Pubdate: Thu, 21 Jan 1999 Source: Oakland Tribune (CA) Contact: http://www.newschoice.com/newspapers/alameda/tribune/ Copyright: 1999 MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers LIBERTARIAN CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR ARRESTED IN MARIJUANA INVESTIGATION TAHOE CITY, Calif. (AP) -- The 1998 Libertarian Party candidate for governor and his wife were arrested after authorities found some 300 marijuana plants in their home. Steve and Michele Kubby were detained Tuesday at their Olympic Valley home near Tahoe City for investigation of cultivation of marijuana, possession of marijuana for sale and conspiracy. They were being held Wednesday at the Placer County jail in Auburn in lieu of $100,000 bail each, and were scheduled to be arraigned Thursday in Tahoe City. Lt. Mike Allen of the North Tahoe Task Force, a law enforcement unit made up of investigators from Placer and Washoe counties and the Nevada Division of Investigation, said officers found about 300 marijuana plants at the Kubby residence. Officers said the plants are capable of producing five ounces to a pound each of marijuana and have a street value of about $420,000. The couple's attorney, Dale Wood of Truckee, said the marijuana officers found at the Kubbys' home was being legally grown for medical purposes and that the amount of bail was ``insane.'' ``You find people who committed robbery, crimes of violence who have lower bail settings than that,'' Wood said. ``It's like they have some heinous criminal that has hurt someone. In fact, what they are growing is medical marijuana.'' Proposition 215, approved by California voters in 1996, attempted to allow seriously ill patients to grow and use marijuana to ease pain and nausea with a doctor's recommendations. But efforts to implement the measure have largely failed because opposition from former state Attorney General Dan Lungren and the federal government. Lungren's successor, Democrat Bill Lockyer, says he wants to make the proposition work. Wood said Steve Kubby uses marijuana as part of his treatment for cancer and hypertension. ``Marijuana is the only thing that has been able to assist him,'' Wood said. ``He has been advised by more than one physician to use marijuana.'' Wood said Michele Kubby also uses marijuana for a medical condition but he said he didn't know any details about her illness. Steve Kubby, 52, publisher of an online recreation magazine, ran fourth in the race for governor last November, taking nearly one percent of the vote. Mark Hinkle, chairman of the California Libertarian Party, called the arrests ``an outrage and a slap across the faces of California voters.'' ``Steve and Michele Kubby are law-abiding citizens and the police have no authority to raid their home, throw them in jail and jeopardize Steve's health,'' Hinkle said in a statement. ``How long will the state of California continue violating the will of the voters? How many people will have to suffer or die before the government realizes the extreme harm it is causing medical marijuana patients who are denied their rightful medicine?'' - --- MAP posted-by: Rich O'Grady