Philippines Drug War Legacy and Cannabis Enforcement

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The Philippine drug war is remembered for shabu, for bodies found in alleyways, and for the house-to-house visits known as Oplan Tokhang. Cannabis rarely appears in that picture. Yet the plant has been prosecuted under the same statute and by the same agency the entire time.

So where does cannabis actually sit inside a crackdown that is now under International Criminal Court scrutiny? That is the question here. The piece sticks to the legal framework and to facts that are widely established, and it avoids precise figures that could not be confirmed. Laws, bills and court proceedings change, so check current status with official sources before relying on any detail.

The Legal Framework: RA 9165 and PDEA

Republic Act 9165, the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, is the backbone of Philippine drug law. It classifies cannabis, which is called marijuana in the text, as a dangerous drug. It sits in the same statute as methamphetamine and other far harder substances.

Two bodies carry the framework. The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, or PDEA, is the lead enforcement agency. It conducts operations, coordinates with the police, and handles seizures and eradication. The Dangerous Drugs Board is the policy-making body. It sets the broad direction of national drug strategy rather than running raids.

The statute does not draw a sharp line between cannabis and other controlled drugs in how enforcement is organized. One agency, one law, one policy board. Penalty tiers depend on the substance and the quantity involved, but I have not verified the specific tiers here. Anyone who needs them should read the official text of RA 9165 and its amendments directly.

One point of timing matters for the rest of this piece. The law predates Rodrigo Duterte's presidency by well over a decade. The drug war did not create this framework. It used a framework already in place, and used it aggressively.

That distinction shapes everything that follows. Accountability for a campaign and reform of the law beneath it are two separate tasks, and they move on different tracks.

The Duterte Drug War: A Contested Death Toll

Rodrigo Duterte governed from 2016 to 2022, and his anti-drug campaign defined the presidency. Oplan Tokhang, a program of house visits meant to persuade people to surrender, became its best-known face. The campaign killed thousands of people.

The size of that toll is contested. Official police figures are far lower than the estimates published by human rights groups. I am not quoting exact numbers for either side because I could not confirm them against named sources for this article. Readers comparing the ranges should look at the police statements and the rights organizations' reports side by side.

The campaign centered mostly on methamphetamine, locally called shabu, and on street-level users and sellers. That context is essential when judging cannabis's role. The killings that drew global attention were not tied to plantations or the plant.

Rights monitors and journalists described a consistent pattern. Low-income urban neighborhoods bore the brunt of it. Those targeted were often people with little money, little political protection and few ways to contest an accusation.

Police have maintained that many deaths followed armed resistance during operations. Rights groups and some journalists dispute that account. Those disagreements are the core of the international scrutiny that followed.

Where Cannabis Fits: Eradication in the Mountain Provinces

Cannabis enforcement in the Philippines looks different from the urban drug war. It is dominated by plantation raids and eradication in remote upland areas. The work is less about street arrests and more about locating and destroying plants on steep terrain.

PDEA has long run eradication operations in the Cordillera region in northern Luzon, with several mountain provinces frequently named in reporting. Operations typically involve teams hiking into the mountains and uprooting or burning plants on site. The latest seizure and eradication figures are published on pdea.gov.ph, and readers should check that source rather than rely on older numbers repeated elsewhere.

Cultivation in these areas often involves upland farming communities, including Indigenous peoples of the Cordillera. This should not be generalized. Sources vary on who grows what, and the livelihoods of upland farmers differ greatly from one community to the next. No specific group should be named without a source that names it.

The contrast with the city is stark. In the mountains, the typical image is a plantation burning under the eye of a PDEA team. In the cities, the image from 2016 onward was an arrest, or a killing, in a crowded neighborhood.

The Marcos administration has run anti-drug messaging under the banner Bagong Pilipinas. I have not verified how that campaign treats cannabis specifically, so I will not characterize it. Anyone tracking the question should read the campaign's published materials alongside PDEA's own statements.

The ICC Case and What It Changes

Duterte was arrested and transferred to the International Criminal Court in The Hague in March 2025. The current stage of his case, including any confirmation of charges, rulings on fitness to stand trial, or trial dates, should be checked on icc-cpi.int before relying on this article. Court proceedings move, and anything written here may already be out of date.

The proceedings concern alleged crimes against humanity tied to the drug war. They do not concern cannabis policy. The court is examining killings, not the classification of any drug.

That sets a limit on what accountability does. A prosecution can address past killings and establish a record. It does not rewrite RA 9165, and it does not change PDEA's mandate. The statute and the agency stay where they are unless Congress acts.

A separate question is domestic: has enforcement under the current administration shifted in tone? Claims run in both directions. Some officials and commentators say the approach has become less violent, while rights groups continue to raise concerns. Any such claim should be attributed to a named source, and I am not endorsing either reading here.

For cannabis specifically, the practical picture is continuity. The legal status of the plant has not been touched by the court case, and eradication work continues under the same law.

Medical Cannabis Bills: Filed, Passed, Lapsed

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Medical cannabis bills have been filed repeatedly in the Philippine Congress. The House passed one in 2021. It later lapsed when the session ended. The bill number and exact dates should be verified on congress.gov.ph before they are cited.

The mechanics explain why. A bill needs to pass both chambers, the House of Representatives and the Senate, and then receive a presidential signature. Unfinished bills die at the end of each Congress, and sponsors must start over. A House vote alone changes nothing in law.

The status of any bill in the 20th Congress is something to check on senate.gov.ph and congress.gov.ph. I have not confirmed what is currently pending, so I am reporting nothing about it beyond the fact that proposals keep returning.

The region offers a contrast. Thailand has taken a very different path from the Philippines, moving far earlier to decriminalize cannabis and permit medical and other uses. Its policy has itself shifted since, which is another reason to check current rules rather than rely on a snapshot.

As always, laws change. Readers who need to know what is legal or penalized in the Philippines should consult official sources and qualified local counsel for their situation.

The sharpest takeaway is structural. Cannabis in the Philippines is governed by a statute and an agency built for all drugs, so reform of one cannot be separated from reform of the whole system. A medical bill, a change in PDEA's approach, or a court judgment each touches only part of that machinery.

Three things are worth watching. First, the ICC proceedings, which will keep shaping how the drug war is judged. Second, PDEA's published figures, which show what enforcement against cannabis looks like in practice. Third, whether any medical cannabis bill survives a full legislative cycle, something none has yet done in the form of a signed law.

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