Philippine bishops issue statement on medical marijuana

August 18, 2015

Neither endorsing nor criticizing proposed legislation on the medical use of marijuana, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines has issued a statement entitled “Pastoral Guidance on the Compassionate Use of Cannabis.”

“There must be no doubt as to a fundamental principle: when the use of cannabis or any other narcotic or psychotropic substance is not medically indicated and where there are other forms of intervention and treatment possible that do not pose the same risks as does the use of these substances, it is morally irresponsible to make use of cannabis and other narcotic or psychotropic substances, and it is gravely wrong to make use of them for recreational or leisure purposes,” the bishops said in their statement.

“The highest teaching authority of the Church allows for the palliative and compassionate use of narcotics particularly in the case of the terminally ill,” the bishops added, citing St. John Paul II, who wrote that “Pius XII affirmed that it is licit to relieve pain by narcotics even when the result is decreased consciousness and a shortening of life, ‘if no other means exist, and if, in the given circumstances, this does not prevent the carrying out of other religious and moral duties.’”

The bishops continued:

The obligation to treat subsists, even when it may not be possible to cure! We appeal therefore to the prudent and Spirit-filled discernment of our health care workers, particularly physicians, to apply the principle of proportionality and to determine carefully whether there is due proportion between the risks involved in the use of narcotic and psychotropic substances and the benefits anticipated.

 

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Further information:

• Pastoral Guidance on the Compassionate Use of Cannabis (CBCP News)
• Villegas blasts ‘misleading’ report on CBCP’s marijuana stand (CBCP News)