JACKSONVILLE — Recent raids by federal drug agents who seized medical marijuana by the dump truck load have rankled some Oregon lawmakers who say federal authorities are overstepping their authority...
...In a tougher stance by the Obama administration, federal authorities have been cracking down on medical marijuana nationwide, particularly in California, where landlords recently were warned they could lose their property if they don’t kick out growers and dispensaries...
...Since Oregon voters made it legal to grow marijuana for medical use in 1996, federal eradication efforts in Oregon have focused on Mexican drug cartels growing huge plantations on public lands.
This month, federal agents changed course and started raiding large medical marijuana sites in Jackson County, hauling away hundreds of plants. The third raid was Friday......The Supreme Court ruled in 2005 in a 6-3 decision that the federal government can prosecute over home-grown marijuana, even in states that have legalized medical use....
http://www.bendbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20111016/NEWS0107/110160353/1009/NEWS01&nav_category=NEWS01NOTE: The Federal Government holds a patent on "Cannabinoids as antioxidants and neuroprotectants"
United States Patent #6,630,507
"Cannabinoids have been found to have antioxidant properties, unrelated to NMDA receptor antagonism. This new found property makes cannabinoids useful in the treatment and prophylaxis of wide variety of oxidation associated diseases, such as ischemic, age-related, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. The cannabinoids are found to have particular application as neuroprotectants, for example in limiting neurological damage following ischemic insults, such as stroke and trauma, or in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and HIV dementia..."
view the patent here on a government website:
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=6630507.PN.&OS=PN/6630507&RS=PN/6630507