cannabisnews.com: Government Protecting Us To Death Government Protecting Us To Death Posted by FoM on July 02, 2000 at 12:34:30 PT By Robyn Blumner Source: St. Petersburg Times McWilliams never got a satisfactory answer to his question. Instead, he was made a martyr to it. Fifty-year-old McWilliams died on June 14 at his home in Los Angeles. Press reports say he died by choking while vomiting in the bathroom. I hold the government largely responsible. No doubt, so would he. During the last days of his life McWilliams was waiting to be sentenced by a federal judge for conspiracy to distribute marijuana plants that federal prosecutors said were going to supply California's medical marijuana cooperatives. He was waiting to see whether he would be one of those jailed for helping people commit a consensual crime, the kind he wrote about with such acerbic wit in his book. The fact that he was arrested well after Californians passed Proposition 215, legalizing medical marijuana, didn't seem to matter to federal prosecutors. They came after him anyway and charged him with a crime that carried a possible sentence of 10 years in prison. For McWilliams that kind of time was a death sentence. He had AIDS and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, though it was in remission, and had been using marijuana as medicine himself. It helped him keep his pills down and control the nausea that came with his medical treatment. It appears the federal government targeted McWilliams because of his political activism. Juan Ros, executive director of the Libertarian Party of California, has seen it before. "The government seeks these outspoken medical marijuana users and goes after them," he said. The federal government has been so blinded by its slavish devotion to an unwinnable drug war that it refuses to act proportionately toward marijuana. Substantial anecdotal evidence suggests that marijuana use eases the suffering of people with AIDS, multiple sclerosis, cancer and glaucoma. But the government has done everything in its power to deny science the tools to confirm this. Despite a much ballyhooed "liberalization" of research guidelines, it is still tougher to get approval for a clinical trial on the medical benefits of marijuana than on any synthesized pharmaceutical. Through popular referendums and legislation, eight states and the District of Columbia have now legalized the use of medical marijuana, but the federal government isn't admitting defeat quietly. Congress has barred the District from implementing its referendum on medical marijuana, the Office of National Drug Control Policy has threatened to yank the prescription-writing privileges of physicians who recommend the medical marijuana to patients, and in an effort to shut them down, federal prosecutors have sued a number of California's cannabis buyers' clubs. McWilliams' prosecution was part of this pattern of harassment. In defending himself against the charges, McWilliams had wanted to use the "medical necessity" defense, but U.S. District Judge George King in California refused to allow it. That meant McWilliams was barred from mentioning to a jury that his fellow Californians had legalized medical marijuana or anything about his infirmities and the relief he got by using marijuana himself. So McWilliams gave up and pleaded guilty. His bail was set at a whopping $250,000, an astounding amount for a man who was such a small flight risk. To make bail, his mother had to put up her home as security. While awaiting sentencing, the judge explicitly barred McWilliams from using medical marijuana and forced him to undergo weekly drug tests. McWilliams complied so that his mother wouldn't lose her home, which meant he was unable to control his nausea. He died while vomiting. How can this be an American story? How has our government gotten its priorities so out of whack that it's actively punishing people who are only trying to heal themselves and others? In his book, McWilliams wrote: "It is not the law's job to protect adults from the risks of their own consensual activities." Too bad our government isn't willing to let us all live by this simple prescription for personal liberty. Instead, the government insisted on protecting McWilliams from his own choices, right into the grave. Published: July 2, 2000© Copyright 2000 St. Petersburg TimesRelated Articles & Web Sites:MapInc. Articles On Peter McWilliamshttp://mapinc.org/mcwilliams.htmLibertarians To Honor Peter McWilliamshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6267.shtml Peter McWilliams Passes Away http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6069.shtmlPlease Sign!ForaHero.com - Peter McWilliamshttp://www.forahero.com/The Medical Marijuana Magazinehttp://www.marijuanamagazine.com/Ain't Nobody's Business If You Dohttp://www.mcwilliams.com/books/books/aint/Peter McWilliams Memorial Serviceshttp://www.kubby.com/McWilliams/Peter McWilliams Tribute Pagehttp://homepages.go.com/~marthag1/Peterm.htmPictures Of Peter McWilliams 1950 - 2000http://mischiefmarketing.com/mcwilliams/pics_01.html END SNIP --> Snipped Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #5 posted by kaptinemo on July 03, 2000 at 05:03:50 PT: Guilty conscience? Partly. Yes, you could say that. And yes, I am *very* afraid that we might still not be learning any lessons from history. The parallels between the period leading up to the US's involvement in Vietnam and what's happening in Colombia right now are so frighteningly similar that I can't see how our pols can be so blind to it. Even to the comments of the pols; Trent Lott's crack about "Where better to be involved?" is downright chilling. It reeks of deja vu: McNamara's ideas of the 'Domino Theory' all over again. It shows the EXACT SAME ARROGANCE that made Kennedy's 'The Best and the Brightest' think they could solve the incredibly complex Vietnam problem through advanced managerial techniques and 'push button warfare'. And what do we have to commemerate our hubris? We have a black granite monument on the DC Mall with 58,000 names on it to show *who* actually pays the price for such arrogance. What will the next monument be like? A coca bush growing out of a coffin?But I am also still hopeful that enough people will begin to realize how close we are to repeating the msitake of intervening in someone else's civil war in which illicit drugs only incidentally play a part.But I'm not holding my breath, either. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by CongressmanSuet on July 02, 2000 at 22:31:45 PT: Im grateful for the link... to C-Span live, FoM, I have been watching it for an hour. Kap, are you sure alot of the problems we have today are because of complacency in the early 70's, or is that a guilty conscience I hear? Only kidding. I think at the time, it seemed like the only logical choice, legalization of Cannabis.I remember hearing about decriminalization in Alaska, how people everywhere were starting to accept that Cannibis wasnt the great evil it was made out to be, how it was considered a right of passage, and hey, if a cop pulled you over and found a nickel and a pipe, well, you had a 50-50 chance. What has happened to us? Where did we get derailed? Reagen? Definately, but it goes further back to the dark Nixon years, the years of paranoia and subterfuge. Can we pull it out at the current rate? No. Im afraid the only thing that could possibly turn things around will be a war with Columbia. Like Kap has been saying for eons, body bags. Its the only way. It will take a Vietnam like protest from the American people to end this horror, but we will need to see the body bags first, and alot of TV horror. Its the American way. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by FoM on July 02, 2000 at 14:26:44 PT Good Positive Convention Hi kapt and dddd,I am also watching the Libertarian Convention and it has been very good. I really like what they are saying. I am not a part of any party and it's best because of doing news like I do that I keep myself away from forming an opinion at least at this time. I hope this evening we get to see Richard Cowan nominate Steve Kubby. I have a tape in the VCR to start if that happens. I also hope they show Ann McCormick read the tribute to Peter. I have never watched politically related tv like I have this day and yesteday since the assassination of Kennedy! Peace, FoM! [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by kaptinemo on July 02, 2000 at 14:05:03 PT: The price of complacency God knows how many have died, both user, cop, and innocent bystander, courtesy of the DrugWar. We *do* know that there are at least 1 Million non-violent 'drug offenders' in prison. Hundreds of thousands have had their lives threatened in drug raids, their civil liberties violated, their careers ruined (I know about that part from personal experience) their possessions stolen from them and then sold for a pittence, they have endured much suffering and tragedy.And all for nothing. The hard stuff just keeps rolling in. And the DrugWarriors just keep on busting down doors and pointing guns at harmless toker's heads.But we are partly to blame for this.That's right. Because many of us (myself included) thought that it was inevitable back in the 70's that MJ would be legal 'soon', so we didn't follow through. We were content to let 'someone else' do the drudgery of politics, while we sat back and rolled a few. And what did our complacency buy us? A 'drug policy' dictated by modern-day Savanarolas who'd happily put to the stake anyone caught with a joint. (This is not an exaggeration; we've already heard the leading mouthpieces of this particular policy such as Bennett and Gates calling for public executions. Straight from the horse's mouth.) So, what to do? At the time of this writing, I am watching C-Span. They are broadcasting live the Libertarian Convention in California, home of the (supposed) MMJ law... and home of the murderers of Peter McWilliams. The Libertarian Party has *always* stood for a dismantling of the DrugWar and freeing its' POWs. Just think what might go through the heads of the aformentioned politically sanctioned assassins if they thought the Libs might get a sizable turnout in the elections. Even a good showing would give these smug, murdering little b*****ds some pause. And the pols would take notice. Oh, indeed they would.It could happen. But not without you. If you expect the Dems and the Reps to call for a moratorium on their precious little DrugWar, you ought to lay off the weed for a while. They've just voted to send a Billion of our hard earned bucks - stolen from us partly through forfeiture, partly through extortion via taxation - to Colombia. They aren't listening. Libs or Greens, they are the only ones talking our language. And if we sit on our duffs and do nothing this time, then we'll *deserve* what we get. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by dddd on July 02, 2000 at 13:15:00 PT Yet another excellent article....dddd [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: