MEDICAL CANNABIS BILL APPROVED ON FINAL READING

The House Bill No. 10439 or the proposed Access to Medical Cannabis Act has been approved by the House of Representatives for third and final reading. The bill will allow the use of medical marijuana for the treatment of various illness.

On the plenary session, 177 lawmakers voted approved on the bill while nine were against and nine others abstained. According to one of the sponsor of the bill, Surigao del Norte Representative Robert Ace Barbers emphasized that the bill is only allowed to qualified patients and to making pharmaceutical products.

Use of marijuana for medical use in the country is now on the final reading in the House of Representatives (Photo courtesy of 7raysmarketing from Pixabay)

Debilitating and non-debilitating medical conditions states under the bill that allow the use of medical marijuana are: cancer, glaucoma; multiple sclerosis; damage to the nervous system of the spinal cord, with objective neurological indication of intractable spasticity; epilepsy; positive status for human immunodeficiency virus or acquired immune deficiency syndrome; post-traumatic stress disorder; rheumatoid arthritis "or similar chronic autoimmune inflammatory disorders," diseases that require hospice care admission; and other conditions that may be identified by the Department of Health through the Medical Cannabis Office (MCO).

The MCO will be under the Department of Health which will be the primary regulatory body for medical cannabis having administrative, regulatory and monitoring functions. And is responsible for ensuring that medical marijuana will not be abused and will solely be used for health purposes.

However, the bill prohibits the following acts: importation, cultivation, manufacture, storage and distribution of medical cannabis, its products, or derivative without permit from the MCO; selling of or trading with medical cannabis to patients, doctors, drugstores, hospitals, clinics, dispensaries and other medical facilities without authority, license or accreditation from the MCO;

Planting and growing for research and development without authority from the MCO; prescription and administration of medical cannabis by non-accredited physician; prescription and administration of medical cannabis for more than one year by accredited physician; use of medical cannabis without prescription or use beyond the prescribed dosage; and other analogous acts performed without authority by the MCO.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer

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