Rhode Islanders get Registration date in April for medical marijuana use.

Registration date in April for medical marijuana use

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- Rhode Islanders will soon be able to obtain
permission from the Health Department to grow limited amounts of
marijuana for medical use.

The Health Department intends to issue registration cards starting
April third for patients with certain illnesses and their primary
caregivers. Rhode Island last month became the eleventh state to allow
sick people to use marijuana as medicine.

But federal law still bans the drug, and so far no state has found a
way for patients to legally, conveniently and safely acquire it.
Patients who spoke out at a hearing yesterday mostly objected to the
75-dollar registration fee.

An advocate suggested charging lower fees for those on public
assistance, similar to a system in Oregon.

Freed Medical Marijuana Activist Voices New Praise for Jail Staff

Freed Medical Marijuana Activist Voices New Praise for Jail Staff
Steve Kubby, who fled to Canada to avoid a four-month term, is
released after 40 days and apologizes for negative publicity.
By Eric Bailey, Times Staff Writer
March 7, 2006

SACRAMENTO — Steve Kubby, a California medical marijuana pioneer who
was forced to return from Canada earlier this year and was thrown into
jail, earned his freedom Monday after serving a third of the
four-month sentence his doctor predicted might kill him.

Placer County jail officials said Kubby's release after 40 days came
because of his good behavior in custody and their need to reduce
crowding under a federal court order.

Kubby has spent the last six years vociferously fighting Placer County
authorities over his conviction for possession of a peyote button and
a psychedelic mushroom. But his early release underscored a sudden
shift in his once bitter attitude toward law enforcement authorities.

In jail, Kubby lost 25 pounds, yet said he gained respect for his
jailers and the medical staff who tended to the rare — and typically
terminal — form of adrenal cancer he has been treating with marijuana
for three decades.

"I realized the taunting and skepticism about my condition that I
experienced when I was first jailed here in 1999 was not present with
any of the jail staff this time," said Kubby, a onetime Libertarian
gubernatorial candidate and early backer of California's watershed
1996 medical marijuana initiative. "I realized that these guys were
getting heat over me, and they didn't deserve it."

The first days of his incarceration were marked by loud criticism of
Placer County officials by medical marijuana activists who worried
that Kubby might die in jail without access to marijuana. His blood
pressure, normally 120 over 80, jumped to 170 over 120 and blood
appeared in his urine.

But soon after he arrived in the Placer County jail, Kubby started
using Marinol — a legal, synthetic form of THC, marijuana's
psychoactive ingredient — to thwart increases in his blood pressure
that doctors say could be lethal.

His condition stabilized, and Kubby wrote to his jailers and the
medical staff apologizing for negative publicity during the first days
of his incarceration. In the letter, Kubby said he had "developed a
profound respect for the professional and highly dedicated staff and
officers here."

The short note eventually found its way to Placer County Sheriff Ed
Bonner, who met with Kubby last week.

"He said it was an honor to meet me," Kubby said Monday after his
release. "I was floored. I got the feeling he was sincere, genuine,
and got it. He said he wanted to talk to prosecutors about burying the
hatchet."

Kubby's travails date back to the weeks after his failed run for
governor in November 1998. Spurred by a tip that Kubby had been
selling marijuana to finance his gubernatorial campaign, a drug
enforcement task force raided his home near the Squaw Valley ski area.

Kubby beat the marijuana sales charges after his attorneys argued that
his 265-plant basement garden was necessary to produce the crop he
needed to control the cancer. But the jury convicted Kubby on two
counts of possessing a psychedelic mushroom and a peyote button.

Before his sentencing in 2001, Kubby moved to Canada with his wife and
two young children. In Canada, Kubby won permission to grow a huge
medical marijuana garden but failed to win his bid to become a
political refugee. His appeals to stay were exhausted early this year.
Kubby flew back to California on Jan. 26 and was whisked off the jet
by police at San Francisco International Airport.

Although a free man Monday, Kubby still faces a March 14 hearing for
failing to appear at his original sentencing five years ago.

When his legal issues are finally resolved, Kubby said, he intends to
settle in South Lake Tahoe, where he hopes his two daughters can
continue to pursue their amateur skiing careers.

He also plans to continue using pot as his medicine.

"The sooner I get the whole plant the better," Kubby said. "You can't
argue with 30 years of medical success."

Medical Marijuana Mix-up

Medical Marijuana Mix-up
Regina man has legal supply of illegal drug removed and then returned
Tessa Vanderhart Staff

Last Thursday, Tom Shapiro walked into the Regina Police department,
where he had recently been detained for possession of drugs. He walked
out with two large bags of dried marijuana.

Shapiro, who is infected with AIDS, has used marijuana for the last
five years to alleviate the nausea that is a side-effect of his
medication. His large, medically-sanctioned supply of marijuana was
returned to him legally on March 2.

Police seized his basement full of plants on January 31; his permit to
grow and possess marijuana had expired in October. Shapiro said that
he had applied to renew it before it expired, but it was late coming
in the mail and he lost status as a legal user. Tipped off by his
electricity bill, police entered his Regina home and seized 21 plants.

"Health Canada said I'm not on the list, so I must be illegal,"
Shapiro said. He added that he believed the police did undue damage to
his property in seizing the plants.

Shapiro said that the police treated him as they would any illegal
grow operation.

He was taken to jail, fingerprinted, charged with growing marijuana
contrary to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, and set with a
court date of March 7, but he was released when his renewed permit
arrived on February 2. The charges against him were dropped, but
Shapiro's drugs could not be returned to him until the confusion over
his permit could be solved.

Medical marijuana is subject to the Marijuana Medical Access
Regulations Act, brought into effect by Health Canada on July 30,
2001. The regulations explain: authorization to possess usable
marijuana, to grow it or have someone else grow it for you, and the
legal provisions for purchasing marijuana.

Two categories of people have access to medical marijuana. Those
suffering from multiple sclerosis, a spinal cord injury or disease,
severe pain or inability to eat as a result of cancer or HIV/AIDS,
arthritis or epilepsy fall into category 1, while others who
experience chronic pain can also apply for access to the drug, falling
into category 2.

In December 2000, Health Canada contracted Prairie Plant Systems to
grow marijuana in Flin Flon, MB.

Shapiro noted that overgrow.com, the website from which many medical
marijuana users purchased seeds, was seized by police in Quebec.

Christopher Williams, a spokesperson for Health Canada, said that
there are three ways to access medical marijuana: it can be purchased
from the government, patients can seek a licence to grow it
themselves, or they can use a third party grower.

He noted that the average approval time for a permit to possess
medical marijuana is about 15 working days, though Health Canada
advises patients to start the application process six weeks in advance
of their licence's expiration date.

Shapiro said that he was concerned about the quality of the marijuana
returned to him by the police — it may not be "smokable," which would
mean he would have to start growing it again or purchase the Health
Canada product, which he said is too expensive. He said that many
medical marijuana users spend more than half of their disability
compensation on the treatment.

Currently, there are 1,186 users of medical marijuana in Canada, and
Health Canada has authorized 859 licences to cultivate the plant for
medical purposes.

A pilot project aims to distribute marijuana in pharmacies across
Canada — in multiple provinces and both rural and urban areas — but is
still in the planning stages.

Williams noted that Health Canada's "compassionate" approach to
medical marijuana is unique internationally.

"It's important to remember that it's not an approved drug, and
nowhere in the world has it gone through the clinical trials, and
nowhere in the world is it a prescribed drug," Williams said.

Even so, Shapiro said that Health Canada, acting in the best interests
of patients, should make medical marijuana more readily available. He
has suggested improvements to the list system, including providing
temporary licences and not removing patients from the "approved" list
immediately after permits expire.

"If it works for a person . . . they shouldn't bar access to it."

He added that he thinks Canadians support better availability for
medical marijuana.

"I don't know why they would give someone something and then take it
away," said Shapiro. "They're as bad as any dealer on the street."