WASHINGTON, DC – Having a patent under your name means owning an intellectual property set upon the grounds and regulations of the agency governing it.
Not all people are familiar and well-versed with the scopes of patents, this is why it is easier for some to spread misinformation regarding the importance of one patent and its general use.
This is what happened when Patent no. 6630507 trended and had been shared in multiple social media accounts with different claimants, representations, and explanations on exactly it is all about.
Some are urging the government to use the scope of the patent as a basis in legalizing the use of pot in the states. Others who understand the scope of the patent called those in the government who are still against the promulgation of marijuana legalization in some states as hypocrites.
For the many who are still baffled on the scope of the famed Patent No. 6630507 were referred to the US Department of Health and Human Services. According to the scope of the intellectual property given to the said department on 2003, this patent covers the potential use of the chemical compounds that can be found in the cannabis plant. It also includes the study on cannabis and its possibilities to protect the brain from damage or degeneration due to some diseases such as Alzheimer’s Disease and Cirrhosis.
Although they aim only to use the non-psychoactive cannabinoids component, critics are still fast to point out that if the government doesn’t believe in the potentials of marijuana as a natural medicine, why do they patent cannabis the way the scope defined it?
Sam Mendez, a public policy lawyer and currently serving as the Executive Director of the University of Washington’s Cannabis Law and Policy Project, stated that it was clearly indicated in the Federal Law that cannabis has no accepted medical use. If that’s the case, the government seemed to be hypocritical for owning a patent that contradicts the perception of the Federal Law.
So the question now lies on what could be the possible impact of the patent no. 6630507 to the pot industry? In many aspects, since the government owns all the legal rights in testing and experimenting cannabis for medical uses, other private companies can only rely on the results provided by the government. They can’t conduct their private experimentation if it goes beyond the legal boundaries of the patent owned by the government.
Marijuana advocates also stressed out that if the government applied and legally owned the patent about medical marijuana, they should have the decency to use this as a basis of the medical benefits, and as a factor in extending the criminal boundaries of marijuana. This can be a good reason for finally implementing legalization of cannabis not just in some states but all throughout the US.
Most of the states that legalized marijuana accepted the usage of the plant for recreational purposes only and subject to some prohibitions and regulations. With this patent, they should extend the usage for medical purposes as well.
