Medical cannabis bill hurdles House technical panel scrutiny
A Technical Working Group (TWG) at the House of Representatives has completed its deliberations on proposals seeking to allow the use of cannabis or marijuana as a medicine and declassify it as an illegal and dangerous drug.
Leyte Rep. Richard Gomez, who is the vice chairman of the House Committee on Dangerous Drugs, said the TWG which he heads has consolidated House Bill No. 6783 with the recommendations submitted by medical experts and law enforcement agencies and is now set to submit the final version of the proposed legislation to the mother committee.
“Ako po ay natutuwa na dito sa level namin sa technical working group ay naipasa na namin ang medical cannabis bill. Consolidated na ito, for approval na ng committee,” Gomez said.
The lawmaker said that once the committee, which is chaired by Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, adopts the TWG version, the measure will already be sponsored in plenary for approval of the House.
“May counterpart bill ito sa Senate. Hopefully magtugma ‘yung sa Senate bill at ‘yung ginawa namin dito sa TWG,” Gomez said.
Former movie star-turned-Senator Robin Padilla has fled a bill at the Senate seeking to “legalize and regulate the medical use of cannabis, which has been confirmed to have beneficial and therapeutic uses for known debilitating medical conditions.”
Padilla’s bill mandates the Department of Health (DOH) to take the lead in establishing and overseeing centers where licensed medical professionals can dispense cannabis to “qualified” patients.
During the House hearings, the DOH has suggested that cannabis should be in pharmaceutical form, not its plant form, to ensure that it’s safe.
The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and the Dangerous Drugs Board also backed the use of cannabis for medical purposes.
Lawmakers have been pushing the declassification of cannabis so it can be used as a medicine to treat diseases such as cancer.
More than 100 chemicals known as cannabinoids have been found in the cannabis sativa plant, according to the US National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health.
Marijuana refers to the dried leaves, flowers, stems and seeds from the plant, which contains the mind-altering chemical THC and other similar compounds.
One of the earliest uses of medical cannabis was in 2737 B.C., when Chinese emperor Shen Neng prescribed marijuana tea for the treatment of gout, rheumatism, malaria and poor memory.
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