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VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - A Canadian immigration panel refused political asylum on Monday to a marijuana advocate who says he fled the United States to escape persecution in the "War on Drugs."
Steve Kubby, an unsuccessful California gubernatorial candidate, had argued he was a political target of the police because of his outspoken views in favor of medical marijuana and against U.S. anti-drug laws.
"What Mr Kubby alleges does not amount to persecution," Immigration and Refugee Board member Paulah Dauns wrote in dismissing Kubby's application -- along with those of his wife and two young children.
Kubby, 56, is among a handful of "reefer refugees" who have moved to Canada in recent years to escape U.S. drug laws -- a movement they liken to the draft dodgers who fled the United States in opposition to the Vietnam War.
Canada allows the medical use of marijuana and has even supplied government-grown pot for people with illnesses such as AIDS (news - web sites), cancer or multiple sclerosis.
Kubby began smoking pot in the 1980s to offset the effects of cancer and was active in the campaign that led to California's Proposition 215 in 1996, making marijuana legal for treating some sick people.
He was the Libertarian Party's gubernatorial candidate in California in 1998.
Kubby was convicted on drug procession charges in Placer County, California, in 2001, but moved to Canada before serving his sentence of house arrest. He now lives in Sechelt, British Columbia, north of Vancouver.
Kubby argued in his refugee hearing that his need for marijuana was the same as a diabetic who requires insulin to stay alive. He claimed his life would be threatened if he was returned to the United States and denied the drug.
Dauns ruled it appeared pot was helping Kubby cope with his cancer symptoms, but it was unclear if it was actually keeping him alive. She noted that he would have access to the drug under the California law he helped pass.
"He argues that a medical marijuana patient should be protected from persecution. What he has demonstrated is that in fact, they are," Dauns wrote in her nearly 60-page decision.
Dauns noted that the U.S. federal government has opposed state medical marijuana laws, but Kubby had failed to show the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency had any special interest in prosecuting him.
Marijuana is a touchy issue in U.S.-Canada relations, with White House drug czar John Walters warning that Ottawa's plan to decriminalize procession of small amounts of pot could lead to tighter security on the border.
Marijuana growing is estimated by police and advocates to be worth more than C$2 billion ($1.5 billion) annually in British Columbia, with most of the potent "B.C. Bud" eventually sold in the United States.
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