Legal history of marijuana
CEBUPEDIA columnist Atty. Paul Clarence Oaminal former undersecretary and Dangerous Drugs Board vice chair during the time of PGMA, e-mailed the following which I am sharing in this space: “The Dangerous Drugs Act of 1972 (marijuana as an illegal drug) is the law that repealed the provisions under Title V of the Revised Penal Code, entitled Opium and Other Prohibited Drugs. For decades the drug of choice in the country was opium, brought by the Chinese. Years after WW II, another drug brought by American veterans from Korea and Vietnam came to our shores, planted and cultivated in our soil – marijuana. It was ignored by authorities as an innocent vice but crimes were committed by users. It caught national attention with the rape of actress Maggie de la Riva on June 26, 1976, by four young men belonging to rich clans of the country (Jaime Jose, Basilio Pineda, Edgardo Aquino, and Rogelio Canial). They were high on drugs, there was no shabu then, but it was marijuana.
The 7th Congress enacted RA 6425 on March 30, 1972, authored by Cebu Senator (and Governor) Rene Espina as an answer to the tragedy. Espina as chairman of the Senate Committee on Health also had the Lower House adopt and pass his bill.
Not so long ago, December 4, 1997, a grade four student was raped by her own father high on marijuana. It happened in Pardo, Cebu City. Thousands were raped, murdered, robbed, and became victims because of marijuana. Now drug syndicates are using deception that marijuana is a medicine. They have duped some members in Congress in a grand plan of copying the United States, the biggest loser in the war against drugs in the world, that it has to go to Mexico and Colombia to combat this menace. We cannot even address the problem of nubain abuse when we reclassified it as a dangerous drug in 2011. How much more marijuana? If Congress will pass marijuana legislation, expect more will be victims of rape, murder, and robbery because the offender was high on marijuana. Let us pray for the nation.”
The drug problem in Cebu is a back-to-back tragedy with increasing use of nubain (addictive pain-killer) injected by users sharing needles and hence the spike in HIV and AIDS cases.
PERSONAL: Deep condolences to the family of “Mistah” Major General Mel Dilodilo of PMA ‘76 Magilas Class and to the family of my colleague Erick San Juan. Honors await you both in heaven for serving the country well.