cannabisnews.com: Hearing Focus of War on Drugs





Hearing Focus of War on Drugs
Posted by CN Staff on March 04, 2003 at 21:51:03 PT
By Russ Akins
Source: Abbotsford News 
An American citizen and his family have made refugee claims in Canada saying his inability to smoke pot to alleviate medical symptoms amount to political persecution. The claimant, Steve Kubby, and the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) have accepted an application by Langley-Abbotsford (Canadian Alliance) MP Randy White for the hearing to be open to the public.
“I think all hearings should be open to the public, just like the courts, but I believe this case, which will be precedent-setting, needs to be addressed publicly,” White said. However, Kubby told the Abbotsford News this week that the MP has done his case a favour by being heard in public and that White himself is “irrelevant’’ to the hearings. And a Fraser Valley marijuana advocate said this week an “underground railroad’’ is operating in the Fraser Valley to bring people such as Kubby to Canada. The 56-year-old Kubby, a former Californian who once ran for governor, will be making his case tomorrow before the IRB in Vancouver. He said eight days have been set aside for the hearings. Kubby, who moved to B.C. in 2000 after being convicted in the U.S. on two counts of possession of a narcotic, says he smokes marijuana regularly to ease symptoms of adrenal cancer. He also claims the federal U.S. government position on denying him his medicinal marijuana amounts to persecution and cruel and unusual punishment. Last summer, Kubby received a medical exemption from the Canadian government, which allows him to grow, use and possess marijuana. “There is no such thing as an American refugee to Canada,” White told the Abbotsford News. “Here’s a guy who’s onto a soapbox – he’s no stranger to trying to make a name for himself, and he’s on the front-end of a very large lobby.’’ Added White: “The problem I have – he’s using Canada’s border as a safe place to fight U.S. laws. He’s jumping legitimate refugees from places like Afghanistan and Cambodia. “I fully intend to pursue this,’’ White said. “This a flagrant abuse of our refugee system. Will heroin users head north as well, with the Canadian government setting up safe injection sites? “This is exactly like the draft dodgers from the Vietnam War, except this group is running from the American war on drugs.’’ But Norm Siefken, a member of the Marijuana Party of Canada and a local health care worker, countered that White is “totally out of touch with reality,’’ and that Kubby’s case is literally one of life and death. “There are dozens if not hundreds of refugees who are already here from the States,’’ Siefken said. “We should open up our borders and be a sanctuary to people who are being persecuted.’’ Siefken said Kubby is a “perfect example of a valid refugee. He has letters from top cancer specialists verifying he will die if he doesn’t get marijuana on a medical basis. “With daily marijuana use, his tumours remain dormant. It’s all 100 per cent legitimate.’’ He said “dozens and dozens’’ of supporters from the marijuana community will show up to support Kubby at the hearing. As to White’s Vietnam draft analogy, Siefken said: “There’s a lot of people who didn’t want to get killed in Vietnam, and there’s a lot of people who don’t want to die because of the war on drugs. “There’s a difference between running from justice and running from injustice.’’ He said an underground railroad is in operation – in the Fraser Valley and in other parts of B.C. – to bring people such as Kubby to Canada. “I will say there is no one involved in the underground railroad at my residence,’’ said Siefken. Kubby told the Abbotsford News: “We are excited about the opportunity to put the police state of America on trial. “We will provide smoking gun documents that will show a criminal group of police, prosectors and judges who are violating a number of laws by meeting secretly on public funds, to invalidate an initiative written and passed by the people.’’ He referred to a 1990s California vote that approved medial marijuana use. “Randy White is completely irrelevant to the hearings,’’ Kubby said. However, White said that U.S. President George Bush’s drug policies are “on trial here, and this case will determine which side our Canadian government is on. “It will take one decision at an immigration hearing to ensure Canada becomes the drug sanctuary for anyone who is facing drug charges around the globe.” Source: Abbotsford News (CN BC)Author: Russ AkinsPublished: March 4, 2003Copyright: 2003 Hacker Press Ltd.Contact: editor abbynews.comWebsite: http://www.abbynews.com/Related Articles & Web Sites:Pot TV http://www.pot-tv.netThe Drug War Refugees http://freedomtoexhale.com/smk.htm White Wades Into Immigration Watershttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15607.shtmlPot-TV Star Still Growing http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14966.shtmlIll Americans Seek Marijuana's Relief in Canada http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14035.shtml 
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Comment #4 posted by freedom fighter on March 05, 2003 at 17:46:05 PT
I sure don't recall any 
Canadians complaining about the draft dodgers. Seemed to me randy white is the only one. Yeah, saw that PurtainCreepshow(Salem's witches).. People thought that only 20 had died during that time. Actually, the tradition lives.So civilized!ff
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on March 05, 2003 at 08:44:12 PT
Hi Roger
I saw the last 15 minutes of the Salem Witch Trials. I am so sorry I missed the whole movie. I read a book about the Salem Witch Trials a number of years ago and it was a real mind opener for me. 
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Comment #2 posted by Sam Adams on March 05, 2003 at 05:55:36 PT
canada
You're right Roger, most of Canada is a lot better than the US, but they have a few "homegrown" fascists as well! At least Mr. White is an incompetent fascist - a public hearing for anything concerning med MJ spells disaster for the prohibitionists.Shining a bright light into a sewer will only send the cockroaches and rats scurrying for cover!On the Viet Nam analogy, it should be pointed out that many of the draft dodgers went to Canada not because they feared death, but also because they refused to kill Vietnamese.
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Comment #1 posted by Roger Christie on March 05, 2003 at 00:56:48 PT:
 Escape the witch-hunt! Run for your life!
Aloha. I just finished watching the 'Salem Witch Trials' on CBS-TV. Wow! Hooray for Shirley MacLaine and the cast. What a story they told. What a metaphor
for the war on cannabis, the war on terror, etc. The troubles were and are CAUSED by fear driven by those gone mad with so-called Christianity and a twisted vision of 'God'. F-E-A-R = False Evidence Appearing Real.The children and townspeople of Salem in the 1600's were preached to about original sin and Satan and the Devil as if those concepts were real, and they became real to them. Oh yes, they were real, however, only in the heads of those sick with life and humanity and goodness and those who were/are different from themselves.The United States, in my opinion, has been run by criminals since the coup that killed JFK in 1963. Madmen (Nixon, Kissenger) and others have been running things like the Viet Nam war and the war on cannabis ever since. They try to silence us cannabis enjoyers so much because to a great degree we are the ones who notice and are aware of their scam. I am 99% convinced that the U.S. government created the AIDS virus at the same time (late 1960's- 70's) to coincide with the paranoid delusions of our so-called leaders. See www.boydgraves.com for details and a flowchart, a smoking gun of evidence. No wonder they are so tough on us! They are trying to cover-up the biggest crimes on Earth by blaming us for smoking pot.Canada seems like land of (somewhat) more sanity because it is not the home of the D.E.A. and the exceedingly corrupt corporate/political cabal that runs things. Yes, it has the 'Christian disease' also which seems to contribute to its own brand of lunacy and hatred of nature's greatest plant gift, among other things. But Canada and its people have the opportunity to grow and demonstrate their humanity and respect for the dignity of individuals.Go Steve, go! Make your points and make your mark on the minds of those in the middle - those whose vote of conscience can turn the tide in favor of life and love and can break the yoke of bondage so many have suffered for so long under.Go Steve, go!
 * The Hawai'i Cannabis Ministry *
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