Press Release
February 18, 2020

On Cannabis

SENATE President Vicente Sotto III will not be raising any objection to the announcement of the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) that it has recently approved "in principle" a resolution authorizing the use of cannabidiol (CBD) for alleviating severe forms of epilepsy.

However, Sotto said his support will border on the assumption that the use of such "is in medicine form and conforms with DDB-PDEA (Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency) guidelines and permit."

With this development, Sotto reiterated there is no need for Congress to lose time and waste efforts to legislate a law that will make legal the use of cannabis for medical purposes.

"The DDB move proves the law being proposed in the HOR is unnecessary. There are more important proposed legislations that our honorable counterparts at the HOR should spend their time on. I hope they give priority to measures that will have more impact on the most number of our countrymen," Sotto said.

Besides, the Senate President added, the use of cannabis for medical purposes is already authorized under the country's Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act, which he noted sets down the policy that "the government shall aim to achieve a balance in the national drug control program so that people with legitimate medical needs are not prevented from being treated with adequate amounts of appropriate medications, which include the use of dangerous drugs."

The policy, he pointed out, is implemented through a circular issued by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) providing the guidelines for the issuance of a "compassionate special permit."

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