Pro-marijuana Filipino lawmakers should just migrate to Canada, instead of pushing for the backdoor legalization of the highly addictive drug in the Philippines, Buhay Party-list Rep. Lito Atienza said on Monday.
“They are free to smoke as much poison as they want in Canada,” Atienza, the senior deputy minority leader, said.
“There’s nothing we can do if other countries want to destroy themselves and turn their citizens into zombie-like creatures,” Atienza said.
“But here, we will fight tooth and nail any and all initiatives to decriminalize marijuana, whether for supposed medical or recreational purposes,” Atienza, a former three-term mayor of Manila, said.
Canada is set to create a legal market for marijuana after lawmakers there passed a bill allowing the recreational use of the drug known to contain brain-altering chemicals that change perception, mood, consciousness, cognition and behavior.
The World Health Organization considers marijuana a toxic and harmful substance that produces a dangerous dependency in users.
Atienza has been fighting to suppress the passage of House Bill 6517, or the proposed Act Providing Filipinos Right of Access to Medical Marijuana or Cannabis.
The bill is now subject to floor debate after it was endorsed by the House committee on health for plenary approval.
“There’s no point in legalizing medical marijuana because the Dangerous Drugs Board already allows specially licensed Filipino physicians to prescribe, when needed, highly potent painkillers such as morphine and Fentanyl,” Atienza said.
At present, marijuana is classified as a prohibited substance, just like shabu or methamphetamine hydrochloride, cocaine and heroin, under the Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
Under the law, mere possession of at least 500 grams of marijuana, or at least 10 grams of marijuana resin or resin oil, is punishable by life in prison plus a fine of up to P10 million.
Carrying lesser quantities of the drug is punishable by 12 to 20 years in prison plus a fine of up to P500,000.