CLOSE to P150 million worth of marijuana plants were uprooted anew in Tinglayan, Kalinga following a two-day operation by anti-narcotics agents.
Uprooted were 717,900 pieces of fully grown marijuana plants worth P146,580,000. Some 25,000 grams of dried marijuana stalks were burned on the site.
Combined units of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in the Cordillera Administrative Region, Cagayan Valley, and Calabarzon, as well as Tinglayan Municipal Police Station, First and Second COY of the Kalinga Provincial Mobile Force Command, Drug Enforcement Unit and the Provincial Intelligence Branch of the Kalinga Provincial Police Office conducted the operations on August 13 to 15 through the joint PDEA-Cordillera's "Linis Barangay XIV" Oplan and the Philippine National Police's "Sherfan" Oplan.
Meanwhile, two individuals on board a passenger bus bound to Baguio City were arrested in a checkpoint Thursday morning, August 15. They were about to transport 12.95 kilograms of dried marijuana leaves worth P1.5 million.
Lawyer Raul Lambino, presidential adviser for Northern Luzon, has earlier asked drug agencies to review regulation on hemp.
"If hemp is legalized in the Philippines, then we can teach farmers to plant hemp not marijuana...we should study very carefully what would be the benefit of this plant whether economically and medicinally," he said.
Lambino, during the joint meeting of the Regional Development Council and Regional Peace and Order Council, advocated for the legalization of hemp in a bid to give livelihood to farmers, and curb the drug problem in the north.
He cited the US Farm bill, which has legalized hemp in the United States, and said the same can be done in the Philippines.
Hemp and marijuana are from the Cannabis gene, which has three distinct species: Sativa, Indica, and Ruderalis. Marijuana belongs to both the Sativa and Indica families, while hemp is of the Sativa species.