MarijuanaNews.com : The Murder of Steve McWilliams – An Indictment, Not An Obituary. The Absurdity of Evil. Condolences from NORML.

Posted July 12, 2005
Analysis by Richard Cowan
See

The Murder of Peter McWilliams — An Indictment, Not an Obituary – by Richard
Cowan
and, there are many others, see

Todd, Steve and Mike; And Why I Do What I Do.

San Diego medical marijuana
activist and patient, Steve McWilliams is dead.
Technically it was suicide, but when a person is driven to take his own life, it
is the worst form of murder. And it is not just the federal government. The San
Diego Union Tribune is a hate-rag.
See

Federal Prosecution of Activist Steve McWilliams For Just 25 Plants Relevant to
American Refugees In Canada. Being Outspoken Is The Real Crime. Being Deprived
Of Medication Is The Real Punishment.
and

The San Diego Union-Tribune Poisons Its Readers. The Albany Times Union Offers
An Antidote.

As David Bronner reports (below), Barbara MacKenzie,
Steve’s partner, called to say that Steve committed suicide by overdose late
last night/early morning. Steve had been depressed and in terrible pain, and
been hospitalized last week. Steve’s depression was apparently a combination of
dread of going to jail in light of Raich and his deteriorating health. He
had had to take powerful pharmaceutical opiates, anti-nausea, anti-migraine,
etc. drugs in far higher amounts than when he was able to medicate with
marijuana, and evidently was what he used to overdose.

(MarijuanaNews note: David
Bronner of

Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps,
has been helping McWilliams.)
See

Canadian Farmers May Be Big Winners As DEA Finally Gives Up On Banning Hemp
Foods. Long-term Planning Now Possible.

There are layers of absurdity
in this story.

First, Steve killed himself
with an overdose of prescription drugs, because he had been convicted of having
one of the few “drugs” which has no lethal dose. (”One of the safest
therapeutically active substances known….” Drug Enforcement Administration
Administrative Law Judge, Francis Young, 1988)
See

No, Cannabis Will Not Be “The 21st Century Aspirin” – Because It Doesn’t Kill
Anyone! People Suffer And Die, While “Scientists” Try To Pharmaceuticalize The
Aspirin Of the 21st Century B.C.

Second, George Bush does not
think that people like Steve McWilliams should be helped to commit suicide,
because this Administration claims to be “pro-life” – but like its predecessor,
it really just wants to keep its monopoly on murder.
See

Marijuana Can’t Kill, So Reno Okays Assisted Suicide Law; Overrules DEA, Which
Claims Exclusive Right To Kill Us

Hannah Arendt used the phrase
“The Banality of Evil” – to describe the management of the holocaust. Killing
millions of people on an industrial scale was a logistical problem.

In the post industrial age,
we do things differently. We outsource our mass murder, one victim at a time,
and we call it “modern medicine.” It is neither. It is still just human
sacrifice, and this is the absurdity of evil.

The suppression of medical cannabis is mass murder, one
victim at a time.
See

Scottish MS Patient Says She Will Kill Herself When Trial Is Over. But GW
Pharmaceutical’s Research Proves That Her Death Will Really Be Murder. The Need
for A Patients’ Rights Organization.
and

Judicial Murder: Quadriplegic Dies In DC Jail. Compassionate Conservatism At
Work? Michigan MS Patient May Get Mercy, If It Does Not Threaten Drug War. Three
Stories. Infinite Insanity.
and

World AIDS Day: More Proof That the Suppression Of Medical Cannabis – Indeed
Cannabis Prohibition Itself – Is Mass Murder. Analysis by Richard Cowan
and

Lies Have Consequences. From Prohibitionist Venom to the Harsh Realities of Life
and Death for Patients. Swedish Prohibitionists, Canadian Bureaucracy and
DEAland Medical Murder.

(MarijuanaNews note: NORML
expresses its condolences and thanks for David Bronner.)

From Allen St. Pierre:

I’m heartened to know that David Bronner is involved
helping Barbara, et al.

Again, I’m sorry that we lost yet another fellow citizen
driven to martyrdom by OUR own government.

I’m so disgusted and saddened at this moment I can
hardly relate it to you.

-Allen
NORML

From: Keith Stroup
July 12, 2005
To: Barbara MacKenzie

stiritup@cannabis.sdcoxmail.com , “Shelter Friends”

Barbara:

Please accept our sincere condolences for the loss of
your partner, and our friend, Steve McWilliams. All of us at NORML are
devastated by this news, and we share your sense of loss.

Steve was a lovely, gentle man whom I greatly admired,
and whose friendship I valued. May he rest in peace, and may his commitment to
social justice serve as an example to us all.

You are in our thoughts.

Keith Stroup
Of counsel, NORML

keith@norml.org

From: Dale Gieringer
July 12, 2005

Cal NORML is sad to report that San Diego medical
cannabis patient activist Steve McWilliams has taken his life. McWilliams, who
had been fighting federal charges for growing a modest home garden for the
Shelter from the Storm Collective, was depressed over the Supreme Court decision
and in terrible pain, having been denied access to medical marijuana since his
arrest in 2002. Steve was a courageous fighter for the cause and will be sorely missed.

Our deepest sympathies to his partner, Barbara MacKenzie.

- Dale Gieringer, Cal NORML

canorml@igc.org

David Bronner Reports:

Barbara MacKenzie, Steve’s partner, called to say that
Steve committed suicide by overdose late last night/early morning. Steve had
been depressed and in terrible pain, and been hospitalized last week. Steve’s
depression was apparently a combination of dread of going to jail in light of
Raich and his deteriorating health. He had had to take
powerful pharmaceutical opiates, anti-nausea, anti-migraine, etc. drugs in far
higher amounts than when he was able to medicate with marijuana, and evidently
was what he used to overdose.

Steve was an incredibly kind, compassionate, intelligent
and wise man, as well as a balls to the wall activist. He inspired me and many
others, and will be dearly missed. I was proud to know him and be his friend.

Steve will be cremated and flown back to his family in
Colorado, but I’ll be helping Barbara with a memorial service here for the
medical marijuana community. I’ll be at the protest tomorrow at noon (San Diego
Police Dept. Headquarters, 1401 Broadway).

Please forward this note as appropriate.

David Bronner