A district court judge yesterday reversed her week-old decision to allow an AIDS and cancer patient facing marijuana charges to present evidence that he uses the drug as part of his medical treatment.
The case involves Peter McWilliams, a best-selling author and former Detroit resident who is facing criminal charges for possession of seven marijuana cigarettes. McWilliams, who now lives in California, uses marijuana medicinally to alleviate the side effects of the AIDS wasting syndrome and cancer chemotherapy. He was arrested December 17, 1996, at Detroit Metropolitan Airport after telling officers that he was carrying marijuana legally acquired in California.
William’s attorney, NORML’s Legal Committee member Richard Lustig, expressed extreme surprise at the judge’s reversal. “Judge [Tina] Green’s initial decision was brave a correct,” Lustig said. “Thousands of patients rely on medical marijuana to relieve their pain and to ease their nausea and other side effects caused by medical treatment.”
Judge Green said she reversed her position after concluding that McWilliams would not suffer bodily harm if he stopped using marijuana as part of his medical treatment. McWilliams contests that assertion.
“Without medical marijuana, I can’t keep down the drugs that are keeping me alive,” McWilliams said. “Judge Green’s original decision may not be considered politically correct by some, but it was definitely the medically correct decision to make.”
Lustig said he will immediately file an appeal with the Wayne County Circuit Court.
For more information, please contact either R. Keith Stroup, Esq. of NORML at (202) 483-5500 or NORML Legal Committee member Richard Lustig at (810) 258-1600.