Peter McWilliams
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Peter A. McWilliams (August 5, 1949 - June 14, 2000), born in Detroit, was a writer primarily of self-help books.
He was the author of Ain't Nobody's Business if You Do: The Absurdity of Consensual Crimes in Our Free Society and many other books, including the Life 101 series. Many of these are liberally sprinkled with selected quotations that illuminate the various points he is making, often humorously.
All the books for which he holds copyright are available for reading at no charge at his web site. A notable exception is Life 102 or What To Do If Your Guru Sues You, for which, as can be anticipated by the title, he agreed to abandon the copyright to his former spiritual advisor John-Roger to settle libel litigation over the contents of the book.
In Ain't ..., his basic thesis is that You should be allowed to do whatever you want with your own person and property, as long as you don't physically harm the person or property of a nonconsenting other.
He died at the age of 50, of AIDS or cancer, or most directly, of choking on his vomit; some would describe his death as murder by the US Government, insofar as they denied him the use of medical marijuana. At the time of his death, he was fighting a criminal charge based on his own use of marijuana. The anti-viral drugs he was taking to control AIDS caused him to become violently ill. According to McWilliams and his supporters, using marijuana prevented this nausea for him, but marinol, in pill form, could not be taken during severe nausea.
External link
- Peter McWilliams Web Site (http://www.mcwilliams.com)