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Peter McWilliams, R.I.P.
by J.D. Tuccille, June 15, 2000
While details are sketchy at this point, Peter McWilliams, the best-selling libertarian author and crusading medical marijuana activist, is dead.
The author of popular self-help and personal growth books, as well as collections of poetry and photography, the 50-year-old McWilliams was best-known in pro-freedom circles for his 1993 book, "Ain't Nobody's Business if You Do: The Absurdity of Consensual Crimes in Our Free Country." Packed with pithy quotes and humor, that book escaped the usual political writer's attachment to pontification. Instead, it presented well-organized common-sense arguments in favor of living and letting live, and won praise for its easy readability.
In recent years, as he began to suffer the effects of AIDS, McWilliams put his beliefs into practice with activism on behalf of marijuana legalization for medical purposes. He himself used marijuana to suppress nausea so that he could hold down his prescription medication.
Despite the adoption by California voters of Prop. 215, which legalized the use of marijuana for the treatment of illness, McWilliams ran afoul of the authorities. As a prominent marijuana advocate with his own publishing company, he made a tempting target for federal officials who refused to recognize the California measure.
On December 17, 1997, federal drug and tax agents raided McWilliams' home and offices, confiscating manuscripts and equipment and effectively shutting down his publishing business. The ostensible reason for the raid was a book advance paid to Todd McCormick, an author and fellow marijuana activist who rented a home where he wrote and grew marijuana with the money. This was to be the beginning of a legal and emotional gauntlet that ended only with McWilliams' own life.
As his battle with federal authorities dragged on, McWilliams' home life and health deteriorated. Barred from using Prop. 215 or evidence of the value of medical marijuana as defenses in a federal courtroom, he was forced to plead guilty and throw himself on the mercy of the court.
After his guilty plea, awaiting sentencing and forbidden to use marijuana, and tested to enforce compliance, McWilliams was unable to hold down his AIDS medication. As a result, his viral count soared and he spent long hours in bed, fighting nausea. Unable to work, he defaulted on bankruptcy payments and recently lost his home.
Despite his tribulations, until the end, Peter McWilliams remained an important and popular booster of the medical marijuana movement. He was profiled on a recent edition of ABC's 20/20 news magazine where, despite his illness, he appeared to have retained a good measure of his humor.
At the time of his death, Peter McWilliams was soliciting public pleas in favor of a light sentence, which was scheduled to be passed down by Judge George H. King on August 15. It is unknown whether federal authorities will now be willing to let the matter rest.
Along with McWilliams' other books, the full text of "Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do" is available on the Internet for free browsing (http://www.mcwilliams.com/books/books/aint/).
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In December 2004 this page was modified significantly from its original form for archiving purposes.
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