Jailed Activist Asks to Use Pot

An attorney for jailed medical marijuana activist Steve Kubby on Tuesday asked that the cancer-stricken inmate be allowed to eat cannabis in food or pills while behind bars, or be released to serve his time under house arrest.

Kubby, a former Libertarian candidate for governor of California, fled Placer County in 2001 and moved to Canada to avoid a 120-day jail stint he contends would have been a death sentence without marijuana.

Since being diagnosed with adrenal cancer in the mid-1970s, Kubby has smoked cannabis, which his doctors believe helps blunt the lethal illness.

Kubby returned after he exhausted his attempts to avoid deportation from Canada, and was promptly arrested last Thursday when his flight arrived in San Francisco.

During a short hearing Tuesday, Kubby shuffled into a jailhouse courtroom wearing an orange jumpsuit and shackles. He said nothing, but smiled wanly and glanced at dozens of friends and supporters, who earlier in the day waved placards and called for his release in front of the county jail.

Supporters say Kubby has telephoned from jail to report that he is suffering headaches and nausea and that he has blood in his urine.

Placer County officials refuse to discuss Kubby’s medical condition, citing the inmate’s privacy. Though denied cannabis, Kubby is being allowed to take Marinol, a synthetic form of marijuana’s psychoactive ingredient, THC.

Bill McPike, Kubby’s attorney, argued in legal papers filed Tuesday that the 59-year-old medical marijuana patient has a right under California law -- including legislation approved in 2003 and upheld in several court cases -- to use marijuana while he serves jail time.

Christopher Cattran, a Placer deputy district attorney, said Kubby could face additional time, but that any ruling “will be up to the judge.”

Kubby was arrested in 1999 and charged with cultivating marijuana for sale at his home near the Squaw Valley ski resort, north of Lake Tahoe. A jury voted 11-1 for acquittal in December 2000, but found Kubby guilty of possession of a single peyote button and one hallucinogenic mushroom.