Marijuana erad yields P150M
CLOSE to P150 million worth of marijuana plants were uprooted anew in Tinglayan, Kalinga following a two day operation by anti narcotics agent.
Uprooted during the eradication were P146,580,000 fully grown marijuana plants totaling to 717,900 pieces while 25, 000 grams dried marijuana stalks were burned on-site.
Combined units of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in the Cordillera, Region 2, Region 4A, Tinglayan Municipal Police Station, 1st and 2nd COY of the Kalinga Provincial Mobile Force Command, together with the Drug
Enforcement Unit and the Provincial Intelligence Branch of the Kalinga Provincial Police Office through the joint PDEA-CAR’s “LINIS BARANGAY XIV” OPLAN and the PNP’s “SHERFAN” OPLAN conducted the operation from August 13 to 15.
Meanwhile, two individuals on board a passenger bus bound to Baguio City were arrested in the morning of August 15 during a checkpoint in Mountain Province Provincial Office who was about to transport 12.95 kilograms of dried marijuana leaves worth P1.5 million.
Lawyer Raul Lambino, Presidential Adviser for Northern Luzon has earlier asked drug agencies to review regulation on hemp.
“If hemp is legalized in the Philippines, then we can teach farmers to plant hemp not marijuana…we should study very carefully what would be the benefit of this plant whether economically and medicinally,” Lambino said.
Lambino during the joint meeting of the Regional Development Council (RDC) and Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC) advocated for the legalization of hemp in a bid to give livelihood to farmers if the illegal weed, marijuana as well as curb the drug problem in the north.
Lambino offered an alternative way to solve the problem citing millions wasted eradicating marijuana plantations which has gone on to thrive for decades, saying a holistic approach in the problem of illegal drugs in the Cordillera as well as the planting of marijuana citing poverty as the reason farmers keep planting the illegal weed.
The idea was brought up during the presentation of PDEA on marijuana eradications at Tinglayan in Kalinga, Kibungan and Bakun in Benguet as well as Bauko in the Mountain Province.
The PDEA reported likewise the cultivation and manufacture of hashish is being done at Buscalan in Kalinga and then sold to local and foreign tourists visiting the area. Marijuana plants are also reaped, dried and compacted into bricks and stalks and transported in the region
Lambino cited the US Farm bill which has legalized hemp in the United States and said the same can be done in the country.
Hemp and marijuana are from the Cannabis gene. There are three distinct species of Cannabis: Sativa, Indica, and Ruderalis. Marijuana belongs in both the Sativa and Indica family while Hemp is of the Sativa species. (https://www.greenentrepreneur.com/article/332063)
PDEA admits marijuana cultivation exists in the region and drug surrenders are believed to have resurged into the illegal drug activities and that big time drug personalities are using Baguio as a rest and recreation area.
PDEA recommended a massive marijuana eradication and offer alternative livelihood for farmers and for drug suspects to undergo rehabilitation before release.