WE ARE on the third year of a bloody war against drugs. Without pointing our accusing fingers at these politician-authors of House Bill 6517 or the Philippine Compassionate Medical Cannabis Act, we may ask, are we losing the war?
In the book “The Wounded Don’t Cry”, the author Quentin Reynolds recounts a storyline of a soldier in London during the World War II. The book upholds optimism that an old political adage was drawn saying: If you can’t beat them, join them! This simply means, if someone is too strong for you to defeat, you better cooperate with them and gain whatever possible advantage from it.
Whether or not the authors have a symbiotic relationship to the narco-list of the president, it is a mockery and betrayal to the Filipino people if the same old saying to embrace the nemesis will be applied to us while we are on the pinnacle of combat against drugs. Worse is that the call to join the enemy is orchestrated by no less than the upper and the lower houses through House Bill 6517.
What is there in the bill? Once this bill becomes a law, it consents to designate a qualified medical physician, a qualified caregiver and a compassionate center where treatment of the identified patients be conducted.
Poor lawmakers, medicinal marijuana is legal in California, Canada, Poland and Thailand because they are not in a war-torn country like us. If we have a hard time running after the source of shabu that is absolutely prohibited, what more could we do if there is a peephole allowing the use of marijuana under a lame excuse of medicinal purposes?
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte to this matter is not giving an inch of advantage to the narco-politicians who bid to legalize marijuana, irrespective of whether or not these politicians are included in the narco-list of the president. I hope matching the names in the narco-list to the authors of this house bill is not the main reason why the president suddenly veered out from his timeworn position to support any move to legalize marijuana.
His stand can be traced back to 2017 and even supported by his statement on December 2018 when jokingly admitted that he used to dope to stay awake during strenuous activities. Last Friday he pronounced a sharp turn of disapproval to House Bill 6517.
Because if this bill will be approved into law, the drug lords will be festive, the government unwittingly succumbs to the enemy, and the war is over! (abrigodann@gmail.com)