country. With the vote 163-5-3, the House moved to the final reading of the House Bill 6517 or the Philippine Compassionate Medical Cannabis Act that objectifies to decriminalize the use of marijuana and pave the way for a country that allows this substance for medical purpose (Cepeda, 2019). As sought by the proponents from the House of Representatives, to improve the lives of the Filipino, it was never been the same for analysts as they assert that legalizing marijuana would result to a severe drug use whereas this substance will be used in recreation rather through its eminent purpose. On top of these opposing forces of intellect and national concerns, will it really be possible for marijuana to give aid for the welfare of the people or will it worsen the status quo of the Philippines in its fight against the saturation of narcotics? How will legalizing marijuana shape Philippines in terms of politics and governance and medicine?

Medical Viewpoint and Historical Context

There are various ways as to how marijuana can be referred to. Cannabis is the technical term but terms like weed, hemp and pot would also fit perfectly. Marijuana originates from a hemp plant called Cannabis sativa or Cannabis indica. This plant can be easily found on mountainous and high areas in the Philippines like Northern Luzon. The different parts of this plant such as the dried leaves and seeds are what people often use in making marijuana and consist an estimate of 400 chemicals. Despite of the large number of these chemicals, there is only one among them that has the most exhilarating effect on the human body specifically on the brain. It is the chemical called THC or delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol which is the reason why marijuana is prohibited and considered as an illegal drug in most countries.
History of marijuana can be traced back in the ancient times which started most likely in Asia around 500 BC. It had a history marked by using it as a herbal medicine. In America, the purpose of cultivating marijuana is to produce ropes and textiles. Before being introduced to Africa, Europe and America, this plant originated in Central Asia. It can be concluded that they had a similar objective which is to benefit from this plant like making clothing and fiber out of this plant. When colonization took place in different countries like in the early 1600s, farmers were required to grow hemp because it was easy to cultivate. At that time, those plants were said to be low in THC and evidences even say that ancient people had an idea about the plant being psychoactive. They probably have used these for religious ceremonies. This coincide with the discovery of burned cannabis seeds in shamans’ graves at Siberia and China. It was very evident that cannabis back then was really beneficial to people in a good way. One maybe puzzled of this and may think “what happened?”. Well, the primary factor that led this to criminalization of this are the political and racial factors.