House Bill 4477 titled “Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Act” was filed by Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano III. It seeks to legalize cannabis use for medical purposes.
The co-authors of HB 4477 are House Minority Leader Ronaldo Zamora (Lone District, San Juan City), Rep. Emi Calixto-Rubiano (Lone District, Pasay City), Roy Señeres (Party-list, OFW), Regina Reyes (Lone District, Marinduque), Elisa Olga Kho (2nd District, Masbate) and Henry Oaminal (2nd District, Misamis Occidental).
The lawmakers’ co-authorship of the bill was done before Congress adjourned sine die last week.
Albano said the use of marijuana as medicine goes back to thousands of years ago in traditional Chinese and Indian medicine.
“Modern research has confirmed the beneficial uses of cannabis in treating and alleviating the pain, nausea and other symptoms associated with a variety of debilitating medical conditions including cancer, multiple sclerosis, and HIV-AIDS as found by the National Institute of Medicine of the US in March, 1999,” Albano said in a statement.
But despite the support of some lawmakers, it is unlikely to pass in Congress a proposed measure that “alters the mind,” Speaker Feliciano Belmonte has said.
Despite legalizing the medical use of cannabis, the bill prohibits possession and smoking of marijuana, and other non-medical purposes.
It also prohibits using medical marijuana in public and driving a vehicle under the influence of marijuana.
Under the bill, the government should “legalize and regulate the medical use of cannabis which has been confirmed to have beneficial and therapeutic uses to treat chronic or debilitating disease or medical condition.”
The bill refers to diseases that cause the patient to suffer chronic pain, severe nausea, seizure, among others.
The bill also seeks to create a Medical Cannabis Regulatory Authority, which will be under the Department of Health.
The office would have the power to recommend doctors for patients needing medical marijuana, as well as issue identification cards to qualified patients, among others.
The bill also seeks to create a Medical Cannabis Compassionate Center, which is licensed to “acquire, possess, cultivate, manufacture, deliver, transfer, transport, sell, supply and dispense cannabis…”
Also, a Medical Cannabis Safety Compliance Facility will be set up under the authority to “conduct scientific and medical research on medical use of cannabis” and to “test services for its potency.”
A qualified “medical cannabis physician” should be the one attending the patients’ needs. The doctor, according to the bill, should have “professional knowledge on the use of medical cannabis.”
Qualified patients need to be issued identification cards to use medical marijuana.
In the explanatory note, the bill said “cannabis has many currently accepted medical uses in the US, having been recommended by thousands of licensed physicians and more than 500,000 patients in 21 states with medical marijuana laws.”
The bill said countries like US, Israel, Canada, the Netherlands, and the Czech Republic have medical cannabis laws that removed criminal sanctions against medical marijuana.
Other countries like Finland, Portugal, Spain and Luxembourg have decriminalized possession of cannabis, the bill added.
The Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 lists marijuana as among the illegal drugs in the country.
But, according to Albano, section 2 of the law states that “the government, shall, however, aim to achieve a balance in the national drug control program so that people with legitimate medical needs are not prevented from being treated with adequate amounts of appropriate medications, which include the use of dangerous drugs.”
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