Filipino humor was at work again when the response of a call center agent apprehended for peddling illegal drugs took viewers by surprise.
While his pay is enough for him to get by, the call center agent explained that he got into the illegal narcotics business with students and co-workers to collect funds as he was a “forward-thinker.”
“Advanced ako mag-isip. Look at Antipolo, how much is the land area of Antipolo [that is] unused, good for farming of marijuana?” the 25-year-old self-confessed dealer said in an interview.
Social media poked fun at the strange interview in the form of memes and witty posts that involve instances of planning ahead.
Bar Q: Mr. A wrote a will, and before his death, he submitted the will to the court for probate. Is probate of a will by a living person allowed?
A: Yes. Advanced ako mag-isip.
— YLS (@YourLawyerSays) June 26, 2018
pag ako nagkaanak, papangalanan ko syang Engineer para di na nya kelangan magboard exam nyeta advanced na din ako mag-isip!!!!
— aly (@finalllyyy_) June 25, 2018
Ayoko aminin na crush kita. Hindi rin naman magiging tayo eh. Advance ako mag-isip. ???
Posted by HUGOT 101 on Sunday, June 24, 2018
Based on the report, the Antipolo police described the cannabis product the call center agent was caught selling as more lucrative and addictive than the dried leaves many drug users take.
A leaf like no other
Marijuana or “Indian hemp” is included in the list of dangerous drugs prohibited by the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
Based on its definition in Section 3, the term marijuana includes “every kind, class, genus, or specie of the plant Cannabis sativa L. including, but not limited to, Cannabis americana, hashish, bhang, guaza, churrus and ganjab.”
This also includes any form of marijuana “whether dried or fresh and flowering, flowering or fruiting tops” and any part of the plant, the seed or its varieties, “whether as a reefer, resin, extract, tincture or in any form.”
These provisions may soon change after moves to legalize its use had been recognized in Congress last year. A house bill that sought to use medical marijuana called the Compassionate Medical Cannabis Bill, was tackled and passed in the Lower House.
With strict regulations under the Department of Health and the Food and Drug Administration, the house bill, if signed into law, will allow the use of cannabis extracts for products aiming to alleviate suffering of those from with “debilitating diseases” such as epilepsy, cancer and multiple sclerosis.
Words of caution
For many doctors and health professionals, marijuana’s beneficial uses do not surpass its dangers. The University of the Philippines Manila, where some of the country’s top health practitioners belong, strongly opposed medical cannabis.
“Studies on legalization of medical cannabis have shown an increase in cannabis use and dependence and diversion to recreational use in effect increasing access to a deleterious substance which has increased in potency over the years.”
UP also condemned the continuing public education on the benefits and risks of cannabis use.
The medical use of the plant, as a whole, is also still not approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, despite its being legalized in some states, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. — Cover photo by Element 5 Digital
