PeterMcWilliams.org |
R.I.P. Peter McWilliams (1950-2000) |
By Robert Platshorn
The Silver Tour
Long before he was incarcerated, Peter McWilliams wrote about the injustice of our cannabis laws. Peter’s death is significant only as statistic in our insane drug war. There have been thousands of Peters who lost their lives as a result of a cruel and impersonal system that incarcerates hundreds of thousands of our citizens — ordinary, hardworking Americans who have committed no crime against person, property or society.
If you believe that Peter was singled out for his activism, you have nothing left to fight for. He’s gone! The truth is he was treated like every other prisoner in the federal justice system. There are hundreds, maybe thousands of marijuana offenders, both in and out of prison, who are in exactly the same situation as Peter at the time of his death.
In my 30 years in federal prison for marijuana, I saw dozens of pointless unnecessary deaths, and hundreds who lost limbs or contracted debilitating diseases simply for lack of treatment.