Best selling author and medical marijuana user Peter McWilliams will likely post $250,000 bail tonight after serving nearly one month in jail on allegations that he conspired to cultivate marijuana for medical purposes.
McWilliams, who was diagnosed with AIDS and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in March 1996, uses marijuana to combat the nausea caused by his life-saving medical treatments. Police arrested McWilliams and eight others on July 23 and charged him with conspiracy to cultivate marijuana. He entered a formal plea of not guilty to the charges.
“I am a vocal and occasionally effective proponent of medical marijuana and that is why I am in jail,” said McWilliams, who was featured in May on the ABC News special “Sex, Drugs, and Consenting Adults.” “I use marijuana to treat the nausea caused by my AIDS medications. If I do not keep the medications down, I will not live. Medical marijuana, for me, is a matter of life and death.”
NORML Executive Director R. Keith Stroup, Esq. criticized the federal campaign against McWilliams and called his bail excessive. “This case is an example of the worst abuses of the drug war,” he said. “It is unconscionable to treat sick and dying medical marijuana patients like criminals.”
The arrest of McWilliams proves the federal government is “fanatically determined to wage its ‘war on drugs’ — even if it means putting sick and dying people in jail,” Libertarian Party National Director Ron Crickenberger said. “Peter McWilliams is the latest victim of the federal government’s campaign to arrest and discredit advocates of medical marijuana.”
McWilliams is a #1 best-selling author whose 30+ books include “How to Survive the Loss of a Love” and “Ain’t Nobody’s Business If You Do,” a stinging criticism of victimless crimes. He is also owner of Prelude Press, a West Hollywood publishing house.
For more information, please contact either Keith Stroup of NORML @ (202) 483-5500 or attorney Tanya Kangas of The NORML Foundation @ (202) 483-8751. Additional updates are available online from Marijuananews.com.
