In 2001, exercising his right to appeal the conviction for peyote possession, Kubby obtained the court's permission to move to Canada with his wife and two children. Kubby and his advisors were concerned that police and prosecutors were determined to prove their theory that he did not really need medical marijuana and would find a way to arrest and incarcerate him. After the Kubby family had been in Canada for a few months Kubby alleges the terms of his appeal were changed without his knowledge or consent by two judges. Kubby claims that he was wrongly reclassified as a fugitive.