Calls For Senate Approval Of Medical Cannabis Bill In The Philippines
Earlier this year the Philippines House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved HB 10439, a measure that would legalize certain medical cannabis therapeutic products in the Philippines in limited instances. The principal author of HB 10439 is National Unity Party president and Camarines Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte.
Voting 177-9-9, House approves on third and final reading HB 10439, which would provide right of access to medical cannabis and establish the Medical Cannabis Office.
Committee Report: https://t.co/dA4SHtYwKl
— House of Representatives of the Philippines (@HouseofRepsPH) July 30, 2024
Despite the overwhelming approval in the Philippines House of Representatives, the measure appears to have stalled now that it is being considered by the Philippines Senate. Representative Villafuerte is urging Senators to approve the measure with no further delays.
“With the House’s third and final approval of HB 10439 in the previous legislative session, what we only need now is for our senators to act on their counterpart measure, in the hope that we can come up with an enrolled bill for submission to, and enactment into law by, President Marcos this third and final session of the 19th Congress,” Villafuerte said according to local reporting by Politiko.
What is being proposed in the Philippines is the legalization of cannabidiol (CBD) in limited circumstances, which, compared to other medical cannabis legalization models found around the world, would still be very restrictive. Representative Villafuerte is hopeful that the international spread of reform will tip the scales in the Philippines.
“I am more upbeat that the Congress will be able this time around to finally write a law allowing qualified patients with debilitating diseases to use CBD as an alternative treatment for their afflictions, hoping that the UN CND’s recognition of non-addictive CBD will convince most of our senators to pass their measure (Senate Bill 2573) legalizing medical cannabis,” Villafuerte said.
According to a recent study conducted by researchers from Ukraine and France, and published by the U.S. National Institute of Health, 57 countries have adopted medical cannabis legalization measures.