Senators discuss legalization of Medical Cannabis

 Lawmakers scrutinized the legalization of medical cannabis in the Philippines during its second reading at the Philippine Senate. Senate Bill 2573 sponsored by Sen. Robinhood Padilla and co-sponsored by Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa proposes to legalize the use of cannabis for certain medical conditions.

 This includes epilepsy, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, anxiety, depression and even cancer pain. The House of Representatives recently passed House Bill 10439 on its third and final reading. This proposes the establishment of the Medical Cannabis Office under the Department of Health.

Representatives from DDB, PDEA, DOST and DA will constitute the MCO. Both Senate and House Bills prohibit the recreational use of cannabis. A prescription issued by a cannabis-trained and certified medical practitioner is necessary. Medical cannabis will only be allowed in pharmaceutical forms such as capsule, oil, and suppositories.

The use of plants and parts such as buds or flowers will still be considered illegal and subject to penalties under RA 9165 or Dangerous Drugs Act. Through the technical expertise of Bauertek Farmaceutical Technologies, the Philippines can manufacture medical cannabis.

 The Philippines recently won the Grand Prize in the International Invention and Innovation Summit held in Krakow, Poland in May of this year. Twenty countries participated in 20 categories.

Philippine-made medical cannabis CANCUR won the Gold Medal in Pharmaceutical Category and the Grand Prize for the entire competition. The Department of Science and Technology and even President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. recognized this global achievement of the Philippines.