On the one hand, United States federal government officials have consistently denied that marijuana has any medical benefits. On the other, the government actually holds patents for the medical use of the plant.
Just check out US Patent 6630507 titled "Cannabinoids as antioxidants and neuroprotectants" which is assigned to The United States of America, as represented by the Department of Health and Human Services.
The patent claims that "Cannabinoids have been found to have antioxidant properties, unrelated to NMDA receptor antagonism. This new found property makes cannabinoids useful in the treatment and prophylaxis of wide variety of oxidation associated diseases, such as ischemic, age-related, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. The cannabinoids are found to have particular application as neuroprotectants, for example in limiting neurological damage following ischemic insults, such as stroke and trauma, or in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and HIV dementia."
The patent was obtained in October of 2003.
The US government may hold this patent, but that will not stop their officials from consistently denying the benefits of medical marijuana. An FDA spokesperson, for instance, has claimed that "smoked marijuana has no currently accepted or proven medical use in the United States and is not an approved medical treatment."
I guess she didn't get the memo.
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Arizona latest state to legalize medical marijuana
The final tally is in and by the narrow margin of 4,341 votes, Arizona becomes the 15th state to legalize the use of medical marijuana.
The new law will allow patients (with a recommendation from a licensed physician) suffering from "chronic or debilitating" diseases such as cancer, HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C, or other diseases meeting state guidelines to buy 2 1/2 ounces of marijuana every two weeks or grow their own plants.
It will allow for the maximum of 124 non-profit dispensaries, proportionate to the number of pharmacies in the state, along with patients permitted to cultivate up to 12 plants if they live more than 25 miles away from the nearest dispensary.
Arizona voters previously approved the use of medical marijuana twice before, back in 1996 and 1998 but it was never implemented due to problems in the wording of the laws.
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