Pubdate: Sun, 8 Aug 2000
Source: Auburn Journal (CA)
Copyright: 2000 The Auburn Journal
Contact:  1030 High St., Auburn, CA 95603
Website: http://www.auburnjournal.com/
Author: Pat McCartney, Journal City Editor
Cited: Steve and Michele Kubby: http://www.kubby.com/
Bookmark: MAP's link to over a hundred articles about the Kubby case:
http://www.mapinc.org/kubby.htm
Note: Condensed version of print article

The Kubby Trial

The long-delayed trial of former Placer County residents Steve and Michele
Kubby is tentatively scheduled to resume a week from Tuesday.

Steve Kubby, the 1998 Libertarian candidate for governor of California, has
applied his considerable political skills to organizing medical marijuana
activists since his January 1999 arrest for growing marijuana at the
couple's Olympic Valley home.

Part of the prosecution's case involves an accusation that the Kubbys were
planning to sell pot to the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Coalition, a charge the
Kubbys deny. Instead, the Kubbys say they worked with the Oakland club,
which had implemented standards approved by the Oakland City Council, to
insure that their own pot garden complied with the guidelines.

A week ago, the 9th District Court of Appeals reversed an earlier ruling,
lifting an injunction that prohibited the Oakland club from distributing
marijuana to eligible recipients. Since then, the federal Justice Department
announced that it would appeal the appellate ruling to the U.S. Supreme
Court, which should announce by this fall whether it will intervene in the
dispute.

While federal opposition to California's Compassionate Use Act continues
unabated, the Drug Enforcement Administration made a startling decision in
January. Petitioned since 1985 to reclassify marijuana as a drug with
therapeutic potential, the federal drug-fighting agency asked health
officials to determine whether marijuana should remain a Class I prohibited
substance.

If health officials agree with recent scientific evidence, the 75-year war
against marijuana may be coming to an end.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake