Rest in Peace

Prohibition took another victim when long time medical marijuana activist Steven McWilliams took his own life yesterday. Friends say he was tired, in pain and afraid of going to jail.

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.

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.

One would think the recent string of prosecutions unleashed by the Raich decision had an effect on his state of mind. How far we have fallen from civil society, when we are willing to allow our government to drive a man to despair for using a God-given herb to relieve his symptoms?