Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte expressed hopes that the 19th Congress–in its last regular session–will finally approve the medical cannabis bill which proposes to provide some relief to sufferers of severe ailments.
Villafuerte also said he is optimistic following the approval by the House of Representatives on third and final reading of House Bill 10439, or the Access to Medical Cannabis Act, delisting cannabidiol (CBD)—the non-addictive strain of cannabis sativa or the marijuana plant—from the list of prohibited dangerous drugs under Republic Act 9165 or the “Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.”
Villafuerte is a lead author of HB 10439, which was approved recently by the House of Representatives by a vote of 177-9 with nine abstentions.
The measure provides for the establishment of a Medical Cannabis Office (MDO) to regulate the supply, importation, production, and sale of CBD, along with its alternative use as a painkiller or relaxant for qualified patients with debilitating and non-debilitating medical conditions as classified by the Department of Health (DOH).
“With the House’s final approval of HB 10439, the only thing needed now is for the Senate to pass the counterpart medical cannabis bill that is pending in the chamber, so we can hammer out a consolidated bill for submission to, and enactment into law by, President Marcos this third and final session of the 19th Congress,” said Villafuerte, a longtime advocate of the legalization of CBD oil strictly for medical purposes only.
“Hence, I am more upbeat that the Congress will be able this time around to finally write a law allowing qualified patients with debilitating or non-debilitating diseases, as classified by the DOH, to use CBD as an alternative treatment for their maladies,” Villafuerte said.
Villafuerte noted that Senate Bill 2573—or the Senate version of HB 10439 principally authored by Senator Robinhood Padilla—has a good chance of passing in that chamber this third legislative session because the Committee Report 210 on CBD’s legalization had been set for plenary discussions after being signed by 13 senators in the previous regular session.
