Philippines: Market and legal data analysis of the cannabis sector

8th February 2024: Philippines: Two House of Representatives committees, the Committee on Dangerous Drugs and the Committee on Health, have jointly approved a bill that would allow cannabis for medical use, press reports. Under the measure, medical cannabis would only be prescribed by doctors to patients with specific medical conditions. Other details were not provided. The bill will undergo final corrections between the committees before being sent to the plenary.
18th December 2023: Philippines: Health secretary Teodoro Herbosa has supported the legalisation of medical cannabis in a forum last Friday (15th December), press reports. "On medical marijuana, my personal position, and I guess now the Department of Health's position, is that we are supportive of bills that will legalise medical use or medical indication of marijuana", he added. However, Herbosa said the agency opposes the use of cannabis for recreational purposes. Some bills are currently being discussed in the parliament to remove cannabis from the list of dangerous drugs and provide easier access to medical cannabis.
26th October 2023: Philippines: House of Representatives member Luis Raymund “L-Ray” Villafuerte, from the minority National Unity Party, has asked Department of Health (DOH) secretary Ted Herbosa to help push for the legalisation of medical cannabis, press reports. The health secretary has backed Villafuerte’s position saying that the DOH is “in favour of the legalisation of medical use of marijuana and its products”. Villafuerte added that with Herbosa’s support he will appeal to the DOH to study the subject and push the issue. Currently, there are several bills in the House of Representatives that seek to legalise medical cannabis, all of which are pending in the Committee on Dangerous Drugs.
2nd August 2023: Philippines: The House of Representatives Health and Dangerous Drugs Committee has agreed to create a joint technical working group to draft measures to legalise the medical use of cannabis. The group will consolidate and discuss existing bills on the subject that aim to remove cannabis from the list of dangerous drugs and provide the right of access to it for medical purposes.
15th May 2023: Philippines: Former president and current member of the House of Representatives Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, from the majority centre-right party Lakas, has filed a bill to legalise the cultivation, importation, production and distribution of medical cannabis. Products would only be accessed by a special medical cannabis dispensary centre. The bill is currently being analysed by the Dangerous Drugs Committee.
21st February 2023: Philippines: Former House speaker Pantaleon Alvarez of the minority Party for Democratic Reform has filed a bill in the House of Representatives to remove cannabis and its derivatives from the list of dangerous drugs and decriminalise its cultivation and possession. The bill is pending in the Dangerous Drugs Committee.
14th December 2022: Philippines: At a hearing on the Medical Cannabis Compassionate Bill, some senators expressed concerns about the legalisation of medical cannabis, arguing that it could lead to abuses of illegal cannabis. However, senator Nancy Binay, of the majority bloc United Nationalist Alliance party, said the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) should draw up a processing system to facilitate access for patients while waiting for Congress to approve a law on legalisation. The bill is currently awaiting approval by the Health Committee.
22nd July 2022: Philippines: Senator Robinhood Padilla, from the center-left party PDP-Laban and with one of the majorities in the Senate, has filed a bill to legalise medical cannabis, press reports. Under the bill, the Department of Health would establish medical cannabis centres to treat patients. Currently, cannabis is illegal in the Philippines and access to cannabis-based medicines is very limited.
10th May 2022: Philippines: On the cusp of winning the presidential election, candidate Ferdinand Marcos Jr. recently told the press that he is in favour of legalising medicinal cannabis, which is currently not regulated and only accessible in very limited cases. Official vote counting started today and is expected to go on for a few days, despite already showing Marcos with a commanding vote margin.

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