Steve McWilliams committed suicide by overdose on July 12th. Read Steve's Last Words and commentary from his wife. He had been fighting federal charges for growing a small garden for the Shelter from the Storm Collective, in San Diego, was saddened over the Supreme Court decision in the Raich v. Ashcroft case. He was in a lot of pain, since he had been denied access to medical marijuana since his arrest in 2002. He had had to take powerful pharmaceutical opiates, anti-nausea, anti-migraine, etc. drugs in far higher amounts than when he had been able to medicate with marijuana. Apparently these medications were used in the overdose. Read more

Americans for Safe Access put out a call for people all over the US to organize vigils to honor Steve McWilliams for the patient, caregiver, and activist he was. On July 19th vigils were held in 16 or more cities. In San Francisco, a vigil was held at 12 noon at Civic Center Plaza. In Oakland, there was a vigil at 5:20pm before the City Council meeting. There was a vigil in Santa Rosa at 8pm.
More info about Steve's activism and the vigils