President Rodrigo Duterte announced that he will not allow the legalization of marijuana for medicinal use.

“Everyone will say it will be for medicinal (use). That would be an excuse. I do not agree. Not in my time. Not in my time. Maybe some other --- some other president maybe,” Duterte said in his speech during a campaign rally in Negros Occidental on Friday night.

“I am ignorant of that kind of research ( on medical marijuana), I must admit. And I do not read it and I do not intend to legalize it. I don’t like it. You will just use that as an excuse ( to use it),” he added.

Last January 29, the House of Representatives approved on the third and final reading the House Bill 6517 or the “Act Providing Compassionate and Right of Access to Medical Cannabis (Mariajuana) and Expanding Research into its Medicinal Properties”.

63 legislators voted yes, five were against and three abstained.

The bill noted that, “the State shall legalize and regulate the medical use of cannabis which has been confirmed to have beneficial and therapeutic uses to treat a chronic or debilitating disease or medical condition that prodices one or more of the following: cachexia or wasting syndrome: severe and chronic pain: severe nausea: seizures, including those characteristic of epilepsy or severe and persistent muscle spasms, including those associated with multiple sclerosis.” Robina Asido/DMS