Cordillera reg’l council backs medical marijuana legalization
>> Wednesday, January 2, 2019
By Pamela Mariz
Geminiano
BAGUIO
CITY -- Cordillera’s top governing body, the Regional Development Council,
is throwing its support behind the legalization of marijuana for medical
purposes.
“No problem if it will
be utilized for medical treatment,” RDC Chairman and Baguio City Mayor Mauricio
Domogan said at the council's 4th quarter meeting here on Wednesday.
Cordillera
is known to host abundant high-grade marijuana, with the weed growing naturally
in the highland's mountains.
The RDC’s action came
after newly-crowned Miss Universe Catriona Gray of the Philippines said she is
in favor of the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes during the
pageant’s question and answer portion.
"Personally,
in the medical aspect, we can use marijuana extract to address terminal
diseases like cancer,” Domogan said, hastening to add the dangers that must be
looked into.
“The main problem here
is the plantation. It should be strictly government-controlled. Otherwise, it
will be subject to abuse," he, however, pointed out. “If we will allow
private individuals to cultivate marijuana, then that will be a big problem.
For example, if rice is no longer profitable, then they might replace it with marijuana."
Dr. Amelita Pangilinan,
officer in charge of the Department of Health office in Cordillera, said during
the meeting that the Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health
Care (PITAHC) did a number of studies presenting the benefits of alternative
medicines like marijuana.
The physician, however,
clarified that it is the extract from the leaves, not the leaf itself, should
be consumed by patients for medical purposes.
"Of course, we need
to develop a technology that will help us to extract ‘hashish’ from the
leaves," Pangilinan told members of the RDC composed of regional directors
of the different line agencies, the private sector representatives, and local
chief executives of the six provinces and two cities of Cordillera.
Pangilinan said that
before, some people cultivated marijuana in their backyards for personal
medical needs, specifically, to ease chronic pain.
The physician, however,
cautioned that if the bill in Congress seeking to allow the use of marijuana
for medical purposes is approved, it must be accompanied by policies based on
operational research, which is evidence-based.
“I had a patient, who
had cancer whose pain cannot be relieved by morphine.
Someone gave her
marijuana to ease the pain and it did help the patient,” another medical doctor
member of the RDC, Dr. Julie Cabato, related during the meeting.
Cabato said this made
her support the legalization of medical marijuana provided it will be regulated
and will not be used for recreation. -- PNA
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