After dropping a bid to smoke marijuana in jail, medical-marijuana activist and cancer patient Steve Kubby is taking the synthetic THC drug Marinol to ease his chronic pain, the Los Angeles Times reported Feb. 4.

Kubby, 59, shocked supporters when he said that Marinol -- long derided by medical-marijuana activists -- was working to ease the symptoms of his adrenal cancer. "In fact, he said it's the best he's felt in years," said Kubby's lawyer, Bill McPike.

Kubby is in a California jail after being forced to leave Canada, where he fled five years ago to avoid a 120-day U.S. prison term. Kubby has smoked up to 12 marijuana cigarettes daily for the past 25 years.

Dale Gieringer, director of California NORML, said Kubby's experience would not hurt the campaign to legalize medical marijuana. "Some [medical] conditions respond to THC and some don't, so what's right for Steve won't necessary work for everyone," he said.