Steve Kubby, a medical marijuana user and important figure in the passage of California's medical marijuana law, Proposition 215, was deported to the U.S. this week after losing his final appeal to stay in Canada as a medical marijuana refugee. Upon landing at San Francisco International Airport on January 26, he was immediately arrested and taken to serve an outstanding jail sentence. He is now being held in the Redwood City jail without access to the medicine he uses to control symptoms from his adrenal cancer.

His arrest came just a few days after Canada elected a conservative leader to be the next prime minister. The Conservative Party's platform includes a "tough on drug crime" stance, which specifically mentions streamlining "deportation of non-citizens convicted of drug trafficking, drug importation, or running grow operations." The party also advocates mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses.

Despite this extreme stance, the Conservative Party is likely not to succeed at passing draconian drug war legislation, because conservatives are not taking power with the majority that would be necessary to overcome opposition. In addition, the Conservative Party did not win any seats in Canada's major cities, Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal.

Meanwhile, Steve Kubby waits in a cell in Redwood City, California. After five years living in Canada, he was forced to return to the U.S. to serve a jail sentence for a minor drug conviction dating back to 2000. He is now slated to spend 120 days in jail, where medical marijuana use is not permitted.