Lawmaker admits marijuana use, claims it has no adverse side effects

A lawmaker on Tuesday sought to drum up support for his pet bill legalizing the use of marijuana for medical purposes by admitting that he had used the drug in his youth.

Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano III amused several of his colleagues and guests at the hearing of the House Committee on Health on House Bill 4477 with his colorful tale of marijuana use in his younger years.

He opened up about his experience in experimenting with marijuana to dispel misconceptions that it is a “gateway drug” that will cause users to try other illegal substances.

“Ang kinatatakutan nilang ito ay magiging gateway drug— ako gumamit ng marijuana noon, hindi ako naadik. Hindi ako nag-cocaine o shabu,” Albano said.

Though he had experienced getting various kinds of “highs” after experimenting with different kinds of marijuana, the lawmaker said nothing bad happened to him after trying out the drug.

“Wala namang nangyari sa akin because of my experience with marijuana. Lumakas lang siguro akong kumain,” he said.

Fear of the unknown

Albano, the primary author of HB 4477, said he shared his experience to prove that the fuss over the use of marijuana is grounded on “the fear of the unknown.”

“Hindi natin alam kung ano talaga itong drug na ito. Dapat huwag muna nating husgahan itong drug na ito. Dapat i-research ito. Kung may beneficial effects ito, dapat ibigay natin sa mga taong nangangailangan nito,” he said.

HB 4477, otherwise known as the proposed Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Act, seeks to legalize and regulate the medical use of cannabis, more commonly known as marijuana, to aid the treatment of patients with debilitating medical conditions.

The medical conditions that will necessitate the use of dangerous drugs are:

• cachexia or wasting syndrome
• severe and chronic pain
• severe nausea
• seizures, including but not limited to those characteristic of epilepsy
• severe and persistent muscle spasms, including but not limited to those associated with multiple sclerosis

Albano said the bill is intended to benefit patients and their kin who seek an alternative treatment to pharmaceutical drugs for their illnesses, which sometimes do little to improve their condition.

"We're not espousing the use of recreational marijuana even to the youth because may lethargic effect din 'yan. Pero ang point ko is, hindi kriminal lahat ng taong gumagamit ng marijuana," he said.

No smoking

To allay fears on the abuse of medical marijuana, Albano said the bill explicitly prohibits administering the drug through smoking.

“The cannabis would be given in purified form. There will be no paraphernalia used like in shabu to avoid pot sessions,” he said.

Albano reiterated that HB 4477 does not decriminalize the use of marijuana but only seeks to create “a limited and narrow exception” to the country’s criminal and civil laws to allow a physician to recommend medical cannabis to qualified patients.

“In other words, the bill is only for medical, not recreational purposes,” he said.

No definition of medical marijuana

The Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB), however, put its foot down and said it is opposed to the bill’s passage because marijuana “is a dangerous drug detrimental to public health and welfare.”

DDB Undersecretary Jose Marlowe Pedragosa clarified that the board is not against medical marijuana per se but requires such drugs to be registered as such before being imported or administered.

He criticized the bill for failing to define medical marijuana.

“I’ve been trying to digest the bill. It doesn’t define medical marijuana… [It] should be defined and should be a pharmacological product approved by various authorities,” he said.

Dr. Chuck Manansala of the Medical Cannabis Research Center said there is nothing wrong with using marijuana for medical purposes since it is considered a medicinal plant.

“Cannabis is medicine, and our people have the right to health,” he said.

Manansala noted that several multinational pharmaceutical companies have been investing millions of dollars into research on how to harness cannabis’ medicinal properties.

While acknowledging marijuana’s healing benefits, Dr. Minerva Calimag of the University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Medicine and Surgery said the plant will only alleviate symptoms of patients with debilitating diseases.

“We don’t see our patients having seizure or feeling pain. But that’s because they’ve become euphoric, she said. —KBK, GMA News