cannabisnews.com: The Drug War Refugees The Drug War Refugees Posted by CN Staff on February 01, 2003 at 21:46:31 PT By Eric Bailey, Times Staff Writer Source: Los Angeles Times Cancer patient Steve Kubby and other California medpot practitioners are begging Canada for asylum, claiming U.S. drug warriors are out of control. Maybe they're high, but maybe they're right.Along the rugged coastline of British Columbia, more than a generation ago, the first American refugees trickled in. As the Vietnam War raged, draft dodgers who chose to flee America rather than fight an unacceptable war gravitated to Canada's west coast, to rain-washed Vancouver and northward in tiny villages astride deep fiords left by the glacial past. A few of the new arrivals brought with them a taste for marijuana, and some began cultivating pot gardens. Isolated from the law by rugged terrain, separated from most of civilization by deep bays, a marijuana industry was born. As the tale goes, the coast north of Vancouver became a pot lover's paradise.Now a new breed of American refugee has arrived, seeking asylum from a different kind of war--the fight over medical marijuana. By some counts, they number more than 100 expatriate U.S. citizens, many of them from California, the fiercest battleground in America's medpot fight. They are patients and activists who share an uneasy distrust of the U.S. government and dismay over its intolerance of their brand of medicine. And they often arrive scarred by schizophrenic drug policies that now pit the Golden State's lenient laws governing the use of medical marijuana against the federal government's zero-tolerance approach.Vancouver has become a magnet for this underground railroad of the new millennium. Clean and cosmopolitan, the city is famous worldwide among cannabis aficionados for its high-potency "B.C. Bud" and a largely laissez-faire police response to pot. Though nonmedical marijuana is still illegal in Canada, activists say its recreational use rarely results in arrest. In Vancouver, pot is openly smoked in some Hastings Street cafes. The provincial marijuana party puts up a slate of candidates each election. North of the city, a 30-mile-long knob of bucolic mainland known as the Sunshine Coast rivals California's pot-growing north coast. Locals say marijuana cultivation runs right up there with tourism and retirement checks as a main economic engine. U.S. marijuana expatriates--much like their Vietnam-era brethren who flocked to Canada--are sinking roots into this cannabis-friendly land, launching businesses, raising kids.But even in open-armed Canada, there are limits for newcomers dubbed criminals. Some of the Americans arrive with drug-war wounds: arrest warrants outstanding, prosecutions pending, jail terms unfulfilled. When immigration officials threatened to toss them out, four California medpot expats--Steve Kubby, Ken Hayes, Renee Boje and Steve Tuck--decided to test Canada's characteristic tolerance. Facing deportation or extradition, they requested something quite extraordinary for citizens of the First World: political refugee status.That designation is normally reserved for the castoffs of troubled lands, but the four Americans say they are just that. Despite the passage of California's landmark 1996 medical marijuana initiative, U.S. law makes cannabis illegal for any use, putting die-hard activists squarely in the crosshairs of federal drug agents. If returned to the U.S., the California foursome say, they don't face just prosecution for their unyielding embrace of medical marijuana. They face political persecution.The deportation tussle arrives at a remarkable juncture between these two sister nations. As the U.S. has worked to crush the movement in California and the other states that adopted medical marijuana laws, Canada has legalized medicinal use. Politicians say the Canadian Parliament could go even further this year. Justice Minister Martin Cauchon has endorsed decriminalization, though Prime Minister Jean Chretien is urging more debate. If lawmakers fail to act, the courts seem ready to step in. On Jan. 9, a Superior Court justice in Ontario gave the Canadian government six months to provide safe distribution of medical marijuana or risk opening the door to full legalization. The Canadian Supreme Court appears poised to fashion new law out of three pivotal criminal cases involving Canadians accused of growing, selling or possessing pot. Overnight, the country that has treated recreational marijuana with a wink and a nod might codify its casual stance.Should it happen, that tectonic shift would rattle the ground under drug warriors in the U.S. The Bush administration has warned that if Canada gets softer on pot, North America could see a boost in drug dependency and gummed-up commerce between the world's two biggest trading partners.Cannabis has a long and contentious history. It was described in a Chinese medical compendium dating to 2,737 BC. In America, marijuana has been outlawed since the Great Depression. In 1970, the Nixon administration assigned it to Schedule I, a spot reserved for heroin, LSD and other high-octane drugs thought to have no redeeming medical merit. It was Nixon's way, pot advocates say, of shelving the martini of the antiwar movement.American marijuana activists say pot was "rediscovered" as medicine when ill patients tried the drug recreationally and found it reduced the nausea of chemotherapy and helped those suffering from glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy and other maladies. Patients joined the push to have pot rescheduled, a step that would allow physicians to prescribe it. The effort languished until 1988, when the chief administrative judge at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration made a startling ruling: Marijuana had a place in medicine. Judge Francis L. Young declared it unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious for the federal government to stand between "sufferers and the benefits of this substance."DEA officials quickly rejected Young's ruling, and the courts backed them. The rescheduling effort, meanwhile, went nowhere in Congress; politicians on both sides of the aisle long ago concluded it's safer to talk tough on drugs than risk oblivion as a pot appeaser.The AIDS epidemic brought a huge new pool of patients to marijuana's cause. Famous for producing the munchies, marijuana likewise seemed to stem the wasting effects of HIV. But here, too, U.S. officials balked. Out of frustration, a movement was born in California. An unlikely coalition of cannabis true believers and three ultra-rich businessmen eager to shift the nation's drug debate put the state's landmark medical marijuana initiative, Proposition 215, on the 1996 ballot.Proposition 215 won big, but it ushered in an era of confusion among cops and courts, patients and politicians. The federal government, whose laws supercede any conflicting state statutes, at first threatened doctors, saying that any who recommended the use of marijuana by patients would be prosecuted or have their authority to prescribe certain drugs withdrawn. After doctors fought back and generally won, the feds shifted tactics, using civil and criminal courts to go after medicinal-use activists who grow or distribute marijuana. But a trend began leapfrogging the nation. Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington all passed medpot measures.Snipped:Complete Article: http://freedomtoexhale.com/smk.htm Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)Author: Eric Bailey, Times Staff WriterPublished: February 2, 2003 Copyright: 2003 Los Angeles TimesContact: letters latimes.comWebsite: http://www.latimes.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Pot-TV http://www.pot-tv.net/MarijuanaNews.comhttp://www.marijuananews.com/Return Pot To Ailing B.C. Man, RCMP Toldhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14843.shtmlIll Americans Seek Marijuana's Relief in Canada http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14035.shtmlPetaluma Pot Grower Seeks Asylum in Canada http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13318.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #10 posted by malleus2 on February 03, 2003 at 12:26:16 PT A very important point was made... In the article, they finally, for the first time in my memory, called the antis what they are, publicly, for all the world to see...PROHIBITIONISTS!!!!In the propaganda war the antis have waged for the last 22 years, they have moved heaven and earth to prevent those words from being associated with them. The reason, very simply, is to try to avoid the association that drug prohibition has to the historically failed (alcohol) 'Prohibition'.But now, the link has been made. In a major newspaper read by hundreds of thousands, if not millions. The antis have finally been pegged as backing a losing proposition. Let's see them try to disassociate themselves from being called 'prohibitionists'. [ Post Comment ] Comment #9 posted by FoM on February 02, 2003 at 11:19:59 PT Truth You're welcome. I'm glad you and your wife enjoy the forum. I like knowing that I somehow make a difference. I believe we must get the word out and we must keep on keepin' on! No time to say hello, goodbye, we're late, we're late, we're late. [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by AlvinCool on February 02, 2003 at 11:18:27 PT Thanks I would also like to thank you and Mapinc for sites that allow me to find cannabis coverage. I especially thank you for allowing us to express our opinions.I'm in the process of making an outrageous T-Shirt. I plan on going to one of two major cities close to me and walking around the malls on the weekends. The shirt will feature the traditional leaves, web site addresses to cannabisnews, mapinc and normal. Plus an invitation to ask me how to stop the drug war. I'd wear it in my own town but I'd be fired as soon as the company I work for found out. Ohh to be independantly wealthy. We'll see how it goes. [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by Truth on February 02, 2003 at 10:46:09 PT Thanks FoM I, too, want to thank you for the forum FoM, my wife Martha and I really enjoy it, keep up the good work. [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by FoM on February 02, 2003 at 10:22:29 PT Robbie Thank You! I really enjoy what I do. [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by Robbie on February 02, 2003 at 10:17:50 PT Thank goodness for Cannabis News Thank you, FoM!You keep so many people informed. Great work.The marijuana question is certainly in the fore like it never was that I remember (I was a young tyke in the 70's, and I was not involved when Prop. 215 came into being)Open opposition to the law is so indicative of the value of the law. Even in Amsterdam, it is still illegal to use and distribute, but the local police largely look the other way.American insistence on harsh penalties and punitive measures continues to demonstrate a lot of what is wrong with our current government. Drug reform needs to happen soon. So many other problems could be served in our society if America stood down in the war on (some) drugs. Safe Access to Medicine [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by FoM on February 02, 2003 at 09:20:36 PT greek_philosophizer Glad you liked it! I'm looking for news but haven't found any to post so far but I'll keep looking. The Drug War Refugees - Home is Where The Hash Is [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by greek_philosophizer on February 02, 2003 at 06:59:54 PT: great links, great pictures Those are great links and pictures FOM. Canada sounds like what America should hope to be someday.It sucks that the Kubbys and all the others have to go through this pointless witch hunt. . [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by FoM on February 01, 2003 at 22:54:48 PT An Update I went ahead and put all the pictures on the double feature article. I mind missing anything good! LOL!http://freedomtoexhale.com/smk.htm [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by FoM on February 01, 2003 at 22:13:06 PT Double Feature Article from the LA Times! Hi Everyone,Here is a detailed double feature article from the paper. I am adding a few more links that I didn't put in the article and also please check the url to see the other pictures in the LA Times.The Drug War Refugees & Home Is Where The Hash Is: http://freedomtoexhale.com/smk.htm http://www.latimes.com/features/printedition/magazine/la-tm-pot05feb02,0,5569709.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2DmagazineFleeing North: http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13400.shtmlDrug Refugees - Report Newsmagazine: http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13224.shtmlCanada Arrests Third Pot Activist: http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12604.shtmlSteve Kubby and Steve Tuck in Custody: http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12546.shtmlKubby Files: http://www.kubby.org/BC Marijuana Party: http://www.bcmarijuanaparty.ca/Renee Boje Home Page: http://www.reneeboje.com/Todd McCormick: http://www.toddmccormick.org/Peter McWilliams Memorial Page: http://www.freedomtoexhale.com/Peterm.htm [ Post Comment ] Post Comment