Steve Kubby jail interviews. Medi-pot patient in danger. Placer County, California.

Monday, January 30 2006 report from Steve Kubby in jail in Placer County, California.
Followed by 2 phone interviews with Steve Kubby in the same jail.
First interview farther down is from Sunday, January 29, 2006.
It is followed by one from Saturday, January 28, 2006.

Much info on Steve Kubby's arrest, incarceration, and dangerous medical problems is compiled on an ongoing basis at these links:
http://www.kubby.com
http://news.google.com/news?q=steve+kubby&scoring=d
http://www.cannabisculture.com/forums/showflat.php?Number=1205086
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/cannabisaction
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Kubby
http://technorati.com/search/steve%20kubby
http://www.indybay.org/drugwar

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----Post with Steve Kubby jail interviews begins. From this forum thread: ----
http://www.cannabisculture.com/forums/showflat.php?Number=1205086

Though the responses have been varied, your phone calls are having a
real impact in Auburn as I can see from the messages posted to various lists.

Again, please see the Alert: Steve Kubby Is in the Placer County Jail
http://www.mapinc.org/alert/0322.html

It has the contact information for much more than the jail.

Thank You to Dale Gieringer for posting the following to the DPFCA
list. (I have tried to make it a little easier to read by making each
statement in the transcripts clearly separate, so any mistakes are
mine). Yes, it is long, but tears came as I read thru it, both for
Steve, and for his acknowledgement that the efforts you are making
are having an impact.

Richard Lake

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A friend of Steve Kubby's, Fred Colburn, received a call from him
early this morning (7:30 Mon). [January 30, 2006]

He said he is in excruciating pain, vomiting, weak from inability to
eat for the last several days, with blood in his urine, and without a
blanket or even Tylenol.

Supporters of Steve will be rallying tomorrow at noon at the Placer
Co. Courthouse in Auburn, where there will be a hearing at 1 pm.

Following are two lengthy telephone interviews with Steve conducted
by Pat McCartney over the weekend:

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Steve Kubby Phone call from Placer County Jail January 29, 2006 [Sunday]

Around 5 p.m.

SK: Please take notes of everything I'm going to tell you, and at
seven you can get back to me.

PM: Okay.

SK: I am getting zero medical care. I'm unable to even get Tylenol
for pain and headaches.

PM: And you've requested it?

SK: I have requested it repeatedly. I'm told I don't have a
prescription for it.

PM: Have you requested anything other than Tylenol?

SK: Anything for pain, but most pain medications are a problem for
me, and Tylenol is all I need.

PM: Did you get the second shipment of the Marinol?

SK: I don't know. They keep that. They are completely ignoring the
bloody urine. I was told on Friday at noon when I came in, that they
would test me for that, and they're not testing me. And I'm really
concerned that they don't want to test me, that they don't want to
document that I've got blood in my urine as the result of medical
incompetence and torture that I'm getting here.

PM: I hear you.

SK: The first follow-up since admission Friday was today, about two
hours ago they checked my b-p. [Blood pressure.] No other care or
exam. By b-p on examination was one-sixty-six over one-oh-eight,
which is way high for me. Now, I believe that the medical director
thinks that I'm a fraud, or ignorant, or something, because when I
told him that I cannot take - Well, I don't know if he even got the
message. They said, you got to - They said, um - I told them I can't
take regular meds, so they said, well then, you're refusing
treatment. And I said I'm refusing conventional treatment, yes. So,
you know I went through that whole thing with the deputy yesterday.
After the confrontation with the hostile deputy

PM: So you went through a similar thing today?

SK: No, but after this confrontation with the hostile deputy, I'm
afraid to push this issue and I need help from friends calling. And
by the way, I'm getting the message that they're getting a lot of
calls. I'm under the impression that I cannot expect any help from
the medical director due to my refusal to take conventional medicines.

PM: Now, is this what Michele put in her note? Beta blocker and alpha
blocker, or something?

SK: These things are deadly for me. My Doctor Conners in Canada
understands, but people need to understand that I do not have [high]
blood pressure, I have episodes of [high] blood pressure. So, if you
treat me when I'm running one-sixty-six, if you treat that right now,
as soon as my tumor lets up, I'm going to bottom out and turn into a
vegetable.

PM: I see.

SK: I can't move. I have trouble speaking. I have, like, no blood
pressure. On the other hand, if I have an attack and I'm only
medicated for one hundred, sixty-six over one-oh-eight, and it goes
to two-fifty over two-twenty, which it does and which I believe it
went last Friday, if it gets that high, it blows completely through
the protection of the blood-pressure medication, and it fools my body
into thinking that I'm protected until that moment, and that's what's
deadly. That's where I get killed. That's where I get hammered with
terrible, terrible attacks, because I've been through this for
fucking years [anger rising in voice], and this - These people here
gave me an informational sheet on hypertension. I know I know more
than the top medical authorities in California, and they're giving me
an information sheet. I'm really, really disturbed by what is going on.

PM: So you're not in the infirmary? You're in a solitary cell?

SK: Yes. No, I'm not in any sort of an infirmary. I don't see anyone. [Sighs.]

PM: Have you received any more comments from staff that is memorable.

SK: I've got a lot more to report. But there's one sergeant here,
Minden Sanders, who's attempting to straighten things out. He told me
a lot of folks are calling and complaining. He got me a pillow. He
got me an extra pillow.

PM: Good!

SK: I sent him a written statement that I am not - This blood thing,
they could fucking settle it with one fucking test! They could have
done it Friday in two minutes.

PM: What kind of test are you talking about?

SK: Blood in urine; it's a simple process. I don't know. I've never
had blood in my urine before. They told me they can test for this.

PM: Steve, I'm transcribing our first conversation for Eric Bailey,
Martin, and maybe Fred Gardner, or Ann Harrison. I'll put something
together for like DPFCA based on all our conversations.

SK: I told you yesterday that the Marinol appeared to be helping. I
honestly thought I could make it. But everyone needs to know that I
was mistaken. Dr. Conners said it would not control my blood
pressure. He was correct. It does provide partial effective relief
for my symptoms, but it is not very effective on the adrenaline production.

PM: Is that because CBD is better for that?

SK: There's something in the whole plant that keeps me at one-twenty
over eighty, or better, and it is outrageous that I'm being kept to
the point that I'm worried my kidneys are being damaged. Now, the
vomiting and nausea are gone, and I ate my first meal today, but it
just went right through me as diarrhea. So I'm losing weight, and I'm weak.

PM: I'll also copy it to Dick Cowan, the transcript. I'm sorry to
hear this, Steve. You know, I've received a couple requests to say
hello to you. Certainly, Eva, Dale Schafer, and Debbie Debord, and
practically everybody I see.

SK: Let me get back to my report, OK? I urgently need for Dr. Conners
in Canada to contact the medical director, and separately contact the
head of the jail here, and explain to them why no conventional
therapy is going to be able to keep me alive. They need understand
that they're going to fucking kill me. I'm sorry, but you know, three
days and they can't even test or verify that I have blood in my
urine? What kind of fucking care is that? I need Fred [Colburn] to
find a male barber. He knows - His daughter is a female barber. I
need a haircut, man. I don't want to go to the hearing without a
haircut, if I can get one. They say you can bring a male barber in at
any time and get a haircut. Will you look into that?

PM: Yes. I can ask my barber here in town. Can it be anybody?

SK: Anybody at all. But not your barber; your hair looks funny. Nah,
I'm just kidding.

PM: [Laughs.] Well, Steve. Anything else you want to tell me before I
come tonight. Do you know if I can have a tape recorder with me, or a camera?

SK: I don't know.

PM: Well, I'll find out. Eva's going to try to see you, too, but I'm
not sure if you're allowed two individuals per week, or just two
visiting periods per week.

SK: I don't know, either.

PM: I'll find out.

SK: Pat - Well look, hang in there, buddy.

SK: This is really getting serious. I really thought yesterday that
we had found an answer. And please, don't misunderstand me, but
Marinol is tremendously helpful. It helps me with the nausea. I'm not
getting any more of the - I was vomiting so bad that my cellmate was
getting pissed at me. I requested a private cell, because I don't
want to keep these guys up puking all the time. When I started the
Marinol, the puking went away, but now I got diarrhea, so it just
goes through me, boom. I'm weak, I'm shaky, and the worst thing of
all is I honestly think that there's an effort here to not document
what is happening, to not document that I am passing blood, to not
document my blood-pressure attacks. Now, the big attacks, the worst
one I had was Friday, it knocked me down, I got disoriented, but I
have not had a super-high blood-pressure attack since then. But
one-sixty-six over one-oh-eight is enough to make me feel pretty darn
sick all fucking day.

Oh, and the officer got me a copy of the Auburn Journal story. I'll
tell you, my blood really boiled when I saw that yet another police
officer has decided to practice [medicine], and told the Auburn
Journal that I looked "fine." Well, I want everyone to contact the
Auburn Journal and tell them I'm not fine, and doctors, police who
make those kind of - Not just the police, but for the Auburn Journal
to put that in is fucking bullshit, as sick as I am, to say that he looks fine.

PM: They've got to talk to everybody on all sides of it, Steve.
That's just part of the news. But I want to know where they got that
yahoo medical expert. That was an embarrassment.

SK: Who? The cop?

PM: No, the UC Davis person who pooh-poohed the -

SK: Yes. That was the worst thing the Auburn Journal has done.

SK: They're going to kill me with that kind of stuff.

PM: I hear you.

SK: They're going to convince people that it's not a big deal. It is
a big deal.

PM: You've got to take care of yourself to at least Tuesday. How
often do you take the Marinol?

SK: Three times a day.

PM: I see. Is that sufficient, do you think?

SK: It's all I'm going to get from that. There's only one medicine
that has ever worked for me. I have thirty fucking years of
documentation, goddammit!

PM: Yeah.

SK: Now, Dr. Conners is a very high-ranking doctor. I'm hopeful that
he can persuade - You know, he's not American, so they might just
blow him off. People need to understand what is on the line. So, I'm
going to get off the phone, and let you contact people. I'd like you
to contact my wife and find out what is going on. I don't want you to
scare her, but I want you to tell her to tell Ed [Pearson] that I'm
passing blood.

PM: So, let me get this straight again. They have not tested for
blood in the urine yet?

SK: No, they have not.

PM: I see, Steve.

SK: The only follow-up I've had in three days was a blood-pressure check today.

PM: I got you. Well look, I will see you in a couple hours and I'll
make a few calls before then.

SK: Just let everyone know that the calls work. They're rattled here.
They're just ignorant. They're ignorant! They think it's a fraud or a
joke or something. They've got to understand that they're going to
fucking kill me! I've never had blood in my kidneys before. I don't
deserve to have damaged kidneys now. I don't deserve that. I want
people to help me any way they can, because at this point, I am
really, really concerned. So, I'm going to say good-bye.

PM: Take care. Try and stay calm, Steve. You can't let the stress get to you.

SK: When you see blood come out in your urine, it's hard to remain calm.

PM: I hear you. I hear you, Steve.

SK: All right, thank you.

PM: Hang in there, buddy.

SK: I'll see you at seven.

PM: Take care.

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Steve Kubby Phone Call From Placer County Jail January 28, 2006 [Saturday]

A little after 1 p.m.

SK: I want to give you a statement

PM: Sure

SK: and I want you to take notes.

PM: OK

SK: [Reads from prepared remarks.] OK. I entered the Placer County
Jail around noon yesterday. At that time my blood pressure was
one-seventy over one-twenty, and I reported that I had passed blood
in my urine. I also reported that I had one of the most severe
blood-pressure attacks of my life, with chest pains for the first
time ever for me, and I became so disoriented that I collapsed and I
injured my back and head.

I was told by the nurse that the medical director wants me on
convention b-p [blood-pressure] medications. I replied that I am
under doctor's orders to not use conventional b-p medication, since I
don't have a conventional b-p problem. These meds would be worse for
me and put me at high risk, according to my doctors. So, they also
have denied repeated requests from me to talk to my attorneys; this
is the first time I've had access to a phone, except yesterday. I had
one call, so I used that to call Michele in Canada.

PM: Steve, did you receive the Marinol?

SK: Yes, that has been a godsend for me. The blood has stopped
passing through my urine. My kidneys, which were just throbbing with
pain, are starting to calm down, and it's not doing what cannabis
does for me, but it's keeping me alive. I am so grateful for that.

SK: [Resumes reading remarks.] I am being held in 24-hour solitary
lock-up until now; they let me out for one hour, I get one hour out
of every 24 hours.

PM: I tried to visit you.

SK: Yes? What did they tell you?

PM: They told me you're only allowed two visitors a week, and for
you, it's Sunday night and Thursday night. I called Michele to let
her know that, because I will try to visit you tomorrow night unless
you want to reserve the visit for somebody else.

SK: Yes, I'd like to arrange for me

SK: Well, I get to see my attorney anytime, right?

PM: Right. They wouldn't let me in as a professional visitor.

SK: Yes, I'd like to see you tomorrow. Let me continue giving my
report. I assume you'll disperse it to the media?

PM: Yeah. In fact, Eric Bailey asked me to give him a call. But if
you like, I'll put it up in notes and pass it along to Michele and DPFCA.

SK: Well, I'd like you to get to Eric first.

PM: OK.

SK: OK, so let me continue with my report. Here's the spooky part,
Pat. The medical director has refused any further medical care for
me, and has forced me to sign a paper that if I die, it's my fault
for not taking conventional b-p medication. When I protested that the
statement did not include the statement that I was under doctors'
orders from my doctors not to take these medications, I was
confronted by a deputy, who told me, I want to get the quote right,
told me, "Sign the paper, and sign it as is." And, you know, just got
in my face and made it clear that I was under physical duress to do
it, that I was forced to sign that paper.

SK: No further b-p checks, or any physical examination, has been
since I reported chest pains and blood in my urine.

PM: And when did you report that?

SK: Upon entering Placer County yesterday at noon.

PM: And no further - I mean didn't one-twenty, one-ten catch their attention?

SK: One seventy!

PM: Yeah. One-seventy over one-twenty. That didn't get their attention?

SK: They basically told me if I'm not going to do it their way,
they're not going to deal with it. I've also been exposed to
continual episodes of cold, where officers will put me in a
situation, take my blanket from me. When I tell them that I'm cold
and I need the blanket, I mean they're sitting there with a hat on,
they got the heavy uniform and everything, they just give us a
T-shirt! I'm a cancer patient! I haven't been able to hold any food
down since I got here, since I was arrested. I'm being exposed to
episodes where I get so chilled that my teeth are chattering and I'm
shivering and it takes a half-hour to warm up. I'm afraid I'm going
to get pneumonia or something if I continue to receive abuse like that.

PM: Steve, I was actually at the airport Thursday night and spoke to
Bill McPike briefly. Did I hear him right that there were police cars
on the runway?

SK: Here's what happened. We landed, we pulled into the tarmac, and
they announced that Steve Kubby, please come to the front. So I go to
the front and I get outside of the plane, and there are federal
agents everywhere. I don't know, maybe six or eight federal agents.
And they put me up against the wall, and they do the handcuff thing,
and they were kind of rough with me, and then they start telling me
I've got all these multiple warrants.

SK: And I'm thinking, oh man, is this the federal government getting
bad-ass with me? Are they going to come after me? Then, no sooner
than they - and they went over everything I have with a fine-tooth
comb trying to look for a flake of pot or something - then they take
me down to this cop car and put me in there, and the guy just cranks
the, the Asian guy with Border Patrol, just cranks it down on my
wrists until they're just, I'm screaming with pain. I tell the guy,
this is really hurting me. And he basically just says tough. So, get
this, the officer that's transporting me said, why don't you go ahead
and loosen the cuffs. He says, he'll be a security risk, and he says,
I'll take that chance.

SK: So, they loosen up the cuffs, we take off, and the guy says, so
are you a senator or something? I said why. He says, because of all
the people and press that were there. I said, no. I said I was one of
those people who helped passed a law that police and prosecutors and
judges don't like. So, he tells me, well, it wasn't supposed to go
down this way. Quote - Someone has a big hard-on to get you.
Otherwise we would have let you go to voluntarily surrender in Placer
County. - Unquote.

PM: Hmm.

SK: Let's see what other information I have for you -

PM: What was the rest of that? Someone has a hard-on to arrest you?
It wasn't supposed to go down? What did you say?

SK: "Otherwise, we would have let you go and voluntarily surrender in
Placer County."

PM: And who told you that? The guy transporting you?

SK: Yeah, and he said he would never admit to it if I told.

PM: OK

SK: So, what else do I have to report - [Apparently scanning a list.]

PM: So, was there [sic] police cars on the runway or not? Did I misunderstand?

SK: Yes.

PM Yes?

SK: Yes. They pulled up to the the plane -

PM: yeah, but at the gate before they disembark?

SK: They got on and off out of everyone's view.

PM: So, did you exit through the normal gate, or did they, oh OK.

SK: I exited through the plane, and right outside the plane were
these guys, between the plane and the gate.

PM: In the maneuverable hallway, or whatever.

SK: Yes.

PM: How was your treatment at the border, getting on the plane?

SK: Superb.

PM: So, Canadian officials were -

SK: Very polite. They went overboard to be polite and understanding
and helpful.

PM: But you're saying you have not received that kind of treatment on
the U.S. side of the border?

SK: I thought they were pretty rough with me. They were treating me
like I was some kind of -

PM: You said they read all these charges, but you're not under arrest
for those charges, are you?

SK: They just said I was under arrest for multiple warrants. I
thought it was federal at the time; I was crapping in my pants. I
took it pretty cool, actually.

PM: Bill [McPike] said you were in a pretty good mood, that you
seemed to look forward to getting it resolved. Is that a fair description?

SK: Who said that?

PM: Bill McPike.

SK: Yes. Yes. I want everyone to understand three things. First of
all, I never fled. I had the permission of the court to leave. Two, I
opted not to return when it was clear to me that illegal and damaging
things were being done behind the scenes to harm to me and to come
after me. And three, I came down to voluntarily surrender myself.

PM: Well, did you have any choice?

SK: Yes, I had the choice to run, I had a choice to duck out in
another country, but I came right to Placer County to face the music,
and for them to face the music.

PM: So, you could have engineered an escape from the Canadian airport?

SK: Oh, I had all kinds of offers to go to Amsterdam, Europe,
Australia, New Zealand.

PM: How about St. Vincent?

SK: Hey, if I'd had that, I might have taken it. [Pause.] Oh god,
this Marinol has been so much a godsend for me.

PM: Dr. Tod told me yesterday that it was the first time he'd ever
prescribed or recommended, prescribed I guess, in these kinds of
circumstances. It has to be enough to give you an initial, uh, I
forget the term, but

SK: You know, I was pissing blood until I got on the Marinol.

PM: Wow. [Pause.] So, did you sign that paper or not?

SK: You bet I signed it. They made it pretty clear I was in for a bad
time if I didn't.

PM: But even with that cooperation, they have not monitored your
health closely?

SK: I have only received one blood-pressure check and that was upon
entry, at one-seventy over one-twenty.

PM: And now it's more than 24 hours later.

SK: Yes, that's correct.

PM: Steve, you said you've been kept in solitary since then. Is it at
least an open-air cell?

SK: Yeah, it's part of a facility where each guy has one cell, and
there's probably a dozen other guys locked down with me. Each of us
gets out, now that I've been here a while, I get out one hour a day.
I get out one hour a day, right now, and I'm locked down the rest of the time.

PM: When did you receive the Marinol, and has that been given to you regularly?

SK: Yes, I received the Marinol upon entering Placer County. And if
you look at my mugshot, you'll see that within an hour I was already
able to muster a smile for my mugshot.

PM: Good, so you had the Marinol before you took the mugshot?

SK: Yes, and I remembered what you said, that they'd probably print
it, so I smiled.

PM: You know. Good point. Even Tom Delay learned that one. [Laughs.]

[SK: Yeah.] So, have you had any other comments either by inmates or
law-enforcement officials that stand out, Placer County officials?

SK: [To someone else:] Yes, ma'am. I have to go.

PM: OK. Say, thanks Steve for giving me a call.

SK: OK. I gotta go. They want me to go.

PM: I'll see you tomorrow.

SK: Bye-bye.

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