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In 1996, voters in California voted to legalize medical marijuana. But the Clinton administration maintained that because the drug was still illegal for medicinal purposes under federal law, the federal government could shut them down. And so it did. The show of force wasn’t about officer safety. The government was using violence to make a political point.

One raid was on the marijuana grow run by Todd McCormick and Peter McWilliams. It was a large operation, but it was legal under state law, and it was likely targeted because McWilliams was also a prominent medical marijuana advocate. He personally used the drug to treat the symptoms of AIDS and his nausea and during his chemotherapy treatment for non-Hodgkins lymphoma brought on by HIV infection.

A federal judge later ruled that McWilliams would not be allowed to argue at his trial that his marijuana grow was legal under state law, or that medical marijuana was keeping him alive.

Part of his bail agreement was that he not smoke pot, so McWilliams abstained. He was found dead in his bathtub on June 14, 2000. He had vomited from nausea, then aspirated on his vomit. Federal prosecutors called his death “unfortunate.”