Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, or Republic Act No. 9165, is a consolidation of Senate Bill No. 1858 and House Bill No. 4433. It was enacted and passed by the Senate of the Philippines and House of Representatives of the Philippines on May 30, 2002 and May 29, 2002, respectively. It was signed into law by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on June 7, 2002.

This Act repealed Republic Act No. 6425, otherwise known as the Dangerous Drugs Act of 1972, as amended, and providing funds for its implementation. Under this Act, the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) remains as the policy-making and strategy-formulating body in planning and formulation of policies and program on drug prevention and control.

It also created the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) under the Office of the President, which serves as the implementing arm of the DDB, shall be responsible for the efficient and effective law enforcement of all the provisions on any dangerous drugs, controlled precursors and essential chemicals as provided in this Act.

An Act Instituting the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, Repealing Republic Act No. 6425, Otherwise Known as the Dangerous Drugs Act of 1972, as Amended, Providing Funds Therefor, and for Other Purposes

Republic Act No. 9165

Congress of the Philippines

7 June 2002

Republic of the Philippines

Congress of the Philippines

Metro Manila

Twelfth Congress

First Regular Session

Begun and held in Metro Manila, on Monday, the twenty-third day of July, two thousand and one.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled:

Section 1. Short Title.— This Act shall be known and cited as the “Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002”.

Section 2. Declaration of Policy.— It is the policy of the State to safeguard the integrity of its territory and the well-being of its citizenry particularly the youth, from the harmful effects of dangerous drugs on their physical and mental well-being, and to defend the same against acts or omissions detrimental to their development and preservation. In view of the foregoing, the State needs to enhance further the efficacy of the law against dangerous drugs, it being one of today’s more serious social ills.

Toward this end, the government shall pursue an intensive and unrelenting campaign against the trafficking and use of dangerous drugs and other similar substances through an integrated system of planning, implementation and enforcement of anti-drug abuse policies, programs, and projects. The government shall however 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.

It is further declared the policy of the State to provide effective mechanisms or measures to re-integrate into society individuals who have fallen victims to drug abuse or dangerous drug dependence through sustainable programs of treatment and rehabilitation.

Article I

Definition of Terms

Section 3. Definitions.— As used in this Act, the following terms shall mean:

(a) Administer.— Any act of introducing any dangerous drug into the body of any person, with or without his/her knowledge, by injection, inhalation, ingestion or other means, or of committing any act of indispensable assistance to a person in administering a dangerous drug to himself/herself unless administered by a duly licensed practitioner for purposes of medication.

(b) Board.— Refers to the Dangerous Drugs Board under Section 77, Article IX of this Act.

(c) Centers.— Any of the treatment and rehabilitation centers for drug dependents referred to in Section 75, Article VIII of this Act.

(d) Chemical Diversion.— The sale, distribution, supply or transport of legitimately imported, in-transit, manufactured or procured controlled precursors and essential chemicals, in diluted, mixtures or in concentrated form, to any person or entity engaged in the manufacture of any dangerous drug, and shall include packaging, repackaging, labeling, relabeling or concealment of such transaction through fraud, destruction of documents, fraudulent use of permits, misdeclaration, use of front companies or mail fraud.

(e) Clandestine Laboratory.— Any facility used for the illegal manufacture of any dangerous drug and/or controlled precursor and essential chemical.

(f) Confirmatory Test.— An analytical test using a device, tool or equipment with a different chemical or physical principle that is more specific which will validate and confirm the result of the screening test.

(g) Controlled Delivery.— The investigative technique of allowing an unlawful or suspect consignment of any dangerous drug and/or controlled precursor and essential chemical, equipment or paraphernalia, or property believed to be derived directly or indirectly from any offense, to pass into, through or out of the country under the supervision of an authorized officer, with a view to gathering evidence to identify any person involved in any dangerous drugs related offense, or to facilitate prosecution of that offense.

(h) Controlled Precursors and Essential Chemicals.— Include those listed in Tables I and II of the 1988 UN Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances as enumerated in the attached annex, which is an integral part of this Act.

(i) Cultivate or Culture.— Any act of knowingly planting, growing, raising, or permitting the planting, growing or raising of any plant which is the source of a dangerous drug.

(j) Dangerous Drugs.— Include those listed in the Schedules annexed to the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, as amended by the 1972 Protocol, and in the Schedules annexed to the 1971 Single Convention on Psychotropic Substances as enumerated in the attached annex which is an integral part of this Act.

(k) Deliver.— Any act of knowingly passing a dangerous drug to another, personally or otherwise, and by any means, with or without consideration.

(l) Den, Dive or Resort.— A place where any dangerous drug and/or controlled precursor and essential chemical is administered, delivered, stored for illegal purposes, distributed, sold or used in any form.

(m) Dispense.— Any act of giving away, selling or distributing medicine or any dangerous drug with or without the use of prescription.

(n) Drug Dependence.— As based on the World Health Organization definition, it is a cluster of physiological, behavioral and cognitive phenomena of variable intensity, in which the use of psychoactive drug takes on a high priority thereby involving, among others, a strong desire or a sense of compulsion to take the substance and the difficulties in controlling substance-taking behavior in terms of its onset, termination, or levels of use.

(o) Drug Syndicate.— Any organized group of two (2) or more persons forming or joining together with the intention of committing any offense prescribed under this Act.

(p) Employee of Den, Dive or Resort.— The caretaker, helper, watchman, lookout, and other persons working in the den, dive or resort, employed by the maintainer, owner and/or operator where any dangerous drug and/or controlled precursor and essential chemical is administered, delivered, distributed, sold or used, with or without compensation, in connection with the operation thereof.

(q) Financier.— Any person who pays for, raises or supplies money for, or underwrites any of the illegal activities prescribed under this Act.

(r) Illegal Trafficking.— The illegal cultivation, culture, delivery, administration, dispensation, manufacture, sale, trading, transportation, distribution, importation, exportation and possession of any dangerous drug and/or controlled precursor and essential chemical.

(s) Instrument.— Any thing that is used in or intended to be used in any manner in the commission of illegal drug trafficking or related offenses.

(t) Laboratory Equipment.— The paraphernalia, apparatus, materials or appliances when used, intended for use or designed for use in the manufacture of any dangerous drug and/or controlled precursor and essential chemical, such as reaction vessel, preparative/purifying equipment, fermentors, separatory funnel, flask, heating mantle, gas generator, or their substitute.

(u) Manufacture.— The production, preparation, compounding or processing of any dangerous drug and/or controlled precursor and essential chemical, either directly or indirectly or by extraction from substances of natural origin, or independently by means of chemical synthesis or by a combination of extraction and chemical synthesis, and shall include any packaging or repackaging of such substances, design or configuration of its form, or labeling or relabeling of its container; except that such terms do not include the preparation, compounding, packaging or labeling of a drug or other substances by a duly authorized practitioner as an incident to his/her administration or dispensation of such drug or substance in the course of his/her professional practice including research, teaching and chemical analysis of dangerous drugs or such substances that are not intended for sale or for any other purpose.

(v) Cannabis or commonly known as “Marijuana” or “Indian Hemp” or by its any other name.— Embraces every kind, class, genus, or specie of the plant Cannabis sativa L. including, but not limited to, Cannabis americana, hashish, bhang, guaza, churrus and ganjab, and embraces every kind, class and character of marijuana, whether dried or fresh and flowering, flowering or fruiting tops, or any part or portion of the plant and seeds thereof, and all its geographic varieties, whether as a reefer, resin, extract, tincture or in any form whatsoever.

(w) Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) or commonly known as “Ecstasy”, or by its any other name.— Refers to the drug having such chemical composition, including any of its isomers or derivatives in any form.

(x) Methamphetamine Hydrochloride or commonly known as “Shabu”, “Ice”, “Meth”, or by its any other name.— Refers to the drug having such chemical composition, including any of its isomers or derivatives in any form.

(y) Opium.— Refers to the coagulated juice of the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum L.) and embraces every kind, class and character of opium, whether crude or prepared; the ashes or refuse of the same; narcotic preparations thereof or therefrom; morphine or any alkaloid of opium; preparations in which opium, morphine or any alkaloid of opium enters as an ingredient; opium poppy; opium poppy straw; and leaves or wrappings of opium leaves, whether prepared for use or not.

(z) Opium Poppy.— Refers to any part of the plant of the species Papaver somniferum L., Papaver setigerum DC, Papaver orientale, Papaver bracteatum and Papaver rhoeas, which includes the seeds, straws, branches, leaves or any part thereof, or substances derived therefrom, even for floral, decorative and culinary purposes.

(aa) PDEA.— Refers to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency under Section 82, Article IX of this Act.

(bb) Person.— Any entity, natural or juridical, including among others, a corporation, partnership, trust or estate, joint stock company, association, syndicate, joint venture or other unincorporated organization or group capable of acquiring rights or entering into obligations.

(cc) Planting of Evidence.— The willful act by any person of maliciously and surreptitiously inserting, placing, adding or attaching directly or indirectly, through any overt or covert act, whatever quantity of any dangerous drug and/or controlled precursor and essential chemical in the person, house, effects or in the immediate vicinity of an innocent individual for the purpose of implicating, incriminating or imputing the commission of any violation of this Act.

(dd) Practitioner.— Any person who is a licensed physician, dentist, chemist, medical technologist, nurse, midwife, veterinarian or pharmacist in the Philippines.

(ee) Protector/Coddler.— Any person who knowingly and willfully consents to the unlawful acts provided for in this Act and uses his/her influence, power or position in shielding, harboring, screening or facilitating the escape of any person he/she knows, or has reasonable grounds to believe on or suspects, has violated the provisions of this Act in order to prevent the arrest, prosecution and conviction of the violator.

(ff) Pusher.— Any person who sells, trades, administers, dispenses, delivers or gives away to another, on any terms whatsoever, or distributes, dispatches in transit or transports dangerous drugs or who acts as a broker in any of such transactions, in violation of this Act.

(gg) School.— Any educational institution, private or public, undertaking educational operation for pupils/students pursuing certain studies at defined levels, receiving instructions from teachers, usually located in a building or a group of buildings in a particular physical or cyber site.

(hh) Screening Test.— A rapid test performed to establish potential/presumptive positive result.

(ii) Sell.— Any act of giving away any dangerous drug and/or controlled precursor and essential chemical whether for money or any other consideration.

(jj) Trading.— Transactions involving the illegal trafficking of dangerous drugs and/or controlled precursors and essential chemicals using electronic devices such as, but not limited to, text messages, e-mail, mobile or landlines, two-way radios, internet, instant messengers and chat rooms or acting as a broker in any of such transactions whether for money or any other consideration in violation of this Act.

(kk) Use.— Any act of injecting, intravenously or intramuscularly, of consuming, either by chewing, smoking, sniffing, eating, swallowing, drinking or otherwise introducing into the physiological system of the body, any of the dangerous drugs.

Article III

Dangerous Drugs Test and Record Requirements

Drug test certificates issued by accredited drug testing centers shall be valid for a one-year period from the date of issue which may be used for other purposes. The following shall be subjected to undergo drug testing:

(a) Applicants for driver’s license.— No driver’s license shall be issued or renewed to any person unless he/she presents a certification that he/she has undergone a mandatory drug test and indicating thereon that he/she is free from the use of dangerous drugs;

(b) Applicants for firearm’s license and for permit to carry firearms outside of residence.— All applicants for firearm’s license and permit to carry firearms outside of residence shall undergo a mandatory drug test to ensure that they are free from the use of dangerous drugs: Provided, That all persons who by the nature of their profession carry firearms shall undergo drug testing;

(c) Students of secondary and tertiary schools.— Students of secondary and tertiary schools shall, pursuant to the related rules and regulations as contained in the school’s student handbook and with notice to the parents, undergo a random drug testing: Provided, That all drug testing expenses whether in public or private schools under this Section will be borne by the government;

(d) Officers and employees of public and private offices.— Officers and employees of public and private offices, whether domestic or overseas, shall be subjected to undergo a random drug test as contained in the company’s work rules and regulations, which shall be borne by the employer, for purposes of reducing the risk in the workplace. Any officer or employee found positive for use of dangerous drugs shall be dealt with administratively which shall be a ground for suspension or termination, subject to the provisions of Article 282 of the Labor Code and pertinent provisions of the Civil Service Law;

(e) Officers and members of the military, police and other law enforcement agencies.— Officers and members of the military, police and other law enforcement agencies shall undergo an annual mandatory drug test;

(f) All persons charged before the prosecutor’s office with a criminal offense having an imposable penalty of imprisonment of not less than six (6) years and one (1) day shall have to undergo a mandatory drug test; and

(g) All candidates for public office whether appointed or elected both in the national or local government shall undergo a mandatory drug test.

In addition to the above stated penalties in this Section, those found to be positive for dangerous drugs use shall be subject to the provisions of Section 15 of this Act.

Section 15. Use of Dangerous Drugs.— A person apprehended or arrested, who is found to be positive for use of any dangerous drug, after a confirmatory test, shall be imposed a penalty of a minimum of six (6) months rehabilitation in a government center for the first offense, subject to the provisions of Article VIII of this Act. If apprehended using any dangerous drug for the second time, he/she shall suffer the penalty of imprisonment ranging from six (6) years and one (1) day to twelve (12) years and a fine ranging from Fifty thousand pesos (₱50,000.00) to Two hundred thousand pesos (₱200,000.00): Provided, That this Section shall not be applicable where the person tested is also found to have in his/her possession such quantity of any dangerous drug provided for under Section 11 of this Act, in which case the provisions stated therein shall apply.