Inmate Drops His Request for Medical Marijuana
Posted on: Monday, 6 February 2006, 15:00 CST
By Art Campos THE SACRAMENTO BEE
SACRAMENTO -- In a court hearing that took less than two minutes, medical marijuana activist Steven Wynn Kubby withdrew his request Friday to use cannabis to treat his adrenal cancer while he serves a sentence in the Placer County jail.
Kubby's attorney told a Placer Superior Court judge that Kubby had stabilized his blood pressure while in jail by using the prescribed drug Marinol, a synthetic form of marijuana's active ingredient, THC.
Kubby has contended that he will likely die if he is incarcerated without being able to use medicinal marijuana.
Opinions are divided over whether a cancer patient should receive Marinol or medicinal marijuana.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration implies in a fact sheet on its Web site that cancer patients may not need marijuana because Marinol can relieve the nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy for cancer patients and that it assists with loss of appetite among AIDS patients.
However, a physician who has treated Kubby, Dr. Joseph M. Connors of the British Columbia Cancer Center, said he thinks the withholding of cannabis could ultimately harm Kubby.
On Friday, Kubby's attorney, William McPike of Fresno County, asked Judge Robert McElhany to pull his motion seeking the use of edible cannabis in jail off the court calendar but also said his client may bring it back at a later time if any changes occur in his condition.
Kubby's wife, Michele, told reporters outside the Auburn courtroom that her husband suffered with high blood pressure and other symptoms during his first day of incarceration in Placer County on Jan. 27.
He was given Marinol, which helped him get through the night, Michele Kubby said, and he has continued to receive three pills each day from doctors in the jail.
"Steve believes the Marinol is helping," she said. "Had he not taken it on that first day, he says he wouldn't have made it."
Kubby, 59, is serving a 120-day jail sentence for a drug conviction in Placer County in 2000.
Source: Daily Breeze
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