VANCOUVER, Canada (AFP) -- A 57-year-old American who claimed refugee status in Canada because he feared persecution at home for smoking marijuana to fight a rare cancer has lost his bid to stay in this country.

An immigration and refugee board ruled Monday Steven Kubby is not at risk of cruel or unusual punishment in the United States, nor is his life threatened as he claimed, and so he does not need Canada's protection.

"There are no substantial grounds to believe that his removal to the United States will subject him personally to a danger of torture," wrote adjudicator Paulah Dauns.

His wife Michele, 37, and two daughters were also denied asylum and ordered to leave within 30 days their home in Sechelt, in the Western province of British Columbia.

Kubby said the decision was influenced by politics and that he would appeal to the Federal Court of Canada to have his case reheard.

"This was a cowardly and twisted decision because they don't want the heat that will come from giving me protection from the U.S. They refuse to believe the evidence and insist that marijuana simply cannot be tolerated," he told AFP.

Kubby fled to Canada from Lake Tahoe, California with his family in May 2001 after he was convicted of drug possession and took a job offered to him by British Columbia marijuana activist Marc Emery as host of online Pot-TV.

In California, he once ran for governor and successfully campaigned for the legalization of medicinal marijuana use, receiving almost 70,000 votes.

But Angel McLary, a fellow pot user who testified by phone at his hearing, said the U.S. federal government refused to concede defeat in its war against drugs and continued to prosecute all users, slamming the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration as "vicious and cruel" in the way it treats medicinal marijuana users.

Kubby said he fears being jailed and denied cannabis if he returns to the United States.

"I will die if I am forced to go without cannabis for more than a few days," he said.

In Canada, the government granted him permission in August 2002 to grow and smoke pot for medical reasons. He claims smoking large quantities of marijuana controls the symptoms of his adrenal cancer, a rare cancer that generates adrenaline rushes that trigger blood pressure spikes, rapid heartbeat, severe headaches and chest pains.

During his hearing in April, the adjudicator often allowed him to run to his car for a toke of pot.

Kubby said he expected to live only six months after he was diagnosed with the cancer in 1968 and treatments failed. Then, his former college roommate persuaded him to try marijuana, which he now credits for extending his life.

Dr. Joseph Connors of the British Columbia Cancer Agency testified Kubby has a large malignant tumor and pot helps lower the excessive level of a chemical called catecholamine in his blood.

But Conservative member of Parliament Randy White called the case a frivolous waste of time and money. "There is no such thing as a refugee from the United States." White said Kubby was using the Canadian refugee process as a forum to advocate for marijuana use.

Melissa Anderson, spokeswoman for the Immigration and Refugee Board, said almost 1,000 refugee cases from the United States had been heard since 1989, including 268 cases currently pending and a handful similar to Kubby's case. So far, none have succeeded, she said.

Kubby has 15 days to appeal the board's decision.