MarijuArticle #2: A Call for Help to my Country: An Opinion to Why the Philippines is Unprepared to Legalize Medical Cannabis!

"An Opinion to Why the Philippines is Unprepared to Legalize Medical Cannabis!"

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Hello there again steemit friends!

Today I’m gonna share with you my own thoughts and opinion about the legalization of medical cannabis in the Philippines and why we are unprepared for such campaign! You may also read my previous post about the history of medical cannabis use here: MarijuArticle #1: A Brief History of Medical Cannabis and its Recreational Use: Should Marijuana be Legal in the Philippines?.

Republic Act No. 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 prohibits the cultivation and use of marijuana or cannabis in any form whether medical or recreational purposes. Anyone who is caught violating and is proven guilty against this prohibition will suffer a serious consequence accordingly based on the degree of violation. Section 11 of the 2002 Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act states that;

The penalty of life imprisonment to death and a fine ranging from Five hundred thousand pesos (P500, 000.00) to Ten million pesos (P10, 000,000.00) shall be imposed upon any person, who, unless authorized by law, shall possess any dangerous drug in the following quantities, regardless of the degree of purity thereof:
(6) 10 grams or more of marijuana resin or marijuana resin oil; (7) 500 grams or more of marijuana;

A mere position of 10 grams marijuana oil or 500 grams of dried marijuana will put you to jail; and the sentence will be life imprisonment. A punishment of 20 years and 1 day imprisonment to life imprisonment if the quantity of marijuana oil is 5 grams or more but is less than 10 grams as well as if the quantity of dried marijuana is 300 grams or more but less than 500 grams. And lastly, an imprisonment of 12 years and 1 day to 20 years if the quantity of marijuana oil is less than 5 grams, also if the quantity of dried marijuana is less than 300 grams. Plus an additional fine of 400,000.00 to 500,000.00 pesos and 300,000.00 to 400,000.00 pesos for the respective violations with respect to quantity.

You can read the entire law here.

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This tight regulation of the Philippine government had demonized the plant to the extent that most of the new generations have no more knowledge or lack knowledge about its positive sides. Most of them only knew its psychedelic effects and stories; that its use would lead to insanity and it would indulge someone to kill even his love ones. Most of the youth today would never ever question the reliability of these stories.

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Even most of the mature people in the Philippines do not possessed enough knowledge about the plant. They would rather discourage the plant rather than encourage the youth to explore its benefits through research. With this continuous type of passing of information and judgment, the youth would rather believe this recognized description of the plant rather than having an interest to research on their own.

To me, given the facts that marijuana is much safer than alcohol and cigarette, that caffeine and nicotine are much more addictive than marijuana, and given its efficient medical effects, these penalties are unlawful! The fact that there has been no recorded case for someone dying due to marijuana overdose is just a proof that it is scientifically wrong to say that marijuana is extremely dangerous! However, I wouldn’t blame the previous lawmakers for creating such punishments as the majority of the research about marijuana in the past focused on its negative effects but the lawmakers of the present should take a look at this unlawfulness.

I call to all my foreigner friends, I encourage everyone who have exemplary knowledge about the benefits of cannabis to help me educate my fellow countrymen about its bright side by continually publishing articles about the benefits of this wonderful plant. Marijuana here in the Philippines is being compared to shabu or methamphetamine in terms of effects and dangers that it brought and that is just so ridiculous! Although I do not support the recreational use of marijuana, as to me, it is still early for that now!

I also encourage my fellow Filipino to seek the truth behind this prohibition. Google is free to use; research on your own and find out its wonder. Write everything that you learned about the plant, all even its negative effects, and educate our people by posting it online.

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I encourage you to read and support House Bill 180 or the Act Providing Compassionate and Right to Access to Medical Cannabis and Expanding Research into its Medical Properties.

Please support the bill by signing the petition here.

So far, there’ve been only 12, 000 people who signed the petition and that is about 1% of the 1,000,000 needed votes. I’ve already lost 2 beloved persons from cancer and I don’t want to lose anyone anymore.

I also encourage you to support our local cannabis advocate groups such as PORMAL or the Philippine Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, the PCCS or Philippine Cannabis Compassion Society and the Philippine Moms for Marijuana by liking and following their facebook page.

They are patients, they are parents, they are mothers and fathers, they are friends, they are love ones of patients with serious medical conditions! Let us help them have the freedom to have access to this efficient medicine! Let us help them lessen the pain that they feel!

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To @cryptopie, I will always pray for your health and for your recovery. To all the kindhearted people out there, I am humbly asking you to please help @cryptopie, he has a serious medical condition and he needs your immediate help! Please take time to visit his page.

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Thank you for taking the time reading my post! I hope that you learned something from it!