Medical Marijuana Activist Returns to State, Is Arrested

Law enforcement officers whisked Kubby off a commercial jet at San Francisco International Airport on Thursday evening, and friends said he soon began to feel the effects of his rare form of adrenal cancer while in custody.

"I got a call from Steve from jail, and he said he was suffering," said Dale Gieringer, director of California NORML, a cannabis advocacy group. "It doesn't have to work this way."

Several physicians who have examined Kubby, a former Libertarian candidate for governor and a driving force behind California's victorious 1996 medical marijuana initiative, contend the drug blunts the worst symptoms of his cancer, which can be fatal.

Kubby, who last week exhausted his final appeals to remain in Canada, had expected to voluntarily surrender to authorities in Auburn, the Placer County seat, after a court hearing scheduled for Tuesday.

Bill McPike, a Fresno attorney who accompanied Kubby on his flight from Vancouver, said the arrest after the Alaska Airlines flight took them by surprise.

"Maybe they didn't trust he'd show up," said McPike, who plans to argue in court for Kubby to be allowed cannabis in jail. "But why would he buy a $900 plane ticket to come back to surrender and then not appear?"

Placer County officials said police in San Francisco were following through on an arrest warrant issued years ago for Kubby, who failed to appear to serve 120 days in jail on drug charges when he fled in 2001.

"For some time he's had a felony warrant out," said Dena Erwin, a Placer County sheriff's spokeswoman. "We notified San Francisco and left it up to them how they'd make the arrest."

Kubby's oncologist in Canada expressed worries Friday that his rare form of cancer, pheochromocytoma, could threaten his life if he isn't allowed to continue using cannabis. Since the cancer was diagnosed a quarter century ago, Kubby, 59, has smoked up to a dozen marijuana cigarettes a day.

"The possibilities of what might happen are of a wide range, either from nothing much at all to that he might become sick and die," said Dr. Joseph Connors, an oncologist and University of British Columbia clinical professor.