Guest Blogger: Jordan Parkes
Website: http://smokefreeweed.com/

THE US GOVERNMENT HOLDS A PATENT ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA  (US PATENT # 6630507)

The United States Government holds a patent on cannabis. No matter how many times I
say that, it still conjures up so many different responses in my mind that I just have to laugh.

Proud that my country applied science to discover such a elegant potential remedy (solution someday?) to the heinous brain afflictions and damage such as ischemia or stroke, degeneratives like Alzheimer’s, or autoimmune deficiencies. Completely AWESTRUCK and DUMBFOUNDED with the truly bass-ackward approach we have adopted to how we treat this plant.

In the early 1990’s, studies funded by activist organizations revealed a great number of additional cannabinoids than previously believed in the cannabis plant. Further research published in 1998 focused on the effects of these additional compounds on neurotransmission. The United States seems to have come across this information and filed the patent in October 2003. The administration of certain isolated cannabis compounds (cannabinoids) to their targeted complementary receptors in the human body can serve to trigger desired and beneficial responses.

The cannabis plant is a remarkably bioactive plant. It contains an estimated 430+ active compounds that work specifically with an endogenous system of receptors in our body and essentially unlock reactions throughout. In my best layman analogy, cannabis acts like a system of coded fuses that when introduced to the body, turn on lights or enable communication between different parts of the house.

Certain cannabinoids work as antioxidants (not like pomegranate juice, but kind of…) in that they prevent or aid against natural breakdown from exposure to oxygen (aka against oxidation processes) that break down receptor activity (neurotransmission) in the brain. This is especially important considering already damaged or at-risk tissues that would suffer most from otherwise natural degradation. The cannabinoid Cannabidiol has been found to work as an antioxidant and neuroprotectant to arrest additional trauma in afflicted brain tissue.

The FDA has approved completely synthetic polymers that do the same thing, but we maintain a Puritanical approach to the research surrounding cannabis. To date, no one has ever died or grown a third arm from marijuana use. Fully realizing that there is more to the research than simply pitting natural versus synthetic – it involves analyzing or preventing against reactions and interactions with a broad spectrum of medicines and other compounds all along the range of body chemistries.

The recent innovation of vaporization technology gives us a new tool in unlocking more benefits of cannabinoids. The range of active compounds are volatile at different temperatures and can be more accurately studied at the rate they release using vaporizers with precise temperature control.  To date, the Volcano Vaporizer has been used in two different FDA approved clinical trials as a delivery method, specifically tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). This is not a new idea, but one that is nearing a new level of research. Vaporization can be a precision means to isolate and safely deliver cannabinoids without the cost of extracting or synthesizing.