Short answer. Yes. Under Section 25 of Republic Act No. 9165, a positive finding for the use of dangerous drugs is a qualifying aggravating circumstance when a person commits a crime under their influence. Being high does not soften the penalty — it pushes it upward.
What the law says
a positive finding for the use of dangerous drugs shall be a qualifying aggravating circumstance in the commission of a crime by an offender
RA 9165, Section 25 — Committing Crimes While On Drugs. Read the full provision →
Drugs make the crime worse, not more excusable
Some people assume that being intoxicated or high might explain away a crime or reduce the blame. Section 25 of the anti-drugs law takes the opposite view for dangerous drugs. It provides that a positive finding for the use of dangerous drugs shall be a qualifying aggravating circumstance in the commission of a crime by an offender. So if you commit a crime while under the influence of dangerous drugs, that fact is held against you and increases your criminal exposure. The law treats voluntary drug use that leads to crime as making the offender more, not less, culpable, and it says so notwithstanding the provisions of any law to the contrary.
What "qualifying" aggravating means
The section does not merely call drug use an aggravating circumstance; it calls it a qualifying one. A qualifying circumstance is weightier than an ordinary aggravating circumstance. An ordinary aggravating circumstance generally pushes the penalty toward its maximum within the range already set for the crime; a qualifying circumstance can change the very nature or grade of the offence and the penalty attached to it. By labelling drug use as qualifying, the law signals that committing a crime while on dangerous drugs is meant to have a serious, penalty-defining effect — not just a nudge upward, but a factor that shapes what the offence is treated as and how heavily it is punished.
It works with the Revised Penal Code
Section 25 does not operate in isolation. It states that the application of the penalty provided for in the Revised Penal Code shall be applicable. In other words, the underlying crime is still the crime defined in the Penal Code, and the penalty is still worked out under that Code's rules — but now with drug use factored in as a qualifying aggravating circumstance. The drugs finding is layered onto the ordinary offence to raise the penalty according to the Penal Code's own machinery for applying penalties. This is how a positive drug finding translates into a heavier sentence: it enters the Penal Code's penalty calculation as an aggravating factor of the strongest kind.
The limits and cautions
The circumstance depends on a positive finding for the use of dangerous drugs — that is, it must actually be established, not merely alleged, and how such a finding is properly obtained and proven is itself a contested area. As a qualifying circumstance, it generally must also be specifically alleged in the charge to be appreciated. Section 25 tells you the effect of drug use on a crime; it does not define the underlying crime or set out how the drug finding is to be tested and admitted. Anyone facing a charge where a drug test or drug use is in play should get individual legal advice, because both the finding and its use against the accused can be challenged.