Kubby's Marinol Experiment -- Day 11

Kubby qualifies his endorsement of Marinol
Offers 90 percent protection, he now estimates

Steve Kubby phone call from Placer County Jail
7 a.m. Monday, Feb. 06, 2006
to journalist Patrick McCartney

McCartney's note: I heard from Steve Kubby again early Monday, and he had a
different message from previous calls, when he had earnestly touted the
efficacy of Marinol to control the blood-pressure spikes of his adrenal cancer.
Throughout the conversation, Kubby sounded more centered than in earlier
calls. Following are verbatim excerpts of the conversation, with discontinuities
noted by ellipses.


SK: Listen, I was wrong about the Marinol. And I'm concerned about losing my
strains up in British Columbia. I've been running [a blood pressure of] 120
over 80 on the strains I had in B.C., and I'm running about 10 to 15 points
higher, especially on the bottom number, which is the key number, the
diastolic. I'm very concerned that the people up in B.C. are going to think that I
don't need those strains, and they're absolutely essential to my health.

The first couple days on the Marinol I was getting dramatic relief over
nothing at all, and I was hitting close to 120 over 80 for a couple of days, but
I haven't hit that since. And I'm very concerned that I'm being forced to stay
at blood pressures 10 to 15 points higher.

They're certainly trying here, but it's not as effective. There's something
else in the whole plant. These numbers confirm it. I called you because I
think you more than anyone know how much I wanted to believe that I didn't have
to smoke pot again. You know, when I saw Michele the other night [Sunday
during visitor's hour], it just broke my heart. …

This is bullshit that I have to take the pharmaceutical! People are probably
wondering why I didn't go ahead with the [motion to eat] oral stuff? I can't
tolerate that much pot in my stomach. I get diarrhea. I get cramps. I mean,
eating as much pot as I need just has never worked with my stomach. Anyone
who knows me will tell you that always avoid edibles. And when Bill McPike said
he wanted to go for the edible thing, I thought, well if the Marinol doesn't
pan out, I better have this lined up.

But initially I was very, very hopeful, as you know. I mean, if there was
anyone ready to believe Marinol works, I think you have to say it was me.

I'm very concerned they're going to hear that [my Marinol testimonial] in
B.C., and they're going to go, oh well, I guess Steve doesn't need his strains
anymore. I cannot lose those strains, not just for but for other patients.
There is something in the current strain that I have bred at my garden, which is
being maintained by my Canadian friends, I cannot lose that strain. …

PM: I thought you were overly enthusiastic and, frankly, some of your
closest advisers felt that the Marinol had spiked your intoxication level. [SK:
No, no, no. I was never intoxicated.] Even [deleted] said that your grin in the
courtroom was a crazy grin.

SK: Listen to me. I really thought I was going to die. I was pissing blood.
My kidneys were so swollen and painful that it was absolutely hell. Just
before I went into the courtroom, I had a meeting with the doctor. And he showed
me that my blood pressures were under control. He told me that my kidneys
had just tested normally. They proved that I was passing blood earlier, but
they said the current test was showing that I had resumed normal kidney
function. I was just so grateful to be alive.

PM: Does this mean that you want Bill [McPike] to resubmit the motion for
oral cannabis?

SK: Bill says they'll never give me smoked cannabis. Oral cannabis is less
effective, because I can't tolerate it in the amounts I have to take. You
know, if I was a guy who smoked a joint a night or something, fine, but when
you're consuming nearly an ounce smoking …

PM: I always wondered if your nighttime schedule was because that's when
the pot wore off and you had to wake up and remedicate.

SK: Absolutely! My day began at 4:20 in the morning. My wife and friends
will all confirm that. [PM: Do you take edibles before going to bed?] I cannot
tolerate edibles.

More on the use of whole cannabis versus:

PM: So your experience in jail on Marinol confirms that the strain you've
raised is superior to a single-cannabinoid synthetic?

SK: No question! When I was using that strain, I was 120 over 80 - or
better! Doctor Connors has plenty b-p's on me of like 120 over 70, 120 over 75. I
have never been below 120 [in jail]. I've had 120 over 80 twice, and
everything else has been closer to, in terms of diastolic, the lower number, it's
been closer to 95 to 100. I'd say 90 to a hundred. But it's clear to me now that
I was very, very affected by my visit with Michele, to see what my
involvement with marijuana has done to her and the children, it just broke my
heart. …
She was so frightened. I thought, "God, please! I don't want anyone I love
to have to go through this again. I really, really wanted to believe, and I'm
afraid people are going to go, oh yeah, well he's saying that. But the
numbers support it. The numbers here that they've recorded all show that my b-p has
been 90 to just below 100.

PM: How often did you test your b-p at home?

SK: Well initially, I had a cuff and I used to test it all the time.
Whenever I came into the doctor's, Dr. Connors will tell you, when I came in to see
him, 120 over 80, or better! And that ain't happening here. First of all,
I'm concerned about saving the strains. Secondly, I want someone who knows how
desperately I wanted to believe in Marinol, know that it's not working …

We've got to get word to my Canadian friends that they cannot lose that
strain. … Marinol provides 90 percent of the protection that I need. There's no
other combination of pharmaceuticals that even comes close to the control that
we've been able to have with the Marinol.

PM: When you were so vegged out under the standard meds at Earth Camp One
[in the late '70s and early '80s], was that these beta blockers?

SK: Oh, they had me on everything - beta blockers, alpha blockers, calcium
blockers - and all of it turned me into a vegetable.

PM: As it turns typical pheo patients into vegetables.

SK: Because they have to give them so much to cover the upper end.

PM: And even if they survive, then they get Parkinson's symptoms, according
to [the late Dr. Vincent] DeQuattro.

SK: Yes. With the Marinol, instead of being at 170 or 200 over 130 or 140,
I'm at 130 or 140 over 90 or 96, around there. The lowest I've seen since
those first two days was a diastolic of 86, and the last thing DeQuattro told me
was that it's the diastolic that determines how long you live. Every point
that you can bring that down is more time on Earth. They're literally robbing
me of my time on Earth by forcing me to go on Marinol. But the medical staff
here does not deserve a bad rap. They really are trying as much as they can
within the context of all these regulations. …

I think it would be a criminal act against humanity to lose that [British
Columbia] strain. I've had two years of testing strains on my pheos, and I've
had 30 years of trying all kinds of different strains. So there's all this
research that will be lost, and people will suffer, if those strains aren't
protect. Just one strain really. I think it's strain 26 or 24.

When another inmate uses Steve's towel to clean the cell:

"I thought what's the big deal? Just give me more stuff, right? Didn't
bother me. The guard looks at him like he's just committed the most grievous sin
on earth. 'Man, do you have any idea what you've done?' The guy says nope. So
he calls out this other guy, an easygoing, cheerful guy. He's got kind of a
short haircut. You would never think he was involved with anything criminal,
except for the fact that his body has all these tattoos on it. … 'What would
you do if an inmate came into your cell and used your stuff to clean up the
cell?' And the guy just looks at him in disbelief. He says, 'That's like
pissing on your toothbrush. I'd crush his cell.' And I thought, holy shit! And he
was serious! It was like, of course! … He didn't know. A white guy like me; he
doesn't know. He said, 'man, you can die doing those kinds of things.' So
that was a reality check for me.