“Bauertek will bring the Philippines to the forefront of the medical cannabis industry.”
— Bauertek President Rigel R. Gomez
Short link: https://wp.me/paaccn-GMW
- EDD K. USMAN | Twitter: @edd1819 | Instagram: @bluestar0910 | Facebook: SDN — SciTech and Digital News
PASIG CITY, August 21, 2024 (SDN) — The government has the potentials to earn around Php60 billion in revenue annually from the legalization of medical cannabis (read: marijuana).
That is, if SDN — SciTech & Digital News got the figures right.
Bauertek Farmaceutical Technologies President Rigel R. Gomez on Wednesday cited this figure at the Kapihan sa Metro East Media Forum here at Barangay San Nicolas, this city.
As he fielded questions from members of the news media, one of the questions SDN raised was on the potential impact of medical cannabis to the Philippine economy if a bill is passed and signed into law legalizing the use of cannabis for medical purposes.
Gomez, head of Research and Development (R&D) at Bauertek, based in Barangay Sta. Rita, Guiguinto, Bulacan, called to mind studies that Filipino researchers conducted.
“There are several studies. In fact, I could name several billion pesos…closer to Php20 billion from the first level of medical cannabis alone, meaning they only computed for oil. They did not include capsules and other medical forms of cannabis,” Gomez says, adding the researchers assumed that marijuana was grown in the country.
He cited another research by University of the Philippines (UP)-Manila which he said estimated at least Php40 billion taxpayer remittances alone yearly to the government’s national coffers. “This is the study that we get cannabis from the start (planting) all the way to the end (medicines).”
His optimism flows, apparently, from separate bills in the House of Representatives and the Senate that seek the legalization of the use of marijuana-derived products solely for medical purposes, meaning treatment for patients who require it according to doctors’ determination. Based on stringent rules and regulations that do not give space for abuses.
Gomez expressed confidence that a law on medical marijuana would be passed and signed into law this year.
“The Philippines will soon join the 70 other countries that have approved the use of medical cannabis, for medical cannabis, with a landslide vote of 177 for, 9 abstained, 9 against on the third and final reading on the House of Representatives. They approved the use of medical cannabis,” he says.
On the other hand, the Bauertek official said he expects the Senate to conduct the second and final reading (of its own bill) within the third quarter of this year. “And, if all goes well, it will reach the President for signature before the end of this year.”
He noted that President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. “is a staunch supporter of Philippine inventions,” as Gomez cited Bauertek’s CanCur (PhytoCannabinoids to Enhance ECS Receptors), a Philippine-made medical cannabis that won Gold Medal at the E-NNOVATE International Invention and Innovation Summit staged on May 16-18 this year in Krakow, Poland.
Actually, Bauerteks’ inventions won three Gold Medals at the international competition, including for Black Garlic (Cytotoxic Activity of Phytochemicals from Black Garlic) and PiCur (The world’s most powerful natural antioxidant).
Any use not under medical marijuana falls under DDB, PDEA jurisdiction
In the Senate, Senator Robin “Abdulaziz” Padilla filed in July 2022 Senate Bill (SB) 230 as he seeks to make exception on the use of marijuana for “compassionate purposes”.
“The State should, by way of exception, allow the use of cannabis for compassionate purposes to promote the health and well-being of citizens proven to be in dire need of such while at the same time providing the strictest regulations to ensure that abuses for casual use or profiteering be avoided,” the Muslim senator’s bill articulated.
In his bill, also known as “Medical Cannabis Compassionate Access Act of the Philippines,” Padilla identified some of its uses, such as to fight cancer, epilepsy, positive status for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis. Others, his bill noted, are severe nausea, sleep disorders that include insomnia and sleep apnea, panic attacks, bipolar disorder, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, social anxiety disorder, etc.
At the House of Representatives, the legislators approved on July 30 this year on a 177-9-9 vote on final reading House Bill (HB) 10439 that allows the use of medical marijuana for qualified patients on accredited doctors’ prescription and supervision.
Gomez hastened to add that legalizing the use of marijuana solely for medical purposes does not include its “decriminalization”, which he suggested should be tackled in a separate legislation.
“Baby steps,” he points out, not jumping hastily on both allowing medical cannabis and decriminalizing it in the same breath. The latter can be done after a medical marijuana law is signed, he said.
The Bauertek executive cited the prohibitive cost of marijuana treatment that ranges from US$31,000 (approximately Php1.7 million) for just two weeks.
He said one Filipino patient had this prescribed for him, but the near-Php2 million cost of marijuana medicine turned him off.
If the government allows medical cannabis, Gomez put out a guessed that it would be much cheaper, only 1/10 of the international price. He ventured around Php10,000 for one treatment.
The main reason marijuana medical products are expensive, he pointed out, is that only few companies across the world are manufacturing it, at the same time claiming that products abroad “are becoming more artificial.”
He said the Philippines is ready for medical marijuana because it has science and agriculture. The forms of marijuana products for medical purposes, he said, include capsules, tablets, oil, inhalers, suppositories for babies.
“Bauertek will bring the Philippines to the forefront of the medical cannabis industry,” Gomez declares, revealing that his company is officially the industry partner and industry advisor in the Technical Working Group (TWG) for medical marijuana.
As this developed, he warned that “marijuana is not just for happy-happy”. He also added that medical marijuana is not for use in vapes because vape products have no medical value.
He also said that if marijuana is allowed for cultivation or planting, farmers will be trained and taught how to go about it. If farmers violate or abuse the law and go beyond its medical use, then violators will be subject to the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) for prosecution.
“Anything not under medical cannabis falls under DDB and PDEA, anything medical falls under Medical Cannabis Office under the Department of Health (DOH),” he explains, as stated in the House bill.
Gomez said the government needs to set strict standards and make it difficult for people to abuse it.
The Bauertek executive asked Filipinos, especially farmers, to be patient. “When the bill passes, they will have the chance to grow (marijuana) and earn a lot of money. When the medical cannabis is out, they could farm, they’ll help the community, and everyone will be happy.” (✓)