The main proponent of the proposed “Access To Medical Cannabis Act,” National Unity Party president and former Camarines Sur representative Luis Raymund Villafuerte, expressed “high hopes” that the measure has a fighting chance in the 20th Congress.
Villafuerte expressed optimism after Sen. Robin Padilla, author of the bill’s Senate version in the 19th Congress, refiled it as one of his 10 priority measures when the 20th Congress opened last June 30.
The former Camarines Sur congressman was the lead author of the medical cannabis bill in the three previous Congresses, where he had served as representative of the province’s second district.
“With Sen. Robin (Padilla) refiling his version of this measure, I have high hopes that the medical cannabis bill has a shot this time around at getting finally ratified by the 2oth Congress and then signed into law by President Marcos,” Villafuerte said.
The House of Representatives passed House Bill 10439 in 2024, but its Senate counterpart got stuck at the plenary level before the 19th Congress adjourned sine die.
“The hoped-for enactment of a law legalizing the use of CBD or cannabidiol (cannabis oil) exclusively for medical or therapeutic purposes will allow Filipinos suffering from cancer and other severe ailments to use the non-addictive strain of the marijuana (cannabis) plant as a legal alternative and relatively more affordable pain reliever for Filipinos hurting from debilitating medical conditions as listed by the DOH (Department of Health),” Villafuerte said.
These “debilitating medical conditions” include cancer, multiple sclerosis, damage to the nervous system, glaucoma, positive status for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), rheumatoid arthritis, and other ailments identified by the DOH.
