Summer of Resistance- Peter McWilliams
Vigil, and Fundraiser
What- Statewide rally in San Diego, Los Angeles
and San Francisco-
Fund Raiser Memorial Dinner in Los Angeles
When- June 15, 2002, Vigil 1 p.m. - 6 p.m/
Dinner- Cocktails will be at 6:00 p.m. and dinner at 7:00 p.m
(more information below)
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PLEASE JOIN US on a day long trip to Los
Angeles to participate in The Second Annual Peter McWilliams Memorial
Vigil which will be held this Saturday June 15, 2002 from 1 p.m.
- 6 p.m. In addition to this Vigil wewill also be going to the
site of the Los Angeles Cannabis Resource Center to show our support
for the Hunger Strike being conducted there. Information on both
of these issues as well as car pooling to Los Angeles for this
day of solidarity in the medical marijuana movement is listed
below.
The Peter McWilliams Memorial Vigil is a
simultaneous statewide rally in San Diego, Los Angeles and San
Francisco and will call attention to the federal government's
ongoing war on medical marijuana patients and the dangers of the
drug war. It is being coordinated by the California Political
Prisoner Support Committee of the Libertarian Party.
The vigil commemorates the life and death
of Peter McWilliams. McWilliams was an AIDS patient who used marijuana
for appetitite stimulation and control of nausea caused by his
other AIDS medications. He became a Medical Marijuana Activist
writing a number of books on the subject and helped in the cultivation
of marijuana for distribution through Medical Marijuana Clubs.
This came to the attention of federal authorities who arrested
him in 1997 for cultivating marijuana. His mother and brother
put up their homes for collateral for the $250,000 bond needed
to keep Peter from being held in prison while awaiting trial.
As a condition of the bail, Peter could not use marijuana or he
would forfeit his bail and his mother and brother would lose their
homes. One night, alone at home, unable to use marijuana to control
his nausea, he choked to death on his own vomit. Many in the movement
believe the government, by denying McWilliams the use of marijuana,
is responsible for his death. For more information on Peter McWilliams,
go to www.petermcwilliams.org.
The vigil in Los Angeles will be in front
of the Federal Building , 11000 Wilshire Blvd. from 1:00 PM until
6.00 PM. Additional information on this rally can be obtained
by contacting Hal Chiprin at hallucy@webtv.net
or 805-653-1999.
In addition to the vigil at the Federal Building,
we will also visit the Los Angeles Cannabis Resource Center to
show our support for their ongoing Hunger Strike and Vigil being
conducted at the site. Last October, armed Drug Enforcement Administration
agents raided the Los Angeles Cannabis Resource Center (LACRC),
a medical marijuana dispensary and support center in West Hollywood,
seizing patient records and forcing 960 clients -- mostly people
with AIDS or cancer -- to turn to criminal street sources for
their medicine.
Since LACRC's closure, two dozen members
have died, several have been robbed trying to acquire marijuana
on the black market, and almost all have reported problems eating,
sleeping, and keeping their meds down.
Apparently that wasn't enough pain and suffering
for the federal government. The Bush administration has now moved
to seize LACRC's building, and prosecutions of staff members --
for the "crime" of providing safe, affordable medicine
to the sick -- are expected shortly.
But LACRC's members, friends, and supporters
are fighting back. With the backing of local elected officials
(including the city of West Hollywood, which helped LACRC purchase
its building), they have announced a "Summer of Resistance"
vigil to demand an end to this cruel persecution of medical marijuana
patients and providers.
With an encampment established at the LACRC
site at 7494 Santa Monica Blvd. (near Gardener) in West Hollywood,
a group of patients and staff fasted for six days. They have already
gained significant local media attention, including extensive
local TV coverage and a Los
Angeles Times story. The vigil continues, and the fast will
resume this coming weekend if efforts by local elected officials
to intervene on LACRC's behalf are unsuccessful.
This will be an extraordinary day of support
for medical marijuana patients and the right of California citizens
to determine what is appropriate for their own health and welfare
as decided by California voters when they approved Proposition
215 in 1996. We are organizing a car pool to go to Los Angeles
on June 15 and if anyone would like to join us and/or can offer
rides to others, please email me back or phone me at 760-799-2055.
This is an opportunity to meet many of the
activists in the movement and to make your statement of support
for this humanitarian cause and individual civil liberties. It
is a day that will allow you to stand up as an American citizen
and exercise your constitutional rights to let the public know
how our federal government is acting to overturn the vote of California
citizens to allow patients who have a doctor's recomendation to
utitilize mairjuana for medical purposes. It is a day that you
will not forget and will be proud to have been a participant.
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Memorial dinner following Memorial action
in Los Angeles
Alan Bock to Speak at LPLAC Dinner
On Saturday, June 15, the Libertarian Party
of Los Angeles County will commemorate with a special dinner the
Second Anniversary of the death of Peter McWilliams, noted artist,
writer and one of the nation's foremost proponents of the Medical
Marijuana movement.
McWilliams died two years ago after being
prevented by court order from using cannabis prescribed by his
physician to cope with the effects of chemotherapy.
To honor his memory and to speak out against
such injustices, an afternoon rally at the Federal Building in
Westwood is planned to run from 1:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m.
The memorial dinner to benefit LPLAC will
be held at Les Freres Taix at 1911 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles
90026. Cocktails will be at 6:00 p.m. and dinner at 7:00 p.m.
Telephone: (213) 484-1265.
The program will commence at 8:00 p.m. Master
of Ceremonies for the evening is Lawrence Goldberg, longtime Party
activist and creator of the NoJailforPot.com
website.
Aaron Starr, state party Chair, will make
prefatory remarks regarding Operation Breakthrough and Mark Selzer
will speak about the Libertarian Alternative TV show. County Chair
Rodger Rosie will discuss the new Student of Liberty Scholarship
Fund and other projects for which support is sought.
Alan Bock, Senior Editorial Writer for the
Orange County Register, is the featured speaker. His book, Waiting
to Inhale: The Politics of Medical Marijuana, published last year,
discusses the effects of cannabis prohibition in the wake of Proposition
215, a measure overwhelmingly passed by the electorate allowing
medicinal use of marijuana.
Cost for the event is $50.00 per person and
$90.00 per couple if reserved and paid before the event. Prices
at the door are $100.00 and $180.00, per person and couple, respectively.
All proceeds will go toward LPLAC's program
costs as well as special projects such as the Student of Liberty
Scholarship Fund, which makes professional politics courses available
to Libertarian students, and the Local Candidate Recruitment Project
which, as a local Region-state party partnership, will identify,
recruit and support Operation Breakthrough candidates in Los Angeles
County.
Tickets are on sale now. Please send checks
(payable to LPLAC) and choice of entree (Filet Mignon, Filet of
Salmon, or Vegetable Medley) to LPLAC at PO Box 341227, Arleta,
CA 91334-1227.
Those who cannot attend but wish to support
the event by purchasing tickets are welcome to do so. Just let
us know.
For more information, please contact the
event Vice-Chair, Dave Bowers at davebo1000@aol.com
or LPLAC/Los Angeles County Chair Rodger
Rosie at defend1776@aol.com,
or 562-865-4089.
