Christine Beems tried to post the following comment after my blog post about medical marijuana, but I accidentally deleted it. Thankfully, she emailed it to me. Here it is.

Mr. Brawner… Thanks for sharing your thoughts. For the record,
cannabis-hemp is a plant, not a chemically-engineered drug. As a plant
with herbal-medicinal properties, it is not for ‘government’ to say
whether a person may or may not choose to utilize, cultivate or
consume it so long as that use does not cause direct harm to any other
person.

Cannabis-hemp has been a boon to all of civilization throughout
history, until the last 100-or-so years when bigotry, prejudice and
’social engineering’ stigmatized and criminalized ‘marijuana’, which
is a slang term for cannabis-hemp. For more on this see
http://www.gozarks.com/hemp.

This stigma has been sensationalized by advocates of the drug war,
many of whom derive their salaries from persecuting people who are
exercising their Constitutionally guaranteed birthright to be
accountable and responsible for self in their personal pursuit of
life, liberty and happiness, and some of whom have become corrupted by
such ready access to graft. For more on this, see
http://inmate9.blogspot.com.

And, what is needed most at this time is more outspoken support for
clearly established scientific facts about cannabis-hemp: That as a
plant it is, essentially, harmless. That it is a highly viable
agricultural crop with many industrial and commercial uses. That
propaganda to the contrary is grounded in social prejudice. For more
on this, see http://www.baxterbulletin.com/article/20110119/NEWS01/101190331/Teapot-party-in-Mountain-Home-draws-60-to-discuss-marijuana-legalization.

To learn more about this complex and yet essentially straightforward
issue, please attend the ARnorml meeting tomorrow
http://www.arnorml.org/ or contact me. Thanks! ~Christine Beems,