House panel OK’s marijuana bill
THE HOUSE dangerous drugs and health committees approved “in principle” on Wednesday a bill that would allow the use of cannabis or marijuana as medicine even without removing it from the country’s list of illegal drugs.
“The inclination of the joint committee is not to delist but to maintain cannabis among the list of prohibited drugs in Republic Act No. 9165 (Dangerous Drugs Act),” Batangas Rep. Gerville R. Luistro, who headed the technical working group (TWG) that fine-tuned the bill, told the hearing.
Under the measure, medical cannabis in pharmaceutical form will only be issued by doctors to patients with “debilitating diseases” or medical conditions that can cause severe weakness.
The proposed law, which sets guidelines on the legal and regulated prescription of medical cannabis for specific diseases, as well as safeguards to avoid its abuse, will undergo final corrections before being sent to the plenary.
The bill allows cannabis as treatment for such diseases as epilepsy, glaucoma, cancer, post-traumatic stress disorder, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), among others.
The joint committee also passed an amendment that allows cannabis as treatment against “non-debilitating diseases” like anxiety or severe insomnia.
The bill also seeks to establish the Medical Cannabis Office (MCO) which will regulate the issuance of permits and licenses to doctors, hospitals, drugstores, clinics, and dispensaries qualified to prescribe or release medical cannabis. The office will be an attached agency under the Department of Health.
Cannabis may only be prescribed by an accredited doctor that has complied with training and requirements specified in the bill.
“Not all medical practitioners will be given accreditation,” House dangerous drugs panel chairman and Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace S. Barbers told reporters after the hearing.
The Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) must also ensure that those allowed to prescribe or release medical cannabis are not under its drugs watchlist.
Offenders will be liable to a fine of as much as P1 million and up to six years of jail time.
Doctors found overprescribing or prescribing cannabis to unqualified patients also will have their medical license revoked.
Batanes Rep. Ciriaco B. Gato, Jr., who heads the House committee on health, said he supports the proposed law “with a strong reservation” on the local manufacture and cultivation of cannabis.
The joint panel has yet to include final revisions to the committee report of the measure and will be approved during the next hearing. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz