By Atty. Antonio P. Pekas
Whatever happened to efforts of some congressmen for the legalization of marijuana or MJ? They are snoring somewhere in the recesses of Congress.
I once rode a cab whose driver said he was from a town infamous for the production of MJ. The next question, “So you are an MJ user?” His answer was, “Not for the high you get by smoking its leaves. I use the leaves as tea whenever I have flu. Just one glass of the tea makes an ordinary flu disappear. If the flu is really bad, it only takes two glasses. One in the morning and another after dinner.”
About two years ago on the month of February, I was in a surplus store in Baguio looking for a heater. The kind you plug in, then the wires in it will become red hot like an electric stove. I immediately paid for it. There was a guy standing beside who then asked the sales girl if there was another unit of the heater he could buy. Sorry, there was none.
I got into a conversation with that guy and I asked him the reason why he was on the hunt for a heater. It turned out they have a cancer patient in their house and when it is cold, the pain becomes worse, expressed through her wails out of pain in the middle of the night.
He volunteered that they use oil as a pain killer. What oil? The oil of MJ. Allegedly, just one drop of it in a glass of water which she drinks used to solve the problem.
Such efficacy was confirmed by a doctor friend who said that it is what doctors do in the States.
There was also the in-law of a friend who was a terminal breast cancer patient. They use also the same kind of oil to assuage the pain. She lasted for about five years.
Quite a number of other people also attested to MJ oil’s efficacy. One said that a neighbor who at times can’t maintain his physical balance was diagnosed for a having a clot in his brain. He got well after using MJ oil. Another volunteered that a diabetic patient he knows also got well.
At one time, a client related that several years ago, the policemen of Bauko hauled bales of MJ (sometimes called five fingers as the leaves have such) from a mountain side and then were casually left in the police station. Some older men saw it and tried smoking it. The policemen were surprised that they kept going back for more. They found out it made them quite virile at night— sexually, that is.
While the claims of MJ’s medical efficacy can be fantastic, there might be some truth to it. Some US states even now have MJ clinics.
So why not legalize it. The last thing I heard is that a bill filed in Congress for that purpose was only for medical purposes. It does not advocate smoking it.
How to control its trade once legalized might be a problem at first but the measure can be fine-tuned to prevent its abuse.
Not legalizing it might be tantamount to denying those who badly need some relief from health troubles that MJ can cure.
And more Cordillerans will have some decent source of income. As of now, only the illegal traders and cultivators are making money from MJ
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