{"id":3409,"date":"2015-03-23T17:55:33","date_gmt":"2015-03-23T17:55:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.medicalmarijuanainc.com\/?p=397"},"modified":"2015-03-23T17:55:33","modified_gmt":"2015-03-23T17:55:33","slug":"the-significance-of-the-507-patent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medicalmarijuanainc.com\/2015\/03\/23\/the-significance-of-the-507-patent\/","title":{"rendered":"The Significance of the \u2018507 Patent"},"content":{"rendered":"
In 1998, a group of scientists on behalf of the National Institutes of Health filed a patent with the US Patent Office that stated\u00a0that cannabinoids have medical value.<\/p>\n
Co-authored by Nobel Laureate Julius Axelrod<\/span><\/a>, Patent #6,630,507<\/a> was awarded to the National Institutes of Health in 2003, just five years after it was filed. This patent is titled, \u201cCannabinoids as antioxidants and neuroprotectants.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Colloquially called \u201cthe \u2018507 patent,\u201d this document describes the potential therapeutic values of non-psychoactive cannabinoids. It describes cannabidiol (CBD) in particular as being a potent antioxidant \u2013\u00a0stronger than either\u00a0vitamin C and vitamin E. CBD is also described as having neuroprotective properties, meaning the NIH believes it\u00a0may protect the brain and nervous system from damage due to head trauma like concussions or brain damage from strokes.<\/span><\/p>\n The patent also describes CBD as being very\u00a0non-toxic, with no possibility of fatal overdose and no damage demonstrated “large, acute\u00a0doses” of 700mg CBD\/day (which is hundreds of times more CBD than most people would ever ingest).<\/span><\/p>\n The US government doesn’t officially recognize<\/span><\/a> the medical potential of marijuana, at least in part because the studies about its potential therapeutic benefits have been small, and there have been no large-scale clinical trials on the plant. However, certain components of marijuana have been made into pharmaceutical drugs for decades like Marinol<\/a>, which is a synthetic version of THC to treat chemotherapy symptoms.<\/span><\/p>\nFACT: The NIH acknowledges the therapeutic properties and potential uses of CBD.\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n
FACT: This patent flies in the face of the Schedule I status of cannabis, which defines cannabis as\u00a0having \u201cno medical value.\u201d <\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n
FACT: The ‘507 patent also means anyone wanting to develop a pharmaceutical drug using CBD would have to receive a license from the NIH to do so. <\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n