JUSTICE FOR MEDICAL CANNABIS VIETNAM

On 07 December 2015, VTV (short for Vietnam Television, the official national television broadcaster in Vietnam) aired two special news report about cannabis.

The first report, aired at 11.30am stated the following:

- A Facebook page called “Medical Cannabis Vietnam” (https://www.facebook.com/cansatrilieu/) is a page on which cannabis is sold and marketed blatantly and illegally.

- This claim was followed by an interview with a man whose son had to “be rushed to A&E due to brain damages as the result of drug use”. The drug he used, according to the man, was cannabis.

- At the end of the programme, VTV showed another interview with Mr. Pham Van Tru - Vice President of Ho Chi Minh National Psychiatric Hospital, and according to him, “there is no sufficient scientific evidence to support the fact that cannabis cures cancer and can be good for pregnant women”. “Prolonged cannabis use will have negative side-effects on the brain’s intellectual functioning and users’ emotions”, he added. At the end of this interview, Tru also insisted “Medical Cannabis is just a name this Facebook page uses to cover up illegal drug dealing activities”.

The second report, aired at 6.30pm stated the following:

- “Morphine is the only one substance produced from cannabis which we are allowed to use strictly in hospitals”. - representatives Drug Administration, Ministry of Health, Vietnam

- Major Mai Van Linh, deputy head of Ho Chi Minh City’s Police Office for Drug-related Crimes Investigation also stated: “After working with the medical officials, we can concluded that there is no scientific evidence indicating that cannabis can be used as a medicine. The use of cannabis under any shape or form is illegal under the Vietnam law”.

Based on the first report, we can see that VTV do not have sufficient knowledge about medical cannabis, but still make invalid claims on national television. The fact that Cannabis oil (also known as Rick Simpson Oil - RSO) cures cancer has been verified by thousands of patients around the globe. The claims made by VTV made us wonder if they were in fact talking about synthetic cannabis (a substance that is causing many deaths worldwide), and whether they have the knowledge to distinguish between the two.

In the second report VTV said morphine is made from cannabis, which is entirely wrong as we all know morphine is obtained from opium.

The fact that a national broadcaster, which represents the voice of our country, makes incorrect claims on national television twice in the course of a day is just unacceptable.

A research done by Vietnam’s Bach Mai Hospital in 2014 found that there are more than 110 thousands new cancer patients in Vietnam each year (over 73% of them die), and the mortality rate is getting higher and higher. Cancer hospitals in Vietnam are always overloaded, and Vietnam’s cancer death rate is among world’s highest. The main cancer treatments offered to patients are chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The success rate of 5-year survival rate is only 2.1%; not to mention the horrific side-effects and the huge costs associated with the treatments (17 million VND for one session, around $600). The risk of recurrence after chemo and radiotherapy is also very high, and most patents have to have follow-up sessions after remission.

Other medical conditions like eczema, liver diseases are also very common in Vietnam, and the treatment costs for these conditions are also very high, while the success rates remain low.

It has been proven that the oil made from cannabis flowers (also known as RSO - Rick Simpson Oil) can completely cure different types of cancer as well as the conditions mentioned above. The success rate has been very high, while patients see little to no negative side-effect. New reports and researches on RSO are published daily, which undoubtedly add to the credibility of the cannabis plant.

Vietnam is still a developing country where a large part of the population still see national broadcasters like VTV as credible sources of information. However their health and future are being threatened by the false claims made by the news channels they trust, and we feel that we need to step in to help the people of Vietnam.

We, a group of activists that fight for medical cannabis legalization, would like to ask for supports from the global community. Please share this petition with your friends and families, as well as those with knowledge of medical cannabis and its benefits. Together we can create awareness and put pressure on VTV to rectify the false claims they made on our national television.

Cannabis is still classed as an illegal substance in Vietnam, and the use of cannabis (both medical and recreational) remains illegal under the Vietnam law. We would like to ask VTV and other government agencies to do proper research, and rectify the false claims you made about medical cannabis - a substance that is giving hopes to millions of patients around the globe. It is just a matter of time before cannabis is regarded as a miracle medicine, and we believe it will revolutionise the medical industry in a very near future.`

We asked representatives Drug Administration, Ministry of Health, Vietnam revised concept which he shuffles about morphine and cannabis Extract.

Click here for Vietnamese version:
http://www.cannabisvietnam.org/category/kien-nghi-cua-cong-dong-can-sa-viet-nam/

We really hope you're with us, together, we speak out the truth and make change.