DOH chief to look into legislation on medical marijuana

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Health (DOH) will study a proposal of some lawmakers to legalize the medical use of marijuana in the country, Health Secretary Janette Garin said yesterday.

According to Garin, the DOH will be reviewing the proposal, “but moreover, we are relying on the proponents of this measure.”

She said the DOH reserves its opinion on medical marijuana, saying that it still has to look into House Bill 4477 or “The Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Act,” which seeks the legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes.

“There have been clamors by some doctors, especially for those who really need it and especially the affected families. But there are questions on how we are going to police it, how it cannot be abused. These are the aspects that we are looking into,” Garin told reporters.

The DOH wants to know the extent of coverage of medical marijuana and the diseases covered by it, among others.

“Before when this was proposed, there were some questions that were not answered. And of course we have to ask other agencies for our preparedness,” she noted.

Garin added that while the intention of proposing medical marijuana is good, the DOH is also considering if it is practical and doable.

Local medical experts, however, urged lawmakers to scrap House Bill 4477 for being inefficient and unnecessary.

Philippine College of Physicians (PCP) foundation president Dr. Anthony Leachon said that they previously talked to the proponents of House Bill 4477, but the experts were just ignored.

La Union Rep. Eufranio Eriguel, chairman of the committee on health, said that a technical working group would be created to draft the panel’s version of HB 4477.

Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano III, principal author of Bill 4477, welcomed the committee’s decision.

Leachon said that the committee on health of the House of Representatives should have invited medical experts to their technical working group as the bill tackles  the medical uses of marijuana.

Should legislators push through with the bill, Leachon said the PCP would ask President Aquino to oppose the proposed legalization of medical marijuana.

He said that they also wanted to call the attention of Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo, Caloocan Rep. Egay Erice and Senators Pia Cayetano, Teofisto Guingona and Grace Poe to the issue. He said that they would also ask help from Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. and Senate President Franklin Drilon.

“We need serious leaders and we don’t want irresponsible legislators. If they really care for this country then the first thing they should do is scrap this bill,” Leachon said at a health forum in Quezon City.

“Our country is on the edge of chaos. We need serious leaders and we need serious people because our problems are bigger right now than any other time in history,” he added.

Aside from PCP, the Philippine Medical Association, Child Neurology Society of the Philippines, Group for Addiction Psychiatry of the Philippines, Pain Society of the Philippines, Philippine League Against Epilepsy, Inc., Philippine Neurological Association, Philippine Psychiatric Association, Philippine Society of Clinical and Occupational Toxicology, UP-PGH National Poison Management and Control Center and the Philippine Society of General Internal Medicine reportedly strongly opposed HB 4477. With Robertzon Ramirez