Medical Marijuana Takes Over Asia Despite Duterte’s Drug War

Expectations are soaring that a booming market for medical marijuana is emerging in many Asian countries.

This growth comes despite the stigma around the cannabis plant and the harsh punishment for drug peddlers in many countries as in the Philippines’ war on drugs sustained by President Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign against narcotics. 

The latest cannabis news is that many Asian nations are softening stand on the once-taboo drug, and hospitals are readying to experiment with medical marijuana.  Among the early movers in the region include South Korea and Thailand that legalized medical cannabis in the past 10 months.

Despite the softer tone of policymakers in Asia, the plant remains illegal in the majority of nations. Still, Prohibition Partners sees Asia’s potential medicinal cannabis market to grow into $5.8 billion by 2024.

In many Asian countries possessing, trafficking and consuming of marijuana will invite harder punishments.

Philippine’s narcotics crackdown has already killed thousands of people and now the UN Human Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet is readying for a comprehensive international review of the campaign. The U.N move elicited a hard reaction from Duterte. [Read more at International Business Times]