Pot times July 15, 2005
Steven McWilliams; Activist for Medical Pot
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n1114/a06.htmlNewshawk: Dale Gieringer
Webpage: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/obituaries/20050713-9999-1m13mcwill.html STEVEN MCWILLIAMS; ACTIVIST FOR MEDICAL POT
Pubdate: Wed, 13 Jul 2005
Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
Copyright: 2005 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Contact:
letters@uniontrib.com
Website: http://www.uniontrib.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/386
Author: Michael Stetz, San Diego Union-Tribune Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Steven+McWilliams
Friends say Steven McWilliams was tired. He was in pain. And he was
scared of possible jail time.
The combination may be the reason the medical marijuana activist took his life
Monday, they say.
He was 51.
"His health was deteriorating," said longtime friend David Bronner.
"And he was experiencing some lows. He was in pain, a lot of
pain."
Still, his death surprised Bonner and others who knew Mr. McWilliams.
He was a fighter, they said, who was bold enough to smoke marijuana on the steps
of San Diego City Hall to call attention to its medicinal benefits he so
strongly believed in.
For years, he championed that use - a cause that got him in trouble with the
law.
Folks such as Mr. McWilliams were caught in the middle between a 1996
voter-approved state referendum that allowed the medicinal use of marijuana and
federal drug enforcers, who have arrested people for growing it, regardless of
how it's used. Federal law prohibits the drug from being cultivated.
"I think it's really, really sad," said San Diego City Councilwoman
Toni Atkins, of Mr. McWilliams' death. He lived in Normal Heights,
in her council district, where in 2000 he ran for council against Atkins and
three others. Atkins won.
When he ran for council, Mr. McWilliams listed former cowboy as his career
and that he had attended Western State College in Colorado and the University of
Colorado.
Atkins once described him as a "hero" for his medical marijuana
efforts.
"Steve was a really compassionate guy who worked hard for people who were
very sick. I never doubted his sincerity."
Mr. McWilliams was arrested at least four times, the latest in 2002, when
he was charged with two felonies and faced 40 years in federal prison.
Federal law enforcement officers confiscated 25 plants he was growing in his
front yard.
He ultimately pleaded guilty to a single felony charge and received a six-month
sentence. He was appealing that.
Over the years, he did anything but shy from the controversy of medical
marijuana use. He taught those who were seriously ill how to grow the drug
to help ease their pain. He also helped San Diego draft guidelines to
allow seriously ill people to grow marijuana within city limits.
San Diego was the largest city in the nation to draft such a guideline.
The controversy over medical marijuana escalated in June, when the U.S.
Supreme Court ruled that the federal government can prosecute seriously ill
people who use the drug. California is one of 10 states that allow the
chronically ill to use marijuana.
Mr. McWilliams suffered a number of ailments after several car accidents
and used marijuana for pain relief - until his most recent conviction, when the
judge ruled that he must abstain.
Friends say he relied on other pain-relieving drugs, but they caused negative
side effects.
"I didn't realize how much pain he was in," said friend Dale
Gieringer, coordinator for the California chapter of the National Organization
for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.
It's tragic, he said, that he was not allowed to use the one drug that eased his
pain.
"He was a principled freedom fighter."
Information on survivors and services was not available.
