PROPONENT DIES

CityBeat was deeply saddened Tuesday morning to learn that Steve
McWilliams, a long-time San Diego medical-marijuana activist, had died
earlier that day. Friends said it was suicide.

McWilliams, who had to cease using medical marijuana after a 2002
arrest, suffered from chronic pain and was likely facing prison time
after being charged by federal prosecutors three years ago with
possessing 25 marijuana plants. A Supreme Court ruling handed down
last month said that federal law prohibiting medicinal use of
marijuana trumps California's voter-approved Compassionate Use Act.

CityBeat has been a supporter of McWilliams and his cause since the
paper began three years ago. He was an activist in the best sense of
the word, encouraging medicinal-pot users to stick to city guidelines
and state law and form cooperatives so that the most ill folks would
have a community to support them. More than that, he was a genuinely
kind-hearted person, and we will miss him very much.