Americans imprisoned for marijuana, while feds get patents on the drug
Julie Wilson
(NaturalNews) The federal government has secretly withheld information regarding the medical benefits of marijuana in an attempt to control the market by waiting for the right time to legalize and eventually sell the drug on their terms.
While dozens of states have progressed towards marijuana freedom, nearly 700,000 Americans are arrested each year for possession of pot because the federal government still considers it a Schedule I substance, placing it next to drugs like heroin, LSD and meth.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), along with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), says marijuana is one of the most dangerous drugs out there, and that it has no medical benefits and a high potential for abuse.
Publicly, government says marijuana is bad; privately, they're moving to control the industry
While publicly the government insists pot is bad, privately they're patenting it. In 2003, a patent titled "Cannabinoids as antioxidants and neuroprotectants" was awarded to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), a taxpayer-funded agency.
The patent, which was originally filed for in 1999 by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), specifically focuses on cannabidiol (CBD), a compound found in marijuana that provides medical effects but doesn't make you "stoned," the feeling that comes from the compound THC.
The patent provides the government with exclusive rights on using cannabinoids for treating neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and stroke, as well as arthritis, diabetes, Chrohn's disease and heart attacks. It only covers a specific application of cannabinoids and not overall production or use of marijuana or cannabinoids, according to Leaf Science.
The government has released many studies to the public detailing the negative effects of cannabis, while secretly withholding government-funded science that's unlocked many of the positive effects of marijuana.
Federal government moves to shut down marijuana businesses, while filing for patents on the drug
There truly is no finer example of hypocrisy, or cronyism.
Despite new state regulations legalizing recreational and medical marijuana, the federal government is still harassing and jailing individuals for pot-related offenses, including those seeking the plant for medical use. The government is also actively working to shut down marijuana businesses through an IRS tax loophole in states like Colorado, where recreational pot is legal.
Because marijuana remains a Schedule I substance under federal law, a tax code passed in 1982 called Section 280E specifically denies tax credits or exemptions to businesses "trafficking" controlled substances, reports The Washington Post.
Under the law, cannabis shops are unable to write off advertising costs, employee salaries or rent. Some marijuana businesses have been forced to pay 90 percent of their revenue to federal taxes, obviously in many cases putting them out of business.
"When potential marijuana dispensary business owners figure out that their effective federal tax rate will be 60 to 90 percent, it turns them off," said Jordan Cornelius, a Denver accountant who works with marijuana businesses.
"You have a lot of organizations that end up failing and closing after two to three years because of the tax burden imposed by 280E."
The federal government's efforts to stop the sale of pot that's legal under state law, while simultaneously making moves to patent the plant, highlights their sinister plan to control the industry, specifically CBD oil, as it continues to be proven extremely effective for treating and curing a variety of ailments.
More than 20 states have either passed or proposed legalizing the use of CBD oil; however, government patents on the product could force most of the supply into the hands of Big Pharma, making the medicine costly and limited.
Additional sources:
http://www.naturalnews.com/z053978_medical_marijuana_drug_patents_federal_government.html