A few weeks ago, the topic of legalizing medical marijuana was brought up again in the legislative as Senator Robin Padilla addressed the senate on the medical benefits of the Cannabis plant and its potential revenue during the deliberation on the proposed national budget for 2023.

In his privilege speech, he proposed Senate Bill 230, an act granting access to medical Cannabis as a compassionate alternative means of medical treatment, while citing over 29,000 publications.

The benefits of medical marijuana

Marijuana, an herbal drug derived from the plant Cannabis sativa, is widely known for its pain-relieving effect and has been used for treating different conditions, including severe childhood epilepsy.

It has been shown that marijuana helps reduce pain sensation due to the presence of cannabinoid receptors in the peripheral nerves or pain detectors of the nervous system.

Many studies prove that Cannabis has analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties. In a series of clinical tests, Cannabis has been shown to provide benefits for pain reduction, better sleep, and improved function, even in patients with symptoms refractory to standard therapies.

Why do some people want medical marijuana legalized in the Philippines?

Brigada previously featured Julia who has a rare type of epilepsy called Dravet syndrome. Ten-year-old Julia suffers daily from seizures and has difficulty getting up and walking on her own. For her mother Donabelle, if they will be able to control her daughter’s seizure through the use of medical marijuana, they are hoping that she will soon have progress in her condition.

Like Donabelle, Sharon, a 38-year-old single mother, mentioned that allowing them to access medical Cannabis might ease the conditions of her child, Angelo, who is suffering from severe epilepsy and cerebral palsy.

“I’ve accepted that in my son’s case, he will never really get better. But I wish that his quality of life could be preserved, or that he could live for one year where he doesn’t have a seizure. Or that we wouldn’t be so dependent on his medicine… because it is so expensive,” she said in an interview with VICE.

Aside from epilepsy, a certain study has demonstrated the effect of Cannabis on the symptoms of HIV. It concluded that Cannabis has an anti-inflammatory component beneficial in reducing morbidity related to inflammation in persons with HIV.

As of 2022, marijuana is currently legal in roughly a dozen countries and decriminalized in over 30 countries due to the medicinal properties of the plant being used as a treatment for certain conditions, according to worldpopulationreview.com.

CBD vs. THC - what’s the difference?

The plant itself has over 100 chemicals called cannabinoids that differ in their effects on the human body. Two of them are cannabidiol (CBD) and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) – components of the Cannabis plant that each have their own medicinal properties.

The Cannabis plant is either classified as “marijuana” or “hemp”, where the latter contains only 0.3 percent or less THC content by dry weight.

THC, which causes the “high” that people get when consuming recreational marijuana, is notorious for its psychoactive effects on the brain.

However, THC is proven to have medicinal advantages for treating nausea in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and stimulating appetite in AIDS patients with wasting syndrome. Dronabinol (Marinol®) and nabilone (Cesamet®) are two US FDA-approved THC-based medications that are on the market today.

CBD, on the other hand, is the less intoxicating component of Cannabis. This is commonly prescribed as medication to patients with severe childhood epilepsy, Dravet syndrome, and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome.

The relieving effect of CBD helps subside insomnia, anxiety, spasticity, and pain caused by epileptic seizures. Currently, Epidiolex® is one of the FDA-approved CBD-based medications available on the market.

With the global sales of medical Cannabis reaching $37.4 billion, Senator Padilla proposed to consider looking at the economic viability, feasibility, and benefits of medical Cannabis to the Philippine economy, echoing his earlier speech to the Senate Committee on Ways and Means.

Regardless of the benefits of the herb to the medical field and the economic sector, governments are still asked to practice caution if they plan to legalize the use of marijuana since addiction or abuse of the drug leading to mental or psychological dysfunction is inevitable if the law lacks necessary safeguards.