exclusively with medical marijuana. He found Marinol an acceptable, if not ideal, substitute during his incarceration.

Leaving Canada January 26, Kubby was arrested at the San Francisco airport and transferred to Placer County, and jailed for a 2000 conviction of possession of a mushroom stem and peyote buttons. He was released early after serving 40 days of the 120-day sentence because of his good behavior and jail overcrowding.

Steve and his wife, Michele, can now face life for the first time in seven years without the threat of criminal prosecution, although Steve still must complete two and a half years of probation. The couple was arrested weeks after the end of the 1998 gubernatorial campaign, in which Steve Kubby was the Libertarian Party nominee, running against, amongst others, former Attorney General Dan Lungren. An anonymous note mailed to the North Tahoe Task Force led to six months surveillance and a Jan. 19, 1999, search of the couple’s Olympic Valley residence. Placer County prosecuted the Kubbys on 19 felony counts, but a jury would not convict them on any of the marijuana charges.

Steve has been invited to speak at two events in the coming weeks. On Sunday, he will attend the Compassionate Coalition’s Cannabis at the Capitol musical rally, which is scheduled from noon to 6 p.m. on the Capitol’s west steps. And Steve has also agreed to speak at the NORML convention, which runs from Thursday, April 20, through Saturday, April 22, at the San Francisco Holiday Inn on Van Ness.

Until then, Steve will remain in Northern California. He can be reached at the residence of journalist Pat McCartney.

Steve has also been asked to speak at NORML's conference in San Francisco, to be held from April 20 to April 22 at the Holiday Inn on Van Ness.

Below is a brief that reporter Eric Bailey wrote for today's L.A. Times.

Steve wants to thank everyone for their support. He's excited about what he may do next. Stay tuned.

Regards,

Patrick "Pat" McCartney Auburn, Calif.

Los Angeles Times In Brief The State/Auburn

Medical Pot Advocate Is Released From Jail

From Times Staff and Wire Reports April, 6 2006

Placer County Jail released medical marijuana advocate Steve Kubby on Wednesday after he spent three weeks behind bars for fleeing to Canada five years ago to avoid serving time on a drug conviction.

Insurance Co. to Drop Florida Policies

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - A large insurance company plans to begin canceling coverage for 140,000 Florida homeowners this summer, less than two months after the start of hurricane season.

You just gotta hope Jerry will be next.

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CITY-TV innovator's venture eyes potential of cannabis's medicinal value

Leonard Zehr, From Thursday's Globe and Mail

TORONTO — Moses Znaimer, the media guru who revolutionized the face of television with urban, interactive programming, is now gearing up to bring marijuana-based drugs to Canada's medicine cabinets.

"In our opinion, the situation today is similar to the emergence of poppy-derived medicines 100 years ago that has given us codeine and other drugs," he said at a briefing yesterday to publicly launch Cannasat Therapeutics Inc.

"Cannasat stands at the convergence of science, health care, government policy and evolving social norms with respect to the therapeutic potential of marijuana and cannabis-based medicines."

Mr. Znaimer, 63, stepped down as president and executive producer of 17 CHUM TV stations in 2003, after a 32-year career, to try his hand at something different.

Mr. Znaimer and retailer Joseph Mimran, of Alfred Sung and Club Monaco fame, became investors in Cannasat in 2004 after the drug developer was founded by merchant bank Hill & Gertner Capital Corp.

Cannasat went public on the TSX Venture Exchange this year through a type of reverse takeover of with Lonsdale Public Ventures Inc., a capital pool company. The stock closed yesterday at 40 cents, up 15 cents.

In the past two years, Cannasat has raised $6.5-million in financing and acquired a minority stake in Saskatoon-based Prairie Plant Systems Inc., the only government-licensed grower and distributor of medicinal cannabis in Canada. Its crop is grown in a Flin Flon, Man., mineshaft.

Stressing that medicinal marijuana is not about getting high or getting a buzz, Mr. Znaimer said "it's about function," referring to generally accepted anecdotal evidence that the drug can provide rapid pain relief.

Indeed, Cannasat's director of public relations, Sara Irwin, who was diagnosed with cancer of the hip and pelvis 17 years ago, is now a licensed medical marijuana user and said the drug has "improved the quality of my life greatly."

Moreover, Mr. Znaimer, who is chairman of Cannasat and owns a 5-per-cent stake, said a pain pill developed from cannabis would go a long way to eliminating the adverse side effects of traditional drugs, such as Celebrex, and the "social stigma of smoking marijuana."

But don't expect to see it behind the local pharmacy counter any time soon.

The company is still formulating a delivery technology at its lab at the University of Alberta that is needed to transport cannabis in the bloodstream.

It hopes to begin early stage testing in humans by the end of 2007, the start of a typical five-year process to obtain regulatory approval, said chief executive officer David Hill.

Chief medical officer Umar Syed said the company initially is targeting pain and nausea associated with chemotherapy and AIDS-associated wasting disease, and neuropathy pain associated with diabetes, AIDS and shingles.

In the meantime, Mr. Znaimer said Cannasat is launching a media and information campaign about safe and legal methods of acquiring cannabis as a medicine in Canada, one of only three countries in the world where that's possible.

"Many Canadians are not aware of the program and many who use it as a medicine have to get it . . . on the street and expose themselves to a process that is criminal, paying too much and never getting the same quality twice," he said,

With a doctor's approval, patients can apply to Health Canada to become registered card-carrying users under the Marijuana Medical Access Regulations. First shipments began in 2003 and are couriered monthly to users. Medicinal marijuana sells for about $5 a gram, about a third of its street cost.

Copyright: 2006 Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc.