Medical Marijuana Bill one step closer to Senate Plenary Debates

The combined Senate committees on Finance, Public Order and Dangerous Drugs, and Health and Demography delivered a committee report, which 13 senators approved, moving the measure forward in the Senate that aims to legalize medicinal marijuana in the Philippines.

As a result, Senate Bill 2573, also known as the “Cannabis Medicalization Act of the Philippines,” which is included in Committee Report No. 210, can now be sponsored for discussion in the Senate plenary.

Senators Bong Go, Sonny Angara, Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, and Robin Padilla—the primary author of the bill and chair of the panel that reviewed it—signed SB 2573.

JV Ejercito, Jinggoy Estrada, Mark Villar, Lito Lapid, Raffy Tulfo, Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr., Grace Poe, Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, and Majority Leader Joel Villanueva were among the other senators that signed the bill.

Go, Villar and Revilla stated they signed with misgivings, while Poe, Villanueva, Pimentel, and Estrada signed but stated they would interpellate.

The bill states that cannabis may be used medicinally “to treat or alleviate a qualified patient’s debilitating medical condition or symptoms.”

Cannabis will become medically acceptable if it is grown, possessed, transported, delivered, dispensed, administered, and manufactured by private persons or organizations only for medicinal and scientific uses.

Additionally, the bill would establish the Philippine Medical Cannabis Authority (PCMA) under the Department of Health, which will serve as the main oversight body for the usage and availability of medical cannabis as well as the execution of the proposed legislation.

Cannabis will become medically acceptable if it is grown, possessed, transported, delivered, dispensed, administered, and manufactured by private persons or organizations only for medicinal and scientific uses.

Additionally, the bill would establish the Philippine Medical Cannabis Authority (PCMA) under the Department of Health, which will serve as the main oversight body for the usage and availability of medical cannabis as well as the execution of the proposed legislation.

The PMCA will be required to create and approve a Comprehensive Cannabis Medicalization Plan; create and implement standard operating procedures for each step of the production of medical cannabis; and create and implement rules and regulations regarding the propagation, cultivation, planting, harvesting, processing, manufacturing, packaging, labeling, distribution, dispensing, and patient licenses and prescriptions, among other things.

By the proposed legislation, a Medical Cannabis Advisory Committee will also be established to offer guidance and support throughout the development, application, and evaluation of policies, guidelines, and regulations.

Patients who have been certified by a certifying physician as having a disabling medical condition and who may benefit therapeutically or palliatively from using medicinal cannabis are deemed eligible for its usage.

The proposed bill also covers exemptions from civil and criminal liability, prohibited acts, grounds for revocation of a prescription, testing of cannabis, cultivation, production, and manufacturing of cannabis, and penalties for violating the proposed measure.