MANILA – The decision of a United Nations body reclassifying marijuana (cannabis) as a less dangerous drug would not affect the Philippines’ policy outlawing its use, the country’s anti-narcotics agencies said on Thursday.
In a joint statement, the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) said the government still has the jurisdiction relative “to classifying and regulating” cannabis at the domestic level.
“As previously stated by the DDB, the decision will have no immediate impact in terms of drug control,” they said.
Last week, the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (UN-CND) removed marijuana from Schedule IV of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, a list of the world’s most dangerous drugs.
Despite its removal from Schedule IV of the international drug control convention, PDEA and DDB said marijuana remains to be a dangerous drug under Schedule I.
“The Convention limits exclusively to medical and scientific purposes the production, manufacture, export, import, distribution of, trade-in, use, and possession of Schedule I substances,” they said.
Also, the medical preparations or products with cannabis, however, still need to acquire and comply with the regulatory control requirements from PDEA, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and other government agencies.
The two agencies also said cannabis is still classified as a dangerous drug under Republic Act No. 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
“The unauthorized importation, sale, possession, cultivation, and use of cannabis remain to be punishable under the law,” they said.
PDEA, meanwhile, assured that they would continue to enforce the law “and enjoin the public to abide by the law”.