Pubdate: Wed, 06 Nov 2002
Source: Auburn Journal (CA)
Copyright: 2002 Auburn Journal
Contact:  http://www.auburnjournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/530
Author: Patrick McCartney, former City Editor for the Auburn Journal
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/kubby.htm (Kubby, Steve)

STEVE KUBBY'S CANCER REAL, NOT JUST AN EXCUSE FOR POT

I see Dave Ryland, in his letter of Oct. 10, is still in denial about Steve 
Kubby's adrenal cancer. Like other staunch prohibitionists, Mr. Ryland 
suspects people like Kubby hide behind the law, as prosecutors are wont to 
say, using Proposition 215 as a 'loophole' to protect their druggie 
lifestyle. He may be interested to know that a survey by California 
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws showed that medical 
users represent only 1 of 100 California pot smokers.

In some rare cases like Kubby's, cannabis can be a lifesaver. Like Placer 
County prosecutors before him, Mr. Ryland questions 'the current status' of 
Kubby's disease. Vincent DeQuattro of USC Medical Center, the world's 
foremost specialist in the one-in-a-million pheochromocytoma (adrenal 
cancer) before his untimely death, told a Placer County judge that he was 
floored in 1998 when he learned that Kubby was still alive 20 years after 
he last saw him. He described Kubby's survival as a 'miracle.' (Mr. Ryland 
may recall reading the copy of DeQuattro's letter to the Placer County 
judge that I sent him at his request.)

Dr. DeQuattro then conducted a battery of tests on Steve Kubby, before 
testifying that Kubby still possesses malignant cancer, although the 
diagnosis cannot be certain without cutting Kubby open. When informed that 
Placer County prosecutors continued to question Kubby's medical status 
after the trial, DeQuattro wrote in an e-mail letter that the evidence of 
Kubby's likely malignant adrenal cancer is 'incontrovertible.'

Patrick McCartney

Auburn
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