THE Dangerous Drugs Board yesterday said that RA 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 needs to be amended to reclassify or downgrade marijuana as a prohibited substance so it could be used for medicinal purposes.
This was the statement made by Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, defending the proposed DDB budget for next year, on Sen. Robin Padilla’s interjection asking when the board would reclassify marijuana based on a decision by the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs in 2020.
“Ang sabi dito (It says here) ‘to allow CBD (Cannabidiol) with 0.2 percent THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol) to be declassified in the 1971 UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances as Scheduled For, or substance with currently accepted medical use for treatment and has a low potential for abuse,’” Padilla said, referring to the UN-CND decision in 2020 which downgraded marijuana by one level from the list of the world’s most dangerous drugs.
Padilla said when he conducted a hearing on his proposed Senate Bill No. 2573 or the Cannabis Medicalization Act of the Philippines early this year, the DDB and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency “promised us, they gave their word at that time that they would change and follow the advice of the World Health Organization and the UN regarding the rescheduling of cannabis.
“So, the question is, when will we receive the permission or documents from the DDB and PDEA that they will follow through on their promise to downgrade it (cannabis)?” Padilla said in Filipino.
Dela Rosa said the DDB is “doing everything” to downgrade the classification of marijuana “but we have to amend RA 9165 before we can do otherwise because marijuana was annexed in the law as one of the prohibited substances.”
He said the board is willing to cooperate but there should be a legal framework for the DDB to reclassify or downgrade marijuana.
“Ang problema kasi is puwede silang mag-reclassify kapag hindi siya naka-annex sa 9165. In this case, marijuana is annexed in RA 9165. Ang limitation ng power to reclassify, dapat matanggal muna sa annex bago ma-reclassify…So, gawin muna natin ay i-amend muna ang batas para matanggal. They promised they are in full support of our effort (The problem is that DDB cannot re-classify if a substance is annexed in RA 9165. In this case, marijuana is annexed in RA 9165. The DDB has limited power to re-classify. We should remove it from the annex before marijuana can be re-classified…So what we should do is to amend first the law so that it can be excluded from the list. They [DDB] promised full support with our effort),” Dela Rosa said.
The DDB earlier said that the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes needs a “compassionate use permit” from the board. So far, no local company has been given such a permit.
Padilla said marijuana nowadays is also known for its industrial use, and not for recreational purposes only, as what other countries like Canada, China, France, and the US, among others, are doing.
“Gusto ko malaman ninyong marami nang bansa (ang) nagtatanim at nagpapalaki ng marijuana. At may bansang pinapayagan nila ang hemp…Ito ang ginagamit para makagawa ng hemp concrete/wool/fiber board. Hindit ito usapin ng hithit o ka-adikan. Ito industrial ginagamit Japan meron nang hemp industry. Australia meron na rin (There are now many countries which cultivate marijuana. And there are countries which allow hemp…They use it to make hemp concrete/wool/fiber board. This is not all about smoking or getting addicted to it. Japan is also using it for industrial purposes, and so is Australia),” he added.
The DDB earlier said that while the UN-CND has removed cannabis or marijuana from Schedule IV of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, it will have no immediate impact in terms of drug control since the government still has jurisdiction in classifying and regulating cannabis at the domestic level.
“While cannabis has been removed from Schedule IV of the International Drug Control Convention, it remains a dangerous drug under Schedule 1. The convention limits exclusively to medical and scientific purposes the production, manufacture, export, import, distribution of, trade in, use, and possession of Schedule 1 substances,” the DDB said.
Substances included in the Schedule 1 list would mean that it has a “high potential for abuse and lacks accepted safety for use under medical supervision,” Schedule 2 means that they also have a high potential for abuse and may lead to severe psychological or physical dependence, Schedule 3 would mean that a substance has potential for abuse less than substances under Schedules 1 and 2, while Schedule 4 substances have a viable medical use and low probability of misuse.
