Pubdate: Tue, 30 Nov 2004
Source: Sunstar Davao (Philippines)
Copyright: 2004 Sunstar
Contact:  http://www.sunstar.com.ph/davao/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1991
Author: Ben O. Tesiorna
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

MAYOR, CONGRESSMAN SLAM BID TO LEGALIZE MARIJUANA

DAVAO City Rep. Prospero Nograles and Mayor Rodrigo Duterte expressed 
Monday their opposition to legalizing the use and cultivation of cannabis 
sativa, more known as marijuana.

Duterte said such a proposal would not and should not prosper in the House 
of Representatives.

He said anything that is deemed to affect the mental aspect of an 
individual using it should not be legalized.

"Whatever alters the mind cannot be legalized," Duterte said.

He also expressed confidence that such a measure proposed by Rep. Solomon 
Chungalao of Ifugao would not pass in the Lower House.

"I'm totally against it," Nograles also said.

Chungalo, however, found an ally in the person of President Arroyo's son 
Rep. Juan Miguel "Mikey" Macapagal-Arroyo (Lakas, Pampanga).

Arroyo said he supports the proposal to relax the country's tough laws on 
marijuana and even cultivate cannabis in the world-famous Banaue rice terraces.

Arroyo, however, clarified that only if it is strictly regulated and for 
medicinal purposes.

Marijuana produces chemicals that ease the pain of cancer patients and 
victims of trauma, and its use for medicinal purposes has been approved in 
other countries.

Under Republic Act No. 9165, however, possession of 500 grams of marijuana 
is punishable by death.

Possession of five to 499 grams is punishable with life imprisonment, while 
possession of cannabis weighing less than five grams is punishable with a 
12-year jail term.

In other countries marijuana intake is legalized.

In the Netherlands, for instance, foreign tourists and locals alike may buy 
and smoke marijuana in coffee shops.
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