A Third Party Victory is Inevitable
By: Andrew Looney (pictured, right)
Part 2: I'm Outraged!
I used to think we were doing the right thing, fighting this war against drugs. But
during the course of the last 10 years, I have developed doubts, followed by concerns,
and finally, objections. But now I'm angry. The prosecution of the sick and dying
in states with legalized medical marijuana, the government's overall disregard for
the will of those states' voters, and in particular, the death of Peter McWilliams,
have all made me madder than ever about this horrible and destructive policy. I'm
outraged!
The Murder of Peter McWilliams
In what has got to be one of the most ironic tragedies of all time, Peter McWilliams,
the man who literally wrote the book on the absurdity of consensual crimes in a free
society, is dead. He was a victim of the criminal "justice" system that enforces
the very laws he so eloquently spoke out against, and his death stands as absolute
proof that the suppression of medical marijuana is killing the seriously ill patients
for whom no other treatments are effective.
And since this happened in a state where medical marijuana is supposed to be legal,
I put the blame for his death squarely at the feet of President Clinton (*and* Al
Gore), since this administration has done everything in its power (and many things
beyond it) to over-ride and over-rule the will of the voters on this matter. How
many more must die before we adopt a rational and humane marijuana policy?
Peter McWilliams had Cancer and AIDS. An assortment of drugs, mostly legal prescription
drugs, were keeping him alive... but they made him terribly nauseous, and constant
vomiting makes it difficult to keep those pills down, to say nothing of food in general.
Peter suffered therefore from AIDS wasting syndrome in addition to everything else,
and might have died long ago if it weren't for pot.
Fortunately, since smoked marijuana is a drug you don't have to swallow, it singularly
alleviated his nausea, allowing him to eat as well as keep down those other drugs
that kept the AIDS and cancer at bay. He gained back the weight and became remarkably
healthy for a man with cancer and AIDS.
And then he got arrested, for growing plants (or more accurately, for being part
of a conspiracy to grow plants).
He went through a farce of a trial, in which the judge refused to allow him to testify
about his medical need for marijuana, and when he died was about to receive an undoubtedly
harsh jail sentence (like his co-conspirator and fellow cancer sufferer Todd McCormick
did -- he's in prison now, and for the next 5 years).
And all of this happened in California, a state where medical use for cases like
these was approved in a popular vote four years ago, by a wider margin than the election
of Bill Clinton.
But here's real the kicker: It wasn't the AIDS or the cancer that got him. It was
the vomiting. Having been effectively compelled not to smoke pot by harsh threats
and daily urine testing, he had nothing to quell his intense nausea.
His health immediately began to fail again, and one day he was found dead on the
bathroom floor, having choked to death on his own vomit. (What a horrible way to
die.) Marijuana itself may not be causing any deaths, but the war on marijuana certainly
is.
The whole thing just leaves me absolutely outraged. Peter wrote many great books,
including Life 101, Love 101, How to Survive the Loss of a Love, and other self-help
books that have made a real difference in the lives of thousands of people.
He accepted a plea bargain because he didn't want to die. He still had more to give
the world. "I don't want to be a martyr for this movement," he said, "it already
has enough martyrs." But he died a martyr nonetheless, and the world is a poorer
place without him. (The text of all of his books, including Ain't Nobody's Business
if You Do and the medical marijuana writings he was working on when he died, are
all available for you to read online, for free.)
Peter McWilliams was just one person, but he represents millions of others who are
continually having their lives interfered with, utterly ruined, and even taken from
them completely, all for the shameful suppression of one of nature's most useful
and easily renewable natural resources.
