Perhaps the most misunderstood, much maligned substance that humans have been consuming throughout recorded history is the plant cannabis.

Scientifically named cannabis sativa, it has been used as traditional medicine in India and China for ages.

Its popularity spread worldwide in the 1960s, when hippies began smoking it to get high — achieving a state of bliss that gave birth to the catchphrase, "Peace, man."

However, it became notorious as marijuana — when the United States declared it illegal in 1970, and which the Philippines adapted in its laws.

Today cannabis is legal for medical use in 47 countries, and its recreational use is allowed in some 10 countries, and 19 states in America.

Is it also time for the Philippines to take another look at cannabis and change its status from a prohibited drug into a regulated substance?

Advocates supporting its legalization in the country this week issued a statement presenting its arguments — in light of public attention on the arrest of Juanito Remulla III, the justice secretary's eldest son who was caught receiving a delivery of kush (high-grade cannabis) from the US.

Advocates have raised the following points:
• The law regulating cannabis in the Philippines has a fundamental flaw: the penalty is far more devastating than the worst effect of cannabis use. Under RA 9165 (The Comprehensive Drugs Act of 2002), possession of cannabis – depending on quantity – can be punished by fines ranging from P500,000 to P10 million plus life imprisonment, and the death penalty (should it ever be reinstated). But there is no death recorded anywhere in the world for cannabis use.

• People possessing or cultivating tiny amounts of marijuana can be punished under these harsh provisions. This applies to cases of non-violent drug users. It is especially tragic when people who illegally acquire it for medical use are punished for seeking relief from disease.

• The poor are the main victims of the war on drugs. Thousands have died in the tokhang operations of the past regime. The wanton disrespect for human rights and due process by the war on drugs stands in stark contrast to how Juanito Remulla was treated by law enforcers. The impunity in drug-related killings has made us strangers to due process and constitutionally protected rights.
• The amount of marijuana in question — 893.1 grams — in the case of Remulla could be tantamount to life imprisonment and a fine of up to P40M. We do not wish for Juanito Remulla the barbarity of the drug war. We pray that all drug suspects be treated with justice and respect for their rights.

• Many countries have taken a more enlightened policy on drug use. Uruguay, states in the USA, other European countries, and now Thailand have allowed the medical and even the adult or "recreational" use of cannabis. US President Joe Biden recently declared a general pardon for all those convicted of the federal crime of simple marijuana possession. He also called for a review of marijuana scheduling under federal law.

• There is no more debate on whether cannabis has medical use. The United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs now fully recognizes the medical value of cannabis. In December 2020, they deleted cannabis and cannabis resin from Schedule IV of the 1961 Convention. There are bills allowing medical access to cannabis in the current 19th Congress of the Philippines: six in the House of Representatives and one in the Senate. The shift toward legalization has slowly been underway.

In 2020, I interviewed  Dangerous Drugs Board Usec. Benjie Reyes, who confirmed his office had approved "in principle" a resolution to allow the use of cannabidiol for alleviating severe forms of epilepsy.

The DDB is the government's policy-making and strategy-formulating body on the prevention and control of drug abuse.
In my story, I said: "Among hundreds of components in cannabis, CBD, a pain reliever, is one of the two most active, the other being tetrahydrocannabinol which produces the 'high' or its psychoactive effects.

"A report by the World Health Organization says: 'In humans, CBD exhibits no effects indicative of any abuse or dependence potential … To date, there is no evidence of public health-related problems associated with the use of pure CBD.'

I also pointed out there has been scientific proof that CBD — which is derived from the hemp plant, a "cousin" of cannabis — alleviates seizures in people with epilepsy.

Dr. Orrin Devinsky, a professor of neurology, neurosurgery and psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine and director of NYU Langone's Comprehensive Epilepsy Center, found proof.

"This new study adds rigorous evidence of cannabidiol's effectiveness in reducing seizure burden in a severe form of epilepsy and, importantly, is the first study of its kind to offer more information on proper dosing," said Devinsky, whose findings were published online on 17 May 2018, in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Reyes, a DDB permanent member, went on record to say that "the WHO has recommended to the Commission on Narcotic Drugs — the DDB's counterpart in the United Nations — to allow CBD with 0.2 percent THC to be reclassified in the 1971 United Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances as Schedule 4, or substance with currently accepted medical use in treatment and has a low potential for abuse."

The Philippines is a signatory to the UN Convention on Psychotropic Drugs.

More details in my report:

"In a quick turn of events in 2018, the United States Drug Enforcement Agency approved the legal use of CBD with 0.1 percent THC.

"In the same year, the US Food and Drug Administration approved the legal use of Epidiolex, a CBD oral solution manufactured by GW Pharmaceuticals, for the treatment of seizures associated with two rare and severe forms of epilepsy — Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and Dravet syndrome
— in patients two years of age and older.

"This is the first FDA-approved drug that contains a purified substance derived from cannabis. It is also the first FDA approval of a drug for the treatment of patients with Dravet syndrome.

"This approval serves as a reminder that advancing sound development programs that properly evaluate active ingredients contained in marijuana can lead to important medical therapies. And, the FDA is committed to this kind of careful scientific research and drug development," said FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb, who is a doctor.

I also mentioned there were "an estimated 250,000 children in the Philippines, as of 2014, suffering from epileptic seizure disorder, according to Dr. Donnabel Cunanan, a dentist and founding member and spokesperson for the Philippine Cannabis Compassion Society, the lead advocate of House Bill 279."

But Reyes said, at the time, "Our position is, there is no need for a bill. It can hasten (the process), if the legislature will pass the bill. We don't have to wait for the CND decision because our local laws will take precedence.

"But even without the law, as long as it's in medicine form, it (CBD) can be registered," he said. "Just like opiates, morphine, those are dangerous drugs, but in medicine form, it can be used. Cocaine is used for anesthesia."