Peter McWilliams
Encyclopedia
Peter Alexander McWilliams (August 5, 1949 – June 14, 2000) was a writer and self-publisher of best-selling self-help books. He was an advocate for those suffering from depression. And, in his later years, he was a cannabis activist. Terminally ill with AIDS and cancer, he became a vocal campaigner for the legalization of medical cannabis
. Though medical marijuana was legal under California state law, he was investigated by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration
and convicted of violating marijuana laws.
. After attending Eastern Michigan University
, he read widely and was a fan of Paul Krassner
's periodical The Realist
and Albert Ellis' rational emotive therapy
. After experimenting with yoga
and LSD
he also did group therapy
with Melba Colgrove, Ph.D.
McWilliams studied with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
and attended Maharishi International University. He wrote The TM Book in 1975 with Denise Denniston, which was at the top of the New York Times bestseller list for three weeks. He later wrote TM with Harold H. Bloomfield, M.D. The two also co-wrote How to Heal Depression. McWilliams was next active in Erhard Seminars Training
with Werner Erhard
, whom he greatly admired, and also Stuart Emory's "Actualizations" LGAT before meeting John-Roger Hinkins in the fall of 1978 and its "Insights" program.
McWilliams wrote, directed and produced a campy parody titled, The Greatest Story Overtold
(1974), using the pseudonym Peter Alexander. He wrote nearly 40 books that he self-published
under the names Versemonger Press and Prelude Press, including Surviving the Loss of a Love (1971), The Personal Computer Book (1982), The Word Processing Book (1982), Life 101: Everything We Wish We Had Learned About Life in School but Didn't (1990), and Ain't Nobody's Business if You Do: The Absurdity of Consensual Crimes in Our Free Society
(1993). Many of these were liberally sprinkled with selected quotations to illuminate, often humorously, the points he made.
Life 101 and a few subsequent books were also credited to John-Roger (Roger Delano Hinkins), the leader of the Church of the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness
and McWilliams's spiritual advisor during that time. McWilliams later repudiated the movement, claiming to be the sole author of the books, which clearly are written in his style.
All the books for which he holds copyright
are available for reading at no charge at his web site. A notable exception is Life 102: What to Do When Your Guru Sues You
. McWilliams agreed to abandon the copyright to John-Roger to settle libel litigation over the contents of the book, and later asked that the book be removed from circulation in a notarized letter http://www.life102.com/life102.pdf, stating "the content of the book is no longer one with which I would like to have my name associated".http://www.life102.com/
McWilliams was a budding photographer and a collection of his own photographs were published in October 1992. In the collection of photographs McWilliams is pictured with the family he writes about in Life 101. McWilliams photographs documents the Bohn families trip to "The Field of Dreams" in Dyersville Iowa in 1990.
was approved by the voters that allowed terminally ill patients to use medical marijuana. The same year, Peter McWilliams was diagnosed with both cancer
and AIDS
and was among the roughly forty percent of terminally ill patients who experience extreme nausea as a side effect of medications used to treat such diseases. Advocates of medical marijuana (and many medical researchers) believe that the drug is an antiemetic
, which eliminates the nausea associated with cancer and AIDS medications, thus allowing the medications to work effectively and enabling the patient to maintain their appetite and diet.
McWilliams became a strong supporter of medical marijuana and published Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do
as a critic of victimless crime or consensual crime laws (to wit, as the premise of the book states, "any act which is a crime, which does not physically harm the person or property of another"; a stance shared by historical political philosopher John Stuart Mill
), including the laws against marijuana. The book made him a hero among civil libertarians and critics of American drug prohibition. (The book's title is taken from the blues standard
"Ain't Nobody's Business
".)
McWilliams spoke before the Libertarian Party
National Convention in 1998 where he came out as a gay
man who was diagnosed with both cancer
and AIDS
and thus had a personal stake in the California
law legalizing marijuana
for medical reasons.
Along with the book Ain't, McWilliams was a vocal activist for medical marijuana and was helping Todd McCormick (who suffered from cancer since childhood) write a book titled How To Grow Medical Marijuana. Both men became the subject of a Federal Drug Enforcement Administration
investigation; their homes were searched and research was seized to gather evidence towards charging both men with violating federal drug laws.
McWilliams claimed he was specifically targeted for arrest and prosecution because he was such an articulate and effective opponent of drug prohibition, as both Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputies and DEA
agents told him they frequently found copies of Ain't Nobody's Business... in the homes of those they arrested for marijuana possession. http://www.petermcwilliams.org/mirrors/www.petertrial.com/affidavit_of_peter_mcwilliams.htm http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~wbova/fn/earth/2000_6_03.htm
McWilliams and McCormick were arrested and charged with violating federal drug laws concerning marijuana. The financial support that McWilliams gave to McCormick was used as evidence that he was a drug kingpin. At his trial, the judge ruled that McWilliams was not allowed to mention in court that he was terminally ill, that using medical marijuana was (in his opinion) keeping him alive, or that his usage of medical marijuana was legal under California state law. Even as he vomited repeatedly during court proceedings, McWilliams was, under such legal conditions, not allowed to explain his condition or its connection to the charges against him.
As a creative outlet and way to reach supporters during his trial, McWilliam's began to blog the current events of his life on his website petertrial.com. In his humorous, informative style, he shared his thoughts with the world, about his trial, medical condition and medical marijuana's effect on his life.
Due to the gag restrictions, he was forced to plead guilty and hope that the judge would show leniency. Through his website, McWilliams asked supporters to send e-mails and letters to the presiding judge in an effort to allow McWilliams to serve his sentence under house arrest, where he could continue writing and have access to medical care. During this time, McWilliams continued writing articles highly critical of the laws against marijuana, including an open letter (published in Liberty
magazine) to Microsoft
founder and CEO Bill Gates
which called on him to join the Libertarian Party
.
ABC News reporter John Stossel
had been a supporter of McWilliams' plight and had produced a Give Me A Break segment on Peter McWilliams a few days before McWilliams died in 2000. http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n790/a05.html
and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma at the time of his death, but did not explicitly state that either disease directly caused his death. His mother's house had been used to collateralize the bond on which he was allowed to remain free pending sentencing, a condition of which was that he refrain from using cannabis. For fear of losing his mother's house, he did so, again forgoing the medication needed to control his symptoms. He had access to Marinol, but it was effective for him only one-third of the time. William F. Buckley Jr., a friend and an admirer, wrote a public letter expressing his grave concern that such a man should be made to die from excess vomiting under such uninformed conceptions of law (see below). http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n849/a10.html
Richard Cowan and many critics of the U. S. drug policies have described his death as murder
by the U. S. government, insofar as they denied him the use of the medical marijuana which might have prevented his death. At least one account suggests that he choked on his own vomit because of the nausea http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/timtimes/2008/11/an-end-to-the-illegal-smile.php and William F. Buckley
stated that he was vomiting when he died. Others (including McWilliams himself, in Ain't) suggest those involved in such tragedies as his are otherwise good people whose dedication to the law had allowed them to be used for the purpose of enforcing unnecessarily cruel, unnecessarily expensive, and simply unnecessary laws, for the purpose of enforcing a morality that is in the interests of satisfying the moral offense of a segment of the American population, rather than satisfying the legitimate interests of America or Americans.
In October 2001, John Stossel reported again on McWilliams's story. The segment, entitled Sex, Drugs and Consenting Adults, included footage of the late author and was highly critical of victimless crime laws.
Medical cannabis
Medical cannabis refers to the use of parts of the herb cannabis as a physician-recommended form of medicine or herbal therapy, or to synthetic forms of specific cannabinoids such as THC as a physician-recommended form of medicine...
. Though medical marijuana was legal under California state law, he was investigated by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration
Drug Enforcement Administration
The Drug Enforcement Administration is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Justice, tasked with combating drug smuggling and use within the United States...
and convicted of violating marijuana laws.
Early writings
McWilliams was born to a Roman Catholic family and raised outside of Detroit in Allen Park, MichiganMichigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
. After attending Eastern Michigan University
Eastern Michigan University
Eastern Michigan University is a comprehensive, co-educational public university located in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Ypsilanti is west of Detroit and eight miles east of Ann Arbor. The university was founded in 1849 as Michigan State Normal School...
, he read widely and was a fan of Paul Krassner
Paul Krassner
Paul Krassner is an author, journalist, stand-up comedian, and the founder, editor and a frequent contributor to the freethought magazine The Realist, first published in 1958...
's periodical The Realist
The Realist
The Realist was a pioneering magazine of "social-political-religious criticism and satire," intended as a hybrid of a grown-ups version of Mad and Lyle Stuart's anti-censorship monthly The Independent. Edited and published by Paul Krassner, and often regarded as a milestone in the American...
and Albert Ellis' rational emotive therapy
Rational emotive behavior therapy
Rational emotive behavior therapy , previously called rational therapy and rational emotive therapy, is a comprehensive, active-directive, philosophically and empirically based psychotherapy which focuses on resolving emotional and behavioral problems and disturbances and enabling people to lead...
. After experimenting with yoga
Yoga
Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, originating in ancient India. The goal of yoga, or of the person practicing yoga, is the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility while meditating on Supersoul...
and LSD
LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated LSD or LSD-25, also known as lysergide and colloquially as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family, well known for its psychological effects which can include altered thinking processes, closed and open eye visuals, synaesthesia, an...
he also did group therapy
Group therapy
Group psychotherapy or group therapy is a form of psychotherapy in which one or more therapists treat a small group of clients together as a group...
with Melba Colgrove, Ph.D.
McWilliams studied with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi , born Mahesh Prasad Varma , developed the Transcendental Meditation technique and was the leader and guru of the TM movement, characterised as a new religious movement and also as non-religious...
and attended Maharishi International University. He wrote The TM Book in 1975 with Denise Denniston, which was at the top of the New York Times bestseller list for three weeks. He later wrote TM with Harold H. Bloomfield, M.D. The two also co-wrote How to Heal Depression. McWilliams was next active in Erhard Seminars Training
Erhard Seminars Training
Erhard Seminars Training, an organization founded by Werner H. Erhard, offered a two-weekend course known officially as "The est Standard Training"...
with Werner Erhard
Werner Erhard
Werner Hans Erhard is an author of transformational models and applications for individuals, groups, and organizations...
, whom he greatly admired, and also Stuart Emory's "Actualizations" LGAT before meeting John-Roger Hinkins in the fall of 1978 and its "Insights" program.
McWilliams wrote, directed and produced a campy parody titled, The Greatest Story Overtold
The Thorn
The Thorn is a comic, religious satire movie released on 1974 May 24 as The Divine Mr. J. It was first shown as The Greatest Story Overtold at the Detroit Institute of Art in 1971. It was released on video in the early 1980s as The Thorn. It was written, directed and produced by Peter Alexander...
(1974), using the pseudonym Peter Alexander. He wrote nearly 40 books that he self-published
Self-publishing
Self-publishing is the publication of any book or other media by the author of the work, without the involvement of an established third-party publisher. The author is responsible and in control of entire process including design , formats, price, distribution, marketing & PR...
under the names Versemonger Press and Prelude Press, including Surviving the Loss of a Love (1971), The Personal Computer Book (1982), The Word Processing Book (1982), Life 101: Everything We Wish We Had Learned About Life in School but Didn't (1990), and Ain't Nobody's Business if You Do: The Absurdity of Consensual Crimes in Our Free Society
Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do
Ain't Nobody's Business if You Do: The Absurdity of Consensual Crimes in Our Free Country is a book by Peter McWilliams in which he presents the history of legislation against what he feels are victimless crimes, or crimes that are committed consensually, as well as arguments for their...
(1993). Many of these were liberally sprinkled with selected quotations to illuminate, often humorously, the points he made.
Life 101 and a few subsequent books were also credited to John-Roger (Roger Delano Hinkins), the leader of the Church of the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness
Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness
The Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness is a 501 non-profit religious corporation, incorporated in California on June 25, 1971. Before incorporation, the group was founded in California in 1968 by John-Roger...
and McWilliams's spiritual advisor during that time. McWilliams later repudiated the movement, claiming to be the sole author of the books, which clearly are written in his style.
All the books for which he holds copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
are available for reading at no charge at his web site. A notable exception is Life 102: What to Do When Your Guru Sues You
Life 102 (book)
Life 102: What to Do When Your Guru Sues You is a controversial book by the best-selling self-help author Peter McWilliams. Couched in the tone of the author's Life 101 manuals, it levels a series of personal allegations against John-Roger , founder of the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness and...
. McWilliams agreed to abandon the copyright to John-Roger to settle libel litigation over the contents of the book, and later asked that the book be removed from circulation in a notarized letter http://www.life102.com/life102.pdf, stating "the content of the book is no longer one with which I would like to have my name associated".http://www.life102.com/
McWilliams was a budding photographer and a collection of his own photographs were published in October 1992. In the collection of photographs McWilliams is pictured with the family he writes about in Life 101. McWilliams photographs documents the Bohn families trip to "The Field of Dreams" in Dyersville Iowa in 1990.
Medical Marijuana
In 1996, California Proposition 215California Proposition 215 (1996)
Proposition 215, or the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, is a California law concerning the use of medical cannabis. It was enacted, on November 5, 1996, by means of the initiative process, and passed with 5,382,915 votes in favor and 4,301,960 against.The proposition was a state-wide voter...
was approved by the voters that allowed terminally ill patients to use medical marijuana. The same year, Peter McWilliams was diagnosed with both cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
and AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
and was among the roughly forty percent of terminally ill patients who experience extreme nausea as a side effect of medications used to treat such diseases. Advocates of medical marijuana (and many medical researchers) believe that the drug is an antiemetic
Antiemetic
An antiemetic is a drug that is effective against vomiting and nausea. Antiemetics are typically used to treat motion sickness and the side effects of opioid analgesics, general anaesthetics, and chemotherapy directed against cancer....
, which eliminates the nausea associated with cancer and AIDS medications, thus allowing the medications to work effectively and enabling the patient to maintain their appetite and diet.
McWilliams became a strong supporter of medical marijuana and published Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do
Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do
Ain't Nobody's Business if You Do: The Absurdity of Consensual Crimes in Our Free Country is a book by Peter McWilliams in which he presents the history of legislation against what he feels are victimless crimes, or crimes that are committed consensually, as well as arguments for their...
as a critic of victimless crime or consensual crime laws (to wit, as the premise of the book states, "any act which is a crime, which does not physically harm the person or property of another"; a stance shared by historical political philosopher John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill was a British philosopher, economist and civil servant. An influential contributor to social theory, political theory, and political economy, his conception of liberty justified the freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state control. He was a proponent of...
), including the laws against marijuana. The book made him a hero among civil libertarians and critics of American drug prohibition. (The book's title is taken from the blues standard
Blues standard
A blues standard is a blues song that is widely known, performed, and recorded by blues artists. The following list identifies blues standards and some of the blues artists that have recorded them...
"Ain't Nobody's Business
Ain't Nobody's Business
"Ain't Nobody's Business" or "Tain't Nobody's Biz-ness if I Do" is an eight-bar vaudeville blues song that became an early blues standard. It was written in the 1920s by pianist Porter Grainger, who had been Bessie Smith's accompanist, and Everett Robbins. The song was first recorded October 19,...
".)
McWilliams spoke before the Libertarian Party
Libertarian Party (United States)
The Libertarian Party is the third largest and fastest growing political party in the United States. The political platform of the Libertarian Party reflects its brand of libertarianism, favoring minimally regulated, laissez-faire markets, strong civil liberties, minimally regulated migration...
National Convention in 1998 where he came out as a gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
man who was diagnosed with both cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
and AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
and thus had a personal stake in the California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
law legalizing marijuana
Cannabis (drug)
Cannabis, also known as marijuana among many other names, refers to any number of preparations of the Cannabis plant intended for use as a psychoactive drug or for medicinal purposes. The English term marijuana comes from the Mexican Spanish word marihuana...
for medical reasons.
Along with the book Ain't, McWilliams was a vocal activist for medical marijuana and was helping Todd McCormick (who suffered from cancer since childhood) write a book titled How To Grow Medical Marijuana. Both men became the subject of a Federal Drug Enforcement Administration
Drug Enforcement Administration
The Drug Enforcement Administration is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Justice, tasked with combating drug smuggling and use within the United States...
investigation; their homes were searched and research was seized to gather evidence towards charging both men with violating federal drug laws.
McWilliams claimed he was specifically targeted for arrest and prosecution because he was such an articulate and effective opponent of drug prohibition, as both Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputies and DEA
Drug Enforcement Administration
The Drug Enforcement Administration is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Justice, tasked with combating drug smuggling and use within the United States...
agents told him they frequently found copies of Ain't Nobody's Business... in the homes of those they arrested for marijuana possession. http://www.petermcwilliams.org/mirrors/www.petertrial.com/affidavit_of_peter_mcwilliams.htm http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~wbova/fn/earth/2000_6_03.htm
McWilliams and McCormick were arrested and charged with violating federal drug laws concerning marijuana. The financial support that McWilliams gave to McCormick was used as evidence that he was a drug kingpin. At his trial, the judge ruled that McWilliams was not allowed to mention in court that he was terminally ill, that using medical marijuana was (in his opinion) keeping him alive, or that his usage of medical marijuana was legal under California state law. Even as he vomited repeatedly during court proceedings, McWilliams was, under such legal conditions, not allowed to explain his condition or its connection to the charges against him.
As a creative outlet and way to reach supporters during his trial, McWilliam's began to blog the current events of his life on his website petertrial.com. In his humorous, informative style, he shared his thoughts with the world, about his trial, medical condition and medical marijuana's effect on his life.
Due to the gag restrictions, he was forced to plead guilty and hope that the judge would show leniency. Through his website, McWilliams asked supporters to send e-mails and letters to the presiding judge in an effort to allow McWilliams to serve his sentence under house arrest, where he could continue writing and have access to medical care. During this time, McWilliams continued writing articles highly critical of the laws against marijuana, including an open letter (published in Liberty
Liberty (1987)
Liberty is a leading libertarian journal founded in 1987 by R. W. Bradford in Port Townsend, Washington, and currently edited from San Diego, California, by Stephen Cox...
magazine) to Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
founder and CEO Bill Gates
Bill Gates
William Henry "Bill" Gates III is an American business magnate, investor, philanthropist, and author. Gates is the former CEO and current chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen...
which called on him to join the Libertarian Party
Libertarian Party (United States)
The Libertarian Party is the third largest and fastest growing political party in the United States. The political platform of the Libertarian Party reflects its brand of libertarianism, favoring minimally regulated, laissez-faire markets, strong civil liberties, minimally regulated migration...
.
ABC News reporter John Stossel
John Stossel
John F. Stossel is an American consumer reporter, investigative journalist, author and libertarian columnist. In October 2009 Stossel left his long time home on ABC News to join the Fox Business Channel and Fox News Channel, both owned and operated by News Corp...
had been a supporter of McWilliams' plight and had produced a Give Me A Break segment on Peter McWilliams a few days before McWilliams died in 2000. http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n790/a05.html
Death while out on bond pending sentencing
On June 14, 2000, McWilliams was found dead in his apartment. The New York Times reported that he had both AIDSAIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma at the time of his death, but did not explicitly state that either disease directly caused his death. His mother's house had been used to collateralize the bond on which he was allowed to remain free pending sentencing, a condition of which was that he refrain from using cannabis. For fear of losing his mother's house, he did so, again forgoing the medication needed to control his symptoms. He had access to Marinol, but it was effective for him only one-third of the time. William F. Buckley Jr., a friend and an admirer, wrote a public letter expressing his grave concern that such a man should be made to die from excess vomiting under such uninformed conceptions of law (see below). http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n849/a10.html
The federal prosecutor personally called my mother to tell her that if I was found with even a trace of medical marijuana, her house would be taken away. http://marijuananews.com/peter_mcwilliams_still_held_on_.htm
Richard Cowan and many critics of the U. S. drug policies have described his death as murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
by the U. S. government, insofar as they denied him the use of the medical marijuana which might have prevented his death. At least one account suggests that he choked on his own vomit because of the nausea http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/timtimes/2008/11/an-end-to-the-illegal-smile.php and William F. Buckley
William F. Buckley, Jr.
William Frank Buckley, Jr. was an American conservative author and commentator. He founded the political magazine National Review in 1955, hosted 1,429 episodes of the television show Firing Line from 1966 until 1999, and was a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist. His writing was noted for...
stated that he was vomiting when he died. Others (including McWilliams himself, in Ain't) suggest those involved in such tragedies as his are otherwise good people whose dedication to the law had allowed them to be used for the purpose of enforcing unnecessarily cruel, unnecessarily expensive, and simply unnecessary laws, for the purpose of enforcing a morality that is in the interests of satisfying the moral offense of a segment of the American population, rather than satisfying the legitimate interests of America or Americans.
When his elderly mother pledged her house as security for the bail, they threatened that the government would seize her house if her son simply failed a drug test, not just if he were to flee. She would not be intimidated, but now her son is dead as the result of the conditions of the bail. These are the "family values" of America's war on the sick and dying. http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n833/a06.html
In October 2001, John Stossel reported again on McWilliams's story. The segment, entitled Sex, Drugs and Consenting Adults, included footage of the late author and was highly critical of victimless crime laws.
Present-Day Influence
In 2010, ten years after Peter McWilliams' death, several online sites honoring Peter have been founded, affectionately called "Peter's Pages." The founder of the sites, Baltimore singer-songwriter, Julia Rose, http://www.juliarose.com wrote a song called "Still: A Prayer for Peter McWilliams" http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_6243362 She discovered McWilliams' works in 2009 and was "compelled to help the world remember and discover" McWilliams. "Still" is part of a video tribute which will be released in 2011.Quotes by Peter McWilliams
- "Marijuana is the finest anti-nausea medication known to science." -- 1998 Libertarian Party National Convention
- "Within seconds of the first toke, the nausea was gone, vanished with the smoke into the air." -- A Question of Compassion
- "The Drug War is another Viet Nam." -- The DEA Wishes Me a Nice Day
- "Do we indulge our heart, or cater to our fear?" --DO IT! Let's Get Off Our Buts
- "To avoid situations in which you might make mistakes may be the biggest mistake of all." -- Life 101
- "Life is not a struggle, it's a wiggle." -- How to Survive the Loss of a Love
- "Goals come and go, Dreams fade, but these qualities travel with us wherever we go." -- Do It - Lets Get Off Our Buts
- "Fear is something to be moved through, not something to be turned from." -- You Can't Afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought
- "To the degree we're not living our dreams, our comfort zone has more control over us than we have over ourselves." --Do It -
External links
- Peter McWilliams' books online
- Peter McWilliams links
- Media Awareness Project
- Peter McWilliams' film credits
- Memorial For Peter McWilliams - website
- Peter McWilliams Tribute Page aka Peter's Page - on Myspace.com
- Peter's Page on Facebook (requires login)
- "We Remember Peter" - tribute video
- "Still: A Prayer for Peter McWilliams" - tribute song
- "An Indictment, Not an Obituary"
- "Learning from Peter McWilliams" by Harry BrowneHarry BrowneHarry Browne was an American libertarian writer, politician, and free-market investment analyst. He ran for President of the United States as the nominee of the Libertarian Party in 1996 and 2000....
, 2000 - "Peter McWilliams R.I.P." by William F. Buckley, Jr.William F. Buckley, Jr.William Frank Buckley, Jr. was an American conservative author and commentator. He founded the political magazine National Review in 1955, hosted 1,429 episodes of the television show Firing Line from 1966 until 1999, and was a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist. His writing was noted for...
, July 17, 2000, National Review - "McWilliams is arrested for 'trying to save lives'" -- LP News September 1998
- "The DEA Wishes Me a Nice Day" by Peter McWilliams, circa 1997
- Part One of A Question of Compassion: An AIDS-Cancer Patient Explores Medical Marijuana by Peter McWilliams
- "Is Violence Justified?" by Peter McWilliams, February 20, 1999