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 Peter
McWilliams was a #1 bestselling author and outspoken critic of the
War on Drugs. He died at age 50 after a federal judge prohibited him
from using medical marijuana.
McWilliams was found dead in the bathroom of his Los Angeles home
on June 14, 2000. He had choked on his vomit -- a grimly ironic coda
to his three-year battle against the federal government over his right
to use marijuana to stay alive.
McWilliams, who suffered from AIDS and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, had
used marijuana to suppress the nausea that was a common side-effect
to the potent medications he took to treat those diseases. The marijuana
was legal, thanks to California's Proposition 215, which passed in
1996 and allowed the use of marijuana for treatment of illness.
However, in late 1997, McWilliams was arrested by federal drug agents
and charged with conspiracy to grow and sell marijuana. At the time,
McWilliams said he was innocent of any criminal intent. "I have
never sold a drug in my life. I have never asked or authorized anyone
to sell a drug," he said. "I use marijuana to treat the
nausea caused by AIDS medications. Medical marijuana, for me, is a
matter of life and death."
When his case went to trial, a federal judge ruled that McWilliams
could not mention his illnesses -- or introduce as evidence any of
the documented benefits of medical marijuana. In response, McWilliams
pled guilty to avoid a 10-year mandatory-minimum prison sentence.
"We had no place else to go," said McWilliams at the time.
"We couldn't present our medical marijuana defense, so we would
be automatically found guilty, taken into custody on the spot, and
begin serving a mandatory 10-year sentence. By pleading guilty, we
take the crime out of the mandatory-minimum category and permit the
judge to use compassion in his sentencing."
While out on bail awaiting sentencing, McWilliams was prohibited from
using medical marijuana -- and being denied access to the drug's anti-nausea
properties almost certainly caused his death.
On June 9, 2000, McWilliams had appeared on the "Give Me A Break!"
segment of ABC Television's 20/20, where host John Stossel
noted, "[McWilliams] is out of prison on the condition that he
not smoke marijuana, but it was the marijuana that kept him from vomiting
up his medication. I can understand that the federal drug police don't
agree with what some states have decided to do about medical marijuana,
but does that give them the right to just end run those laws and lock
people up? Give me a break! [It] seems this War on Drugs often does
more harm than the drugs themselves."
Five days later, McWilliams was dead.
The owner of Prelude Press, McWilliams was a multi-million-copy-selling
author of Come Love With Me & Be My Life, a book of poetry
(1967), Surviving the Loss of a Love (1971), The Personal
Computer Book (1984), LIFE 101: Everything We Wish We Had
Learned About Life In School — But Didn't (1990), DO
IT! Let's Get Off Our Buts, #1 New York Times hardcover
bestseller (1991), Portraits, an anthology of his photographic
work (1992), and How to Heal Depression, with Harold Bloomfield,
M.D. (1994). Many of his books are available for free on his Web
site.
McWilliams also wrote what is widely considered to be the definitive
book against "consensual" crimes, Ain't Nobody's Business
If You Do. First published in 1993, it was called "highly
readable" by Hugh Downs of ABC News and praised by such diverse
reviewers as Sting, Larry King, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Milton
Friedman.
Over the years, McWilliams appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show,
Larry King (both radio and television), Donahue, Sally Jessy
Raphael, and the Regis Philbin Show.
McWilliams joined the Libertarian Party in 1998 following a nationally
televised speech at the Libertarian National Convention in Washington,
DC. In a speech tinged with his trademark outrageous humor, McWilliams
told the crowd, "I'm a gay libertarian. I'm one of those laissez
fairies."
Adapted from an article by Bill Winter in LP News (July
2000).
* * *
Quotable
"I
am tired of people thinking that libertarians don't have morality,
that they don't have values. That's a lot of hogwash. Libertarians
are the only politicians with moral values. [Libertarians say:] 'I
won't physically harm your person or your property without your consent.
Therefore, I am a moral person.' And for those who choose to
go above and beyond that, who choose to work for change, to make the
government more moral, more accountable...who look at what is and
say there is great harm being done and we must stop it -- these are
my heroes, my friends, my compatriots."-- Peter McWilliams
at the Libertarian National Convention, Washington, DC (July 4, 1998)
"The political party that supports this concept [of eliminating
laws against consensual activities] — in fact, seems to be based
on it — is the Libertarian Party." -- Peter McWilliams
in Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do (1996)
* * *
Libertarians
Remember Peter McWilliams
"Peter
McWilliams would not be dead today if not for the heartless, lethal
War on Drugs. The federal government killed Peter McWilliams by denying
him the medical marijuana he needed to stay alive as surely as if
its drug warriors had put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger."
-- Steve Dasbach, Libertarian Party National Director
"Peter never wanted to be a martyr. But he wanted to live in
a free country, where people respected each other's rights and choices,
and he did what he thought was best to keep himself alive and to advance
the cause of liberty. He was one of the most joyous people I've ever
known, a hero in every sense of the word." -- R.W. Bradford,
Editor, Liberty magazine
"Peter McWilliams was more than an author and activist for libertarian
causes. He was a teacher from whom we can learn to be better salesmen
of liberty -- and even better people. Peter was a wonderful example
-- not just of tolerance, but of effectiveness. He taught us that
the battle for a free, libertarian America is too important to indulge
ourselves by being venomous, snide, patronizing, or violent toward
our opponents. We must keep our heads, be patient, and help Americans
understand how the government and the Drug War are hurting them."
-- Harry Browne, 1996 & 2000 Libertarian Party
presidential candidate
"Peter was a wry, mythogenic guy, humorous, articulate, shrewd,
sassy. Imagine such a spirit ending its life at 50 because they wouldn't
let him have a toke [of medical marijuana]. We have to console ourselves
with the comment of the two prosecutors. They said they were "saddened"
by Peter McWilliams' death. Many of us are -- by his death and the
causes of it." -- Columnist William F. Buckley, Jr.
"Peter McWilliams was a true hero who fought and ultimately gave
his life for what he believed in: The right to heal oneself without
government interference. His loss opens a gaping hole in the fabric
of liberty, but his memory will live on not only in the hearts of
grateful Libertarians, but also in the lives of the countless patients
who will take up the crusade for health freedom." -- Mark
Hinkle, State Chair, California Libertarian Party
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