I was hoping to write a lengthy original article for Blogcritics on the Steve Kubby situation, which is an emergency happening right now. Kubby is a political activist who was recently deported from Canada so he could serve a sentence in a California county on a nonsensical drug charge (he's in favor of using marijuana to help save your own life, and helped get the medicinal-marijuana initiative passed in California).
I also wanted to talk about a previous case of an activist killed by the state for advocating drug legalization, Peter McWilliams. Google it. It's instructive.
Since making-a-living type things and other distractions are making it tough to do the report I want to do for Blogcritics on this, and since the matter is urgent, I'm going to cheat and just paste together a couple of my recent posts at the Laissez Faire Books Blog.
The bottom line is this: you can help save this guy's life by contacting the folks holding Kubby and explaining that by preventing him from getting the proper treatment, they are making it harder for him to survive. That we all know that their conduct will have been a major contributing factor if he does die while under their "care." Here are the two blogs, in the order posted. (Don't miss my addendum at the end about the latest incident in this Kafka-esque parade, about the paper they forced him to sign.)
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posted 1/29/06
Steve Kubby: back in the U.S....and doomed?
Steve Kubby, a libertarian activist who fled to Canada to avoid being harassed for using marijuana in the U.S., has been deported. He needs the marijuana to treat malignant pheochromocytoma, a normally fatal condition...and is unlikely to get that marijuana in an American jail. The hammeroftruth site reports:
Kubby has twice been held behind bars for a few days, and he nearly died both times. This time, it is expected that he would spend 90 days in jail. According to his family, this will almost certainly prove fatal to Kubby.
The site quotes from a press release sent by Kubby's wife, Michele:
Canadian Federal Justice, Yvon Pinard, ruled today [January 20] that Immigration Canada may now proceed with its attempt to send Steve Kubby, cancer patient and medical marijuana refugee, to die in an American jail. Immigration Canada is expected to issue a new removal date, presumably sometime next week.
Article comments
1 - Bliffle
I think it's past time to legalize pot.
2 - David M. Brown
For many reasons, I believe all drugs should be legalized. The only actions that should be designated as crimes are actual crimes. You don't defraud, rob or murder somebody by ingesting a substance.
The war on drugs has reached such depths of absurdity that stores are now being compelled to put cough syrup behind the counter, because somebody might extract its ingredients for other than cough-treatment purposes. One might as well put the cutlery behind the counter too, since knives can be used not only for cutting steak but also for stabbing people to death. Large, heavy objects of any kind are also suspect.
3 - RJ Elliott
It is absolutely unbelieveable to me that the governments of both the US and Canada are doing this to a poor, sick man.
God help Steve Kubby, and God help us all...
4 - David M. Brown
"absolutely unbelieveable..."
Yes. But all thoroughly documented. A good starting point is kubby.com
5 - RedTard
Wow, a vast multinational conspiracy of coldblooded killers trying to end the life of a man of zero importance in the world.
6 - David M. Brown
Classy. Do you have anything of substance to say, Retard, or is sarcasm and distortion all that you have on your menu?
Nobody has claimed an "international conspiracy." The Canadians acquiesced in a demand of the law officers in California, despite the protestations of Mrs. Kubby and her explanation of what would probably happen--i.e., exactly what is happening. And it hardly matters whether there's a "conspiracy" or determined intention to cause Kubby to die if that is the result of their malicious and negligent conduct--if that is the result of his keepers' obtusely ignoring, from whatever personal or political motives, the best medical course for this guy by his own understanding and that of his regular doctors.
What do you think is happening in the case, guy? Drop the vicious sarcasm and straw-man confection for two seconds and give us your understanding of what has transpired in this case. Tell us your analysis based on the documents and reporting at kubby.com. What's your own honest understanding of the evidence? Just as points of fact, what is going on here?
A man's life is at stake. You owe him better than this.
7 - RedTard
What has happened in this case:
Druggy in remission from cancer gets busted for marijuana and shrooms (I suppose they're medical too).
Jumps bail to Canada.
Gets caught and treated properly under the law.
Protests and screams about 'rights' to do drugs.
Refuses to take regular medications.
That about sums it up.
8 - David M. Brown
Still waiting for the analysis based on the actual reported and documented facts. Since you decline to take a close look at those facts, or at your own prejudices, it doesn't seem we're likely to get anywhere. I can't respond to specific objections of the reported history of the case if I don't know what those specific objections are.
Let me ask you this, though, for the sake of others who may be viewing this hemi-dialogue: If you could be convinced, based on the facts available and documented, that this man has a better chance of living if he were released and allowed to return to Canada, but would likely die if forced to remain in jail for the 3 months and prevented from pursuing the treatment of his illness that he thinks is best...would you still insist that he should remain incarcerated? I.e., knowing that his death would be the price paid?
I think your answer, if we get one, will be very revealing, one way or the other.
Perhaps you can also explain, while you're at it, what harm this man has caused anybody tantamount to the harm being inflicted on him and his wif
9 - RedTard
If Marijuana is saving his life I certainly hope he should have access to it. Call me a sceptic but I can't just read one side's version of the story and feel I have grasped the whole thing.
I don't think there is any logical reason that marijuana should be illegal. It doesn't appear to be much harm to society.
As for it's medicinal value. There may be a tiny sliver of a minority which may actually get some benefit from marijuana that cannot be simulated by other drugs or extracts. Or perhaps not, science has not proven either way.
A sizable portion of the 'medical marijuana' proponents are simply recreational drug users or libertarians who are hiding their true motives. Mr Kubby was busted with shrooms and marijuana which makes him suspect in my view. (The other individual case linked on the site involved a bust of marijuana and cocaine)
Marijuana should be legalized on it's own merits not on sensationalized propaganda or emotional appeals.
10 - David M. Brown
"Emotional appeals"?
So, whether the guy lives or dies is just an antiseptic datum, in R.'s view? Is the suffering being reported all just fabricated? Is the fact that his keepers initially withheld even an extra blanket from Kubby (later tendered after many calls of inquiry and protest) just a fiction? Is the transcript of the detailed conversation in which Kubby reported his status just a fiction? Is his claim that he was compelled to sign a statement that he didn't agree with just a fiction?
I know that some people use drugs recreationally rather than for medicinal purposes. I don't care. I don't think the law should come down like a hammer on anybody innocent of any actual crime. What's happening in this particular case is vicious in the extreme. A man's life is at stake. Why the actual fate of actual particular individuals, the actual cost extracted by the drug war, should be regarded as irrelevant, I have no idea whatever. Individual human beings are the ones who bear the costs. It's not rocks and petunias. There is no reason to oppose any malfeasances, corruptions and excesses of government laws and government officials except because of the costs that must be borne by actual specific individuals.
Perhaps R. could give Mr. Kubby's wife, Michele, a call and explain how overly emotional she's being about her husband's fate.
We're done here. Somebody else can swim in what Mr. R. is producing.
11 - RedTard
"Is the suffering being reported all just fabricated?"
Who knows. It's an internet blog.
"Is the fact that his keepers initially withheld even an extra blanket from Kubby (later tendered after many calls of inquiry and protest) just a fiction?"
Using a term like 'keepers' and protesting loudly about minor inconveniences in prison as 'cruel and inhumane' lead me to believe that the writer has an anti-government agenda and is willing to stretch the truth to garner support for their position (aka, an emotional appeal). Unlike you, I don't take everything I hear from a protester on the internet at face value.
12 - David M. Brown
My latest LFB Blog entry about the Kubby case is now posted.
13 - David M. Brown
My latest LFB Blog entry has an excerpt from an interview with Joel Miller, author of Bad Trip, about the connection between the war on drugs and funding of terrorist activities. We'll be doing further updates on the fate of Steve Kubby (for the benefit of those who do regard particular individuals as having more than "zero importance in the world"), including what we learn about today's preliminary hearing, in future posts.