Search Results: williams (114)

A common gripe about millennials is that we’re unable to appreciate classic music. We’re more likely to associate timeless R&B hooks  with hip-hop beats that sample them instead of the originals themselves, while Guitar Hero has bastardized an entire generation’s knowledge of classic rock. You can definitely lump me in with the rest of the tasteless turds, because I had no idea who Lucinda Williams was until I smoked a bowl of her.


Award-winning American comedy icon Robin Williams died yesterday from an apparent suicide. Williams long battled with substance abuse, but he always managed to keep a sense of humor about it as these segment on alcohol and marijuana from his 1986 “Live at the Met” show and 2009’s “Weapons of Self Destruction”.

Reason.com
Chris Williams: “With the rest of my life literally hanging in the balance, I simply could not withstand the pressure any longer”

Six Felony Charges and Criminal Forfeiture Dismissed, Appeal Waived
Medical cannabis provider Chris Williams has reached a settlement with prosecutors in his criminal proceedings. Under the terms of the highly-unusual, post-conviction compromise — the second of its kind offered to Williams — six of the charges will be dismissed, in exchange for withdrawing his pending motions for acquittal and a new trial.
Until Tuesday, Williams faced a mandatory minimum sentence of 92 years in prison. By agreeing not to appeal his conviction on Count III and Count VI, the mandatory minimum penalties against Williams have been reduced to five years.

Eliza Wiley/Helena Independent Record
Chris Williams faces a mandatory minimum sentence of more than 85 years in federal prison

Editor’s note: Chris Williams faces a mandatory minimum sentence of more than 85 years in federal prison for medical marijuana. This is a letter written to federal judge Dana Christensen on his behalf by activist Kari Boiter.

12/12/2012

The Honorable Judge Dana Christensen
United States District Court
201 E. Broadway
Missoula, Montana 59802

RE: Christopher Wayne Williams
Your Honor,
I am writing this letter in support of Chris Williams. In my current career and the decade that I spent working in the television news industry, I have never known anyone as extraordinary, thoughtful, brilliant or honorable as Chris.
As Your Honor knows all too well, very few federal cases go to trial. In fact, out of at least 70 medical marijuana caregivers indicted since President Obama took office, Chris is one of only four to exercise his Sixth Amendment right to a trial by a jury of his peers. Chris didn’t refuse to plead guilty because he denies involvement in a cannabis caregiving operation – as Your Honor heard him openly take responsibility for on the witness stand in September – but because of his deeply-held belief in the U.S. Constitution. He believes that the Tenth Amendment guarantees States the right to experiment with policies on issues like medical marijuana, the “Made in Montana” gun law and campaign finance limits. Chris believes in the right to due process, eminent domain and the right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure, as evidenced by his civil lawsuit over the March 2011 raids. He clearly believed in the Second Amendment right to bear arms, like 39 percent of his fellow Americans and 58 percent of his neighbors in Montana.
Unfortunately, Chris also believed in the statements made by President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder, indicating that those in “clear and unambiguous compliance” with state medical marijuana laws would not face federal prosecution. When he formed Montana Cannabis with three other men in 2009, Chris had faith that as long as they did everything in their power to strictly obey Montana law, the business would be allowed to operate openly and honestly. Montana Cannabis paid all state and federal taxes; workers compensation and unemployment insurance; generous salaries to close to three dozen employees, some of whom were otherwise unemployable or were previously working for sub-standard wages; the company even gave back to the local community, donating to local food banks and charity fundraisers.

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.

Free Chris Williams/Facebook
Chris Williams faces a mandatory minimum sentence of more than 90 years in federal prison

Courageous Caregiver Refuses Constitutional ‘Compromise’
By Kari Boiter
“I have decided to fight the federal government because for me, not defending the things that I know are right is dishonorable,” writes Chris Williams from his cell at Crossroads Correctional Center, a for-profit prison in Shelby, Montana. “Every citizen has a responsibility to fight for what is right, even if it seems like the struggle will be lost.”
 
Williams’ words are particularly poignant. As he writes from prison, he faces the near-certainty that he will spend the rest of his life locked away in an industrial-size cage. His crime? Providing medical marijuana to terminally ill and disabled patients authorized to use cannabis under Montana law. 
Williams co-owned Montana Cannabis, along with Tom Daubert, Chris Lindsey and Richard Flor. Daubert was a lobbyist who helped write Montana’s medical marijuana law; Lindsey was a former public defender; Flor was the first registered caregiver in Montana; and Williams was the consummate farmer. Together, these men established a “gold standard” for strict compliance with Montana law. 

Sons Of Bill Simmons
Ricky Williams doesn’t think weed jokes are funny.

​National Football League star Ricky Williams — caught multiple times for smoking weed — doesn’t think your weed jokes are funny. In fact, one of the reasons he doesn’t use Twitter much is the constant barrage of pot punchlines, the football hero tweeted on Friday. 

Williams, of the Baltimore Ravens, has quite a history with marijuana himself, reports Zach Wilt at the Baltimore Sports Report. The former Miami Dolphins running back supposedly “retired from football” after facing a whopping $650,000 fine for failing a piss test in December 2003 (his second such transgression), violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy. 
After taking 2004 off, he returned to the Dolphins in 2005, but failed yet another drug test after the season, which this time earned him a 16-game suspension from the NFL (that’s a full year’s worth of games, for you non-football fans).
Williams at that point took his under-appreciated talents north to Canada and played for the Canadian Football League’s Toronto Argonauts. He claimed he “found himself” during this time and returned to Miami in 2007 while following a strict drug-test regimen imposed by the NFL.

Recollection Books

​Peter McWilliams was many things: author, publisher, photographer, poet and activist, among others. But one of the most important things McWilliams was, was an inspiration. His courage and charisma were and continue to be a source of strength to many who are struggling with illness and with the injustice of our marijuana laws.

He had a remarkable career starting in the 1970s, writing more than 40 books, including works on depression, losing a loved one, computers, and poetry. Several of Peter’s books made The New York Times Top 10 nonfiction bestseller list.
Peter’s 1993 book Ain’t Nobody’s Business If You Do remains one of the greatest affirmations of the right of citizens to act and live in any peaceful, honest lifestyle, including their inalienable right to drugs and especially cannabis. It is regarded by many as a “libertarian Bible,” with its emphasis on personal freedom and responsibility.

Photo: CBS Sacramento
Montel Williams: “Why are we treating patients who seek out this medication like they’re some lesser member of society?”

​Former talk show host Montel Williams lent his star power to the grand opening of a high-end medical marijuana dispensary in Sacramento, California, that aims to “set a new standard” for patients who choose to use cannabis.

Williams, a daytime TV host for 17 years, said he uses medical marijuana to relieve the pain of multiple sclerosis but has seen the need for more professional distribution of the herb, reports CBS Sacramento.
“You see people standing around, sticking their nose into things,” Williams unfortunately said. “I don’t go to CVS to pick up an individual Vicodin.”
1 2 3 12