Here is a legal document, in the public domain, which flies in the face of the US Government’s stated position with regard to the classification of cannabis as a Schedule I substance defined as, “No medicinal value and highly addictive”, yet they own the patent for using cannabinoids as an antioxidant and neuro-protectant.
The hypocrisy is hysterical. Why would the Government want to own a patent on a drug that has no medicinal value and is highly addictive and toxic?
Citing this patent stops the “medical marijuana is a myth” advocates dead in their tracks. They simply cannot argue with it. The patent was obtained in October of 2003.

This is an excerpt from the patent:

Cannabinoids as antioxidants and neuroprotectants
US patent # 6630507 B1

“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. Nonpsychoactive cannabinoids, such as cannabidoil, are particularly advantageous to use because they avoid toxicity that is encountered with psychoactive cannabinoids at high doses useful in the method of the present invention. A particular disclosed class of cannabinoids useful as neuroprotective antioxidants is formula (I) wherein the R group is independently selected from the group consisting of H, CH3, and COCH3.”

View the entire patent:
http://www.google.com/patents/US6630507