cannabisnews.com: Fatal Condition





Fatal Condition
Posted by FoM on June 22, 2000 at 08:56:58 PT
By Jacob Sullum 
Source: Reason Magazine
"The Drug War doesn’t need another martyr," Peter McWilliams wrote last November. "It has too many already." McWilliams, a best-selling author and activist who was arrested on federal marijuana charges in 1998, was explaining his decision to plead guilty and throw himself on the mercy of the court.Mercy was not something that U.S. District Judge George King seemed to have in abundance. King had prohibited McWilliams, who used marijuana to fight the nausea caused by his AIDS medications, from presenting a "medical necessity" defense at his trial in Los Angeles.
That meant that neither McWilliams nor his lawyer could so much as mention his disease, marijuana’s usefulness as a medicine, the program under which eight patients were receiving marijuana from the federal government, or Proposition 215, the 1996 California ballot initiative that sanctioned the medical use of marijuana. King had also refused to let McWilliams smoke marijuana while he was free on bail, even though McWilliams said it was the only way he could keep down the drugs that were keeping him alive.Still, McWilliams hoped the judge would allow him to serve his sentence under home confinement. Because of his weakened immune system, he felt certain he could not survive prison.It seems McWilliams could not survive the conditions of his bail, either. On June 14, two months before he was scheduled to be sentenced, the 50-year-old writer was found dead on the floor of his bathroom. Friends reported that he appeared to have choked to death on vomit.Without marijuana to treat the nausea brought on by his AIDS pills, McWilliams had developed a regimen that included Marinol (a prescription drug containing a synthetic version of THC, marijuana’s main active ingredient), various herbs, hot baths, bed rest, and electric massage. "The procedure of keeping down the medications is agonizing, exhausting, debilitating, and I must do it three times a day," he wrote in February. "It [would be] entirely unnecessary if I could use medical marijuana."Although McWilliams’ ordeal seems to be exactly the sort of thing that medical marijuana activists want to prevent, his case aroused ambivalence within the movement. He and Todd McCormick, a friend who used marijuana to relieve chronic pain resulting from childhood treatments for bone cancer, were charged with raising some 6,000 plants at four different locations.That’s a bit more than they needed for their own use. McCormick said he was growing the plants as part of his research for a book on medical marijuana that McWilliams was publishing. The Drug Enforcement Administration said the two planned to supply marijuana to "buyer’s clubs" serving patients authorized to use the drug by Proposition 215.Whichever version you believe, there’s no question that McWilliams and McCormick broke federal law, which does not recognize any legitimate reason to grow marijuana. Indeed, their operation was not even legal under Proposition 215, which allows cultivation for a patient’s personal use but not for research or for sale to others.The McWilliams/McCormick case called attention to the absurdity of classifying marijuana as a Schedule I drug under federal law, signifying a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical use. Although scientifically groundless, that classification is self-perpetuating, since any use of a Schedule I drug is "abuse" by definition and no Schedule I drug can be legally used as a medicine.The case also illustrated the problems caused by legalizing medical marijuana, as Proposition 215 ostensibly did, without authorizing anyone to supply it. Since relatively few patients are prepared to grow their own pot, most have to rely on the black market.In other words, marijuana is not really a legal medicine, even in California. By highlighting that fact, McWilliams embarrassed the quieter, more discreet activists who are trying to make medical marijuana respectable--especially because (unlike pharmaceutical companies?) he was accused of a profit motive.It probably did not help that McWilliams was not only a medical marijuana advocate but an outspoken opponent of drug prohibition. Indeed, as a prominent member of the Libertarian Party and the author of the 1993 book Ain’t Nobody’s Business If You Do, he called for the repeal of all consensual crime laws.McWilliams’ baggage made medical marijuana supporters reluctant to claim him as a poster boy for their cause. But now he is "another martyr" of the war on drugs, no matter how much they (and he) might have preferred otherwise.Jacob Sullum's weekly column is distributed by Creators Syndicate.E-mail: JSullum reason.comPublished: June 21, 2000© Copyright 2000 by Creators Syndicate Inc.Related Articles & Web Sites: The Medical Marijuana Magazinehttp://www.marijuanamagazine.com/McWilliams.comhttp://www.mcwilliams.com PeterTrialhttp://www.petertrial.com/Grow Medicinehttp://www.growmedicine.com/MapInc. Articles On Peter McWilliamshttp://mapinc.org/mcwilliams.htmPeter McWilliams, R.I.P.http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6128.shtmlMurder in Californiahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6119.shtmlLearning from Peter McWilliams http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6086.shtmlPeter McWilliams Passes Away http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6069.shtml Peter McWilliams Memorial Serviceshttp://www.kubby.com/McWilliams/Pictures Of Peter McWilliams 1950 - 2000http://mischiefmarketing.com/mcwilliams/pics_01.html 
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on June 23, 2000 at 15:05:59 PT
I want to know too!
I want to know what caused the fire and why was Peter rescued from upstairs if that is true? I really want to know to kaptinemo.
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Comment #3 posted by kaptinemo on June 23, 2000 at 14:00:10 PT:
Perhaps it is my naturally suspicious nature
But I'd really like to know more about that fire. Such as where it started. Like, somewhere in the vicinity of his computer, perhaps? Any reports from police or fire investigators? Some might ascribe my interests to be tinged by paranoia; so be it. Because given the fact that Judge King knew full well what he was doing in sentencing McWilliams, I think I can be forgiven some degree of distrust of 'official explanations'. 
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on June 22, 2000 at 22:13:56 PT
Unnecessary Death 
June 22, 2000 Orange County Registerhttp://www.ocregister.com/The drug war claimed another victim last week when author, publisher and activist Peter McWilliams died at his home in Los Angeles. He was 50. Perhaps ironically, he died the same day Governor Ben Cayetano of Hawaii signed a medical marijuana bill passed by the state legislature - making Hawaii the first state in the country to authorize the medicinal use of marijuana through the legislature rather than by a vote of the people. An author whose computer how-to books several times made the New York Times best-seller list and whose 'Ain't Nobody's Business if You Do' is destined to be a modern classic, Peter contracted AIDS and cancer a few years ago. He found that marijuana was the best way to control the nausea brought on by both AIDS and cancer treatments and to restore his appetite. He gave writer and patient Todd McCormick a large advance to finance a research project into the medicinal qualities of different strains of marijuana for a book after Proposition 215 passed in 1996, which allows use of marijuana with a doctor's recommendation. When Todd was arrested in the 'Bel-Air mansion' case, Peter came to his defense, explained that he had financed the project - and got a federal indictment as a 'drug kingpin.' During and after the trial, Federal District Court Judge George King ordered him not to smoke marijuana. Since his mother and brother had taken out second mortgages on their houses to make his bail and he didn't want to put them in jeopardy, he complied. At first his health deteriorated severely, but over time he developed a severe regimen of bedrest and other precautions that enabled him to keep his medicines and his viral count down. On June 11, a fire in his house destroyed Mr. McWilliams' computer and backups, including a book on his ordeal that was almost finished. The loss was overwhelming to him. On Wednesday he was found dead; he had choked on his own vomit. One can't help but think that if he had been allowed to use the anti-nauseant he found most effective, he would still be alive, his intelligence and infectious sense of humor still vital despite the deterioration of his body. Please send comments to: ocregister link.freedom.comCopyright 1999 The Orange County Register
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Comment #1 posted by Thomas on June 22, 2000 at 09:33:39 PT
FoM, Can you post this news story?
http://www.sltrib.com/06222000/utah/61040.htm
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