CAMARINES Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte, one of the principal authors of the bill seeking to legalize the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, yesterday urged senators to give the proposed law a chance for the sake of suffering patients.

“With the House’s final approval of HB 10439, the only thing needed now is for our senators to pass the counterpart medical cannabis bill pending in their chamber, so we can hammer out a consolidated bill for submission to, and enactment into law by, President Marcos (Jr.) this third and final session of the 19th Congress,” he said in a statement.

The lawmaker is the lead author of House Bill No. 10439, which the House approved last week by a vote of 177-9 with nine abstentions. It seeks to create a Medical Cannabis Office (MDO) to regulate the supply, importation, production and sale of CBD, along with its alternative use as a painkiller or relaxant for qualified patients with debilitating and non-debilitating medical conditions as classified by the Department of Health (DOH).

The proposed “Access to Medical Cannabis Act seeks to delist cannabidiol (CBD), the non-addictive strain of cannabis sativa or the marijuana plant, from the list of prohibited dangerous drugs under Republic Act (RA) No. 9165 or the “Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.”

HB 10439 is a consolidated version of 10 bills seeking the lifting of the ban on the local use of CBD, including Villafuerte’s HB No. 4208 which he co-authored with fellow Camarines Sur Reps. Miguel Luis Villafuerte and Tsuyoshi Anthony Horibata along with Rep. Brian Yamsuan (PL, Bicol Saro).

Congressmen had also approved on the third and final reading of House Bill (HB) No. 6517 or the Philippine Compassionate Medical Cannabis Act in the 17th Congress but did not pass the Senate.

Villafuerte, however, said he is “more upbeat that the Congress will be able this time around to finally write a law allowing qualified patients with debilitating or non-debilitating diseases, as classified by the DOH, to use CBD as an alternative treatment for their maladies.”

He said Senate Bill (SB) No. 2573—or the Senate version of HB 10439 principally authored by Sen. Robinhood Padilla—has a good chance of passing in the Upper Chamber during the ongoing Third Regular Session because Committee Report No. 210 on CBD’s legalization has already been set for plenary discussions after being signed by 13 senators in the previous regular session.

Both HB 10439 and SB 2573 propose the creation of an MCO to oversee the licensing and use of CBD oil for medical purposes.

Alongside its benefit as an alternative medical treatment for certain diseases, Villafuerte said that HB 10439 clears the way for the establishment of a new industry in the production and trade of CBD oil products in the highly lucrative global market for medical cannabis.

Villafuerte explained that he has pushed in the past Congresses for the legalization of CBD because this oil is non-addictive and is different from tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is another active ingredient of cannabis sativa that has intoxicating or psychoactive qualities that produce the “high” or buzz for those who smoke or eat it.

“And because it is non-addictive, CBD oil has been proven safe for use by qualified patients as a painkiller or relaxant to alleviate their agonizing conditions like migraines, epilepsy, auto-immune diseases, multiple sclerosis and end-stage cancer, Villafuerte said.