Date: Wed, 17 Apr 2002 21:52:43 -0700
From: "D. Paul Stanford" <stanford@crrh.org>
Subject:

Michelle Kubby: Update on Steve Kubby and Steve Tuck

From: "Kubby Productions" Michelle Kubby <kubbytv@hotmail.com>

Hello everyone,

Before I start, please accept my profoundest gratitude for all of the calls
and e-mails of support. They have been coming in from around the globe!
The internet is making it possible for us to mobilize on a world level.
Thank you for keeping my spirits up.

I have personally not been able to speak with either Steve, but our
immigration attorney has. He is concerned about Steve K's health, but that
is to be expected. After this amount of time had passed in Placer, Steve
was having hyper tensive blood pressure attacks, blinding in one of his
eyes, and vomiting. I hope that since he has been incarcerated before, he
knows the ropes better and will be less stressed. Also, I am not
incarcerated this time which is a huge comfort to him, I know.

Steve Tuck is in a lot of pain, too, I am sure, especially since he made
the mistake of telling the Canadian immigration authorities that he would
leave for Europe if they would just let him go. Because of that comment,
the Canadian authorities do not trust that he will remain in Canada for his
hearings. He is getting deported to the US. The attorney's, (we have two
- - a criminal and immigration), believe that Steve Tuck is best sent back to
Washington State. Tuck does not have Federal charges, so they reason that
the Federal Marshal's have no jurisdiction in removing him to California,
since he is wanted on State charges, only.

Many of you might be wondering why Tuck does not ask for political asylum.
Because of his comment to the immigration authorities, he lost any right to
that request. I am deeply distressed at this news, I had hoped the
authorities would have shown more compassion.

Now Steve K, is in much better shape. We had been preparing to renew our
business visa just prior to the raid and had been discussing Steve's legal
situation at length with both of our attorney's, so we were all prepared.

It comes down to the legal concept of (I hope I spell this right),
diminicus. If I understand it correctly, diminicus means that you may use
the defense of "non-usable quantities". In the zero tolerance of the US,
(at least in California), that defense does not exist. I know because we
tried it. So, if Steve had been arrested in Canada and found with these
substances, they would have been thrown out of court. What this all means
is that our attorney's will be able to argue that Steve is not not would
not have broken Canadian law. Our attorney's feel pretty good about this
legal arguement. (One of our attorney's, John Conroy, is going to be at
the Norml confernece. Please take a moment and say "Hi" if you have the
chance! He is on of Canada's leading criminal defense attorneys
specializing in marijuana cases.)

The best solution would have been to get Steve out on bail today and delay
any hearing for two weeks. Seems like we are on the fast track, instead.
Steve will have a hearing to argue that he is not an undesirable alien
tomorrow morning at 9 am. Our wonderful Canadian friends have organized a
protest outside of the courthouse. I am overwhelmed with the international
support.

The Canadian media has been wonderful to us, also. I called them shortly
after this all happend to give them a follow up story so they could
understand, when Medical Marijuana patients grant interviews, this is how
the authorities respond. I have done two radio interviews, a tv interview,
and a few newspaper interviews. All positive. The US media has not been
so supportive.

I am feeling good about everything, especially since Marc Emery is paying
for all of our legal bills and will cover the bail, if there is any. Marc
is an amazing asset to this movement. I hope we all have an opportunity to
thank him for his incredible generosity and support. He filmed the Pot TV
news with me today and will do so tomorrow. We hope to have footage of the
protest and anything else we can get.

You all have also done so much. Your calls of protest have made the
authorities painfully aware of Steve K's dire situation. Immigration was
actually going to make him wait until Friday for a hearing! It could very
well have been too late then. You did make a difference, thank you.

I will get back to you as soon as there is more information.

- -Michele

P.S. I am having trouble sending e-mails out from my michele@kubby.com,
but, I can receive e-mails. Please send all e-mails to either Steve or me
at our @kubby.com address.

CRRH is working to regulate and tax the sale of cannabis to adults like
alcohol, allow doctors to recommend cannabis through pharmacies and restore
the unregulated production of industrial hemp.

*Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp*
mail: CRRH ; P.O. Box 86741 ; Portland, OR 97286 USA
email: crrh@crrh.org
phone: (503) 235-4606
fax: (503) 235-0120
web: http://www.crrh.org/