Israeli Politicians Approve Medical Marijuana Guidelines

By Phillip Smith

The Israeli cabinet Sunday gave its approval to medical marijuana guidelines that will govern the supply of marijuana for medical and research purposes. In so doing, it explicitly agreed that marijuana does indeed have medical uses.

“The cabinet today approved arrangements and supervision regarding the supply of cannabis for medical and research uses,” said a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesman. “This is in recognition that the medical use of cannabis is necessary in certain cases. The Health Ministry will — in coordination with the Israel Police and the Israel Anti-Drug Authority — oversee the foregoing and will also be responsible for supplies from imports and local cultivation.”

The cabinet move comes on the heels of the Health Ministry’s decision last week to deal with supply problems by setting up a unit within the department to grow medical marijuana. That unit will begin operating in January 2012.

The Health Ministry also decided that the country’s medical marijuana supply should be domestically produced. Israeli police had lobbied for medical marijuana to be imported instead, in a bid to reduce diversion.

Israel currently has about 6,000 medical marijuana patients, but the program is so popular that there are estimates that number could rise to 40,000 by 2016. Medical marijuana for existing patients is currently provided by private Israeli growers.

Artilcle From StoptheDrugWar.org – Creative Commons Licensing

Israeli Nursing Home Prescribes Medical Marijuana

Photo: NTD Television

Moshe Rott tokes up at Hadarim Geriatric Home in Israel

​Even as the Obama Administration inexplicably denies the medical benefits of marijuana, at least one Israeli nursing home is prescribing the herb to its elderly patients, reportedly with great results.

Israel’s Ministry of Health in 2008 approved limited use of medical marijuana, and now that the nation’s elderly residents are eligible for cannabis prescriptions, they’re giving it high marks, reports Andrew Belonsky at death + taxes.

“What does it do? It makes me tranquil and less uptight,” said patient Moshe Rott, reports Eric W. Dolan at Raw Story. “I’m able to take it easy, and I feel restful. Before that my hands were in pain, like someone suffering from Parkinson’s disease. It stopped after three months. My hands don’t shake anymore, and it’s totally different.”

“We were just looking for some kind of medicine that would bring relief, and we found it,” remarked Inbal Koren, head nurse at Hadarim Geriatric Home.

Pain specialist Dr. Bareket Schiff-Karen recommends medical cannabis to some of her patients.

“If the question is relieving pain and leading a normal life as opposed to being dependent on a drug, then why not take that drug to improve one’s quality of living?” Schiff-Karen asked.

“The Ministry of Health claims that these patients possess scientific evidence that their illness can be relieved by using cannabis.”

An instructor from one of the providing companies said that the most crucial point about cannabis is that it’s not dangerous or hazardous to the patient.