Senator Ronald Dela Rosa said that he would favor the legalizing of medical marijuana as long as the country would provide strict rules to regulate it.
In an interview, Dela Rosa said that the people who got sick should be given a chance to be cured by medical marijuana, which claimed to be a medicine for some severe illness.
“Provided we have enough safeguards on the use of medical marijuana, that there would be an agency that would make sure this would not be abused, I am OK with it,” he said.
“Why do we deprive our countrymen of the chance to be cured of their illnesses with this simple marijuana?” he added.
He said that marijuana is a downer which not turning its user to become vicious, unlike shabu.
However, cannabis is still dangerous if its user already addicted to it.
“The problem is not [with] the effect of marijuana turning a person violent. If you become addicted to marijuana, the violence would come in if you are deprived of it … That’s when you will become violent, so it’s still dangerous,” he said.
Last year, Dela Rosa admitted that he already tried using marijuana during his days at the Mindanao State University.
“The effect to me when I tried marijuana was having a feeling of (being) high, having red eyes and wanting to listen and sing folk songs due to its good vibes,” Dela Rosa said.
Medical Marijuana advocates tried to push the bill in the 17th congress but fail after not getting enough support from the lawmakers.