{"id":31087,"date":"2018-12-03T12:41:35","date_gmt":"2018-12-03T20:41:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2018\/12\/03\/duterte-jokes-about-using-medical-marijuana-amid-philippines-drug-war\/"},"modified":"2018-12-03T12:52:45","modified_gmt":"2018-12-03T20:52:45","slug":"duterte-jokes-about-using-medical-marijuana-amid-philippines-drug-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2018\/12\/03\/duterte-jokes-about-using-medical-marijuana-amid-philippines-drug-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Duterte Jokes About Using Medical Marijuana Amid Philippines Drug War"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

In the midst of one of the most brutal drug wars<\/a> on the planet, Duterte said on Monday that he used marijuana to keep up with the hectic schedules of summits world leaders are obliged to take part in, according to The Manila Times.<\/p>\n

Speaking on the summits, Duterte said, \u201cIt\u2019s a killing activity, and I think my age, I take marijuana to stay awake. For others, they can\u2019t take it.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the Manila Times<\/a>, he went on to say that the long summit days made him think the schedulers thought they were dealing \u201cwith Boy Scouts\u201d and that the food \u201cis awful.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the news hit the mainstream Philippine Press with the original comments on Inquirer.net,<\/a> the conversation quickly picked up in chat groups among local medical marijuana activists. Only an hour and a half after the story initially dropped, Duterte responded to the initial media reports by claiming that his comments were in jest.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a joke, of course, it was a joke but nobody can stop me from doing my style,\u201d Duterte said. \u201cThat\u2019s my style, it\u2019s too late to change. If I want to joke, I will joke. If you believe what I say, then you\u2019re fools.\u201d<\/p>\n

We reached out to The Philippine Cannabis Compassion Society<\/a> to get their take the quality on Duterte\u2019s weed jokes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the chat groups of PCCS patients and their family members, there were mixed reactions the first time they read the news about President Duterte\u2019s statement that he took marijuana to keep him awake. It did give a bit of hope to some for a while until he declared it was a joke,\u201d PCCS Executive Committee member Lui Manansala told Cannabis Now.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe life of the dying or the sick is not a joke. They need legal access to medical cannabis now,\u201d said Manansala.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Despite the brash comedy routine by Duterte, activists are not letting it get their spirits completely down and rightfully so. HB6517, or the Philippine Compassionate Medical Cannabis Act is on its second reading in the lower house Congress. This means that the bill is one step away before it will go before a vote. But Manansala says it seems the Congress has other priorities and does not see any urgency for the bill to be scheduled for a final vote.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see countries all over the world and even in Asia make medical cannabis legal and even the adult use of marijuana,\u201d said Manansala. \u201cBut sadly in the Philippines, lawmakers have been snubbing the bill and the patients\u2019 clamor for medical cannabis. And many doctors fear its legalization.\u201d<\/p>\n

While all jokes aside, there is plenty of reason to believe grassroots support can push the cause over the finish line. Duterte himself was reminded of his promises of supporting medical cannabis reform after yesterday\u2019s jest, but the reality of what his current war on drugs is doing to Philippine medical marijuana patients is a lot darker.<\/p>\n

\u201cPCCS has been receiving messages asking where to access medical cannabis. We all feel helpless not being able to provide the answers they want to hear from us since even cannabis for therapeutic purposes is still illegal,\u201d said Manansala, who would face certain arrest and possibly much worse if he was found to be providing cannabis to sick Filipinos.<\/p>\n

Possession of at least 10 grams of marijuana resin or marijuana resin oil like full-spectrum CBD oil, or at least 500 grams of flower, is punishable with life imprisonment and a big fine. So having a few tubes of CBD oil could put you away for life for sure.<\/p>\n

According to Human Rights Watch<\/a>, over 12,000 people have died in Duterte\u2019s war on drugs.\u00a0 We asked HRW their take on Duterte\u2019s recent comments on medical marijuana.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course that\u2019s not the kind of joke this president should be making, especially since thousands and thousands of Filipinos have died without due process for allegedly using or peddling illegal drugs, including marijuana,\u201d said Carlos Conde, a Philippines researcher at HRW. \u201cThis is an insult to the families of the victims who\u2019ve been murdered in the past two years of the \u2018war on drugs.\u2019 It demolishes even further the credibility of the \u2018drug war\u2019 that he has waged so brutally.\u201d<\/p>\n

TELL US,<\/strong> do you think the Philippines should legalize medical marijuana?<\/p>\n

The post Duterte Jokes About Using Medical Marijuana Amid Philippines Drug War<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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\nRead More: Duterte Jokes About Using Medical Marijuana Amid Philippines Drug War<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the midst of one of the most brutal drug wars on the planet, Duterte said on Monday that he used marijuana to keep up with the hectic schedules of summits world leaders are obliged to take part in, according to The Manila Times. Speaking on the summits, Duterte said,Continue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6591,50,624,3819,139,731,81,1356],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31087"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31087"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31087\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31088,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31087\/revisions\/31088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}