PDEA-7 and Navforcen personnel burn the marijuana plants that they uprooted in Toledo City. /Photo from the PDEA RO VII Facebook page
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella urged the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) to be on the look out for the entry of marijuana into the city following the report from the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) of rising marijuana use among certain segments of the city’s residents.
Labella said he was concerned by this report and would want the police to minimize the entry of marijuana into the city lest more of the city’s “older adults” might get hooked on cannabis.
According to Labella, he was informed by Police Brigadier General Debold Sinas, the director of the PRO-7, that a number of those found engaged in smoking marijuana are “older adults,” or those aged 40 and above.
Labella said it would be best to stop now the proliferation of cannabis in the city since older adults who get hook on drugs would be harder to rehabilitate.
The mayor said he wants the 28 mountain barangays in the city to be checked for possible hidden marijuana plantations.
“I was informed that it is not common in our (Cebu City) mountain barangays to plant marijuana, but we never know,” Labella said on Thursday, September 19.
Police Colonel Gemma Vinluan, director of the CCPO, said they will continue to intensify their campaign against illegal drugs, including marijuana.
She assured the mayor that they will monitor the mountain barangays for marijuana plantations and monitor the rest of the city for the presence of other forms illegal drugs.
According to Vinluan, CCPO was able to seize P159 million worth of illegal drugs in 70 days, or from July 2019 to the first week of September 2019.
Vinluan hoped these operations made a dent in the supply of illegal drugs in Cebu City.
The CCPO was awarded as the best police office, best mobile force company, best human and rights office, best strategy component unit, and its Station 5 named best police station, during the 118th Police Service Anniversary celebration held by PRO-7 at Camp Sergio Osmeña in Cebu City on September 19, 2019. /elb