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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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Canada: Canada Arrests Third Pot Activist
ccguide Monday 22 Apr 2002 Pubdate: Sun, 21 Apr 2002 Source: Press Democrat, The (CA) Copyright: 2002 The Press Democrat Contact: Website: http://www.pressdemo.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/348 Author: Jeremy Hay Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/kubby.htm (Kubby, Steve) CANADA ARRESTS THIRD POT ACTIVIST Ex-Petaluman Who Won Prop. 215 Case Faces Federal Charges Canada appears to be cracking down on Americans seeking sanctuary from drug-related charges in the United States. On Thursday, Canadian immigration authorities arrested former Petaluma resident Kenneth E. Hayes. Hayes, 34, fled north in January, shortly before U.S. prosecutors charged him with marijuana trafficking -- charges similar to those a Sonoma County jury acquitted him of last year. He used a Proposition 215 medical defense in the Sonoma County case but federal law doesn't recognize any legal uses for marijuana. Hayes was the third American medical marijuana activist facing drug charges in the United States arrested in as many days in British Columbia for alleged immigration violations. The charges are "specifically having to do with having criminal convictions in the United States," said Angela Battiston, a Canadian immigration spokeswoman. U.S. officials who want Hayes returned here to stand trial applauded the action. "We commend the Canadian authorities," said Richard Meyer, a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman. "It's unfortunate that many people are viewing Canada as a haven to avoid U.S. justice." Humboldt County pot grower Steve Tuck and 1998 Libertarian Party gubernatorial candidate Steve Kubby were arrested Tuesday on the Sunshine Coast, north of Vancouver. Kubby also was charged, along with his wife, Michele, with marijuana cultivation. Tuck and Kubby are out on bail. Hayes is in detention in Vancouver. They all face deportation hearings. Battiston couldn't provide details about the criminal convictions Canadian immigration police cited in arresting Hayes. His attorney -- who also represents Tuck and Kubby -- said he was unaware of any convictions for Hayes. Hayes also is awaiting trial in Canada on pot cultivation charges, stemming from a February arrest in Vancouver. In the United States, he faces far more serious charges. U.S. prosecutors say he heads an organization that dealt hundreds of pounds of marijuana through a San Francisco medical pot club he operated. He and three co-defendants face possible prison sentences ranging from five years to life. All three of the Americans arrested in Canada last week have said they would seek political refugee status in Canada if the United States asked for their extradition, or if Canada attempted to deport them. None of them deny growing or smoking pot but they say it's for medical reasons, which is allowed under Proposition 215, a ballot initiative approved by California voters in 1996. Hayes, Kubby and Tuck have prevailed in marijuana cases in California. But all three face other charges; in Hayes' case, federal pot charges where a medical defense isn't an option. Tuck, 35, faces six felony pot trafficking charges in Humboldt County where authorities reject a medical use claim they had accepted from him in a separate case two years ago. Kubby, formerly of Placer County, is locked in a legal battle over a 2000 conviction for peyote possession that prosecutors want to raise to a felony from a misdemeanor. Ten days ago, a California appellate court ruled that Kubby must return to California within 30 days or lose his right to argue that case. The Canadian arrests follow a burst of media attention in the United States and Canada on a small but growing number of Americans who have fled or moved north of the border leaving drug-related legal trouble in the United States. "Immigration probably got annoyed at all the publicity and said, 'We'll show them that there's consequences,'" said John Conroy, the Vancouver attorney representing Hayes and the others who were arrested. He said Hayes couldn't be deported while the pot charges he faces in Canada are undecided, but "a concern is that (Canada) will drop the drug charges and just ship him to the border." - --- MAP posted-by: Alex
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