Posted March 6, 2001
(MarijuanaNews note: Marijuana is primarily used as a palliative,
but it would appear that it may be much more than that. I am very grateful to my good
friend Mike Gray for the opportunity to bring this to you.)

The War on Drugs Takes Another Hit
by Mike Gray hmgray@ix.netcom.com
Mike Gray, Chairman of Common Sense for Drug Policy, is
the author of Drug Crazy: How We Got Into This Mess and How We Can Get Out.
See
Exchange
Between Mike Gray and the Drug Bizarro On CNN Talkback Live:
Gray Warns That Dutch Will Protest

In the California Gold Rush town of Auburn the curtain has finally rung down on a
remarkable criminal trial that has raised some disturbing questions about the government’s
long-running war on marijuana.
See
We Are Winning! Kubby Victory Forces
California Politicians to Take Marijuana Issues Seriously. Paying a High Price for Not
Paying Attention to Lawless Law Enforcement.

Steve Kubby, Libertarian candidate for governor in 1998, was arrested in January of 1999
for growing too many marijuana plants.
See
After Lockyer Says He
Won’t Fight To Support Rights Under Prop 215
Former California Libertarian Party Gubernatorial Candidate And Medical Marijuana Patient
Steve Kubby Arrested On Cultivation And “Conspiracy” Charges!

The key phrase here is “too many.” Kubby is allowed to grow “some”
marijuana because California Proposition 215 - which he campaigned for - permits medical
use of the weed to qualified patients, and if anybody is qualified it would be Steve
Kubby.
See
Full Text of
Proposition 215 Compassionate Use Act of 1996

Diagnosed back in the 1970s with a rare form of adrenal cancer, Kubby
was treated by Dr. Vincent DeQuattro of U.S.C., a leading authority on the disease.
DeQuattro did what he could — surgery, chemo, radiation — but it was a delaying action.
The cancer — malignant pheochromocytoma - is not fatal in itself but it causes the
adrenal glands to overwork, dramatically boosting blood pressure. You can drop dead of a
heart attack or a stroke at any moment. Nobody lives longer than five years.
See
Prominent
Cancer Specialist Says Steve Kubby Should Be Studied, Not Jailed;
His Case Has Major Medical Implications.

Dr. DeQuattro assumed Kubby had passed on long ago, then he opened the 1998
California voter’s guide and there was his former patient running for governor. Amazed,
the doctor tracked him down and asked him what miracle had granted him this reprieve.

“Marijuana,” said Kubby.

It seems he had abandoned the traditional treatment and switched to cannabis, smoking some
10 grams a day for the last 15 years.

Dr. DeQuattro’s first reaction was to put Steve Kubby under a microscope. At
the U.S.C. medical center he ran Kubby through an exhaustive two-week work-up. While the
doctor is no fan of marijuana — he had never recommended it — the results convinced him
that marijuana was somehow keeping Kubby alive.

At issue in the Auburn trial was the 200+ plants the deputies found in Kubby’s
basement - far too many for personal use said prosecutor Chris Cattran. But Cattran
couldn’t come up with credible evidence of commercial activity, and several defense
experts testified that at Kubby’s rate of consumption, his indoor garden was about right.
See
Oakland City
Council Votes To Allow Patients One And Half Pounds Of Medical Marijuana

So the prosecutors began exploring another line of attack – the assumption
that Mr. Kubby had somehow undergone a spontaneous remission and he was simply smoking
reefer to get high.

To counter this charge, Kubby’s lawyer called Dr. DeQuattro to the stand. In the cramped
little Auburn courtroom, DeQuattro told the jury that Kubby’s tumors are clearly visible
on the x-rays but, for reasons he can’t explain, the disease is apparently stabilized.
COLOR=”#ff0000″>What’s more, the side-effects of smoking marijuana day and night for 15
years appear to be zero.

DeQuattro said his team tested Kubby for cognitive function before and after smoking and
found his mind, memory and motor skills unimpaired. But the discovery that really jolted
them was the lungs. Here they had a subject who admittedly smoked a couple hundred joints
a month for 15 years — a perfect opportunity to measure the damage from chronic high
level consumption – but they couldn’t find any. “His respiratory functions are
the same as for someone who never smoked at all.”

After deliberating for several days the jury hung 11-to-1 in favor of acquittal. Last week
prosecutor Cattran threw in the towel. There will not be a retrial.

Despite marijuana’s dramatic impact on Kubby, Dr. DeQuattro is not ready to recommend it
to his other patients until he finds out how it works.

Unfortunately, that information is hard to come by. Washington has financed plenty of
marijuana research — always looking for negative effects. Every other line of inquiry was
squelched. The first extensive studies of marijuana’s effectiveness will not get underway
until later this year — decades late.

Now, thanks to anecdotal evidence like that unfolding up in Auburn, we are
beginning to learn that marijuana may be something more than just a palliative. There is
growing evidence here and abroad that this ubiquitous plant may in fact be a powerful
healing agent with extensive and unknown applications. If it turns out to be a miracle
drug instead of the devil weed, then the politicians who managed to thwart this research
for the last thirty years will have some explaining to do.

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