“Lawyers for Oakland pointed out in a court filing (formerly Tuesday that, while marijuana is regarded by federal law as a controlled substance with no medicinal value, the U.S. government’s own patents and research claim otherwise. One 2009 patent application (formerly – Scribd says the document Patent 1 has been deleted), for instance, extols the pain-relieving and ‘healing properties’ of marijuana. The government’s own 2003 patent discusses the usefulness of ‘cannabinoids’ in treating ‘ischemic, age-related, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases’ as well as ‘Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and HIV dementia.’ In July, the National Institutes of Health licensed the rights of the latter patent.”
http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2012/12/12/on-intellectual-property-and-pot/
