While billions of people around the world celebrated Christmas, 45 miles away from Bethlehem, Israel\u2019s Parliament approved the export of the nation\u2019s medical cannabis products abroad.<\/p>\n
Like their peers in\u00a0Thailand who\u00a0legalized medical marijuana<\/a><\/u>\u00a0on the same day, the Israelis\u00a0passed the law unanimously.<\/a>\u00a0It is now on its way to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet for approval. The bill is expected to have a major impact on the state coffers: Israel\u2019s finance and health ministries have estimated the revenue from the export plan could net the country $265 million a year.<\/p>\n Israel had long been at the cutting edge of cannabis research. Most prominently,\u00a0Dr. Raphael Mechoulam<\/a>\u00a0discovered CBD in Israel in 1963, before he went on to discover THC in 1964. But the country\u2019s new wave of progress \u2014 especially on the research front \u2014\u00a0comes with a lot of\u00a0legal hoops to jump through<\/a>\u00a0and severe consequences for those who fail to hit the mark.<\/p>\n Businesses who wish to export cannabis for medicinal purposes will need a license from the Ministry of Health in addition to the license already required for selling cannabis to begin with, which itself is contingent on a positive recommendation from the Israel police. If found in violation of these rules, businesses could reportedly be\u00a0subject to severe fines or jail time<\/a>.<\/p>\n This kind of enforcement was required to get the ball rolling on the project after previous efforts to legalize cannabis exports\u00a0failed<\/a>.<\/p>\n The law originally had its first chance to pass early in the year. But in April, Gilad Erdan, a big-time Israeli politico, explained the situation from his perspective. Make no mistake about it, Erdan\u2019s opinions carry a lot of weight: He\u2019s the Minister of Strategic Affairs, the Minister of Information, and most importantly, Minister of Public Security.<\/p>\n \u201cI support the use of marijuana for medical purposes and exporting it to the world in light of [Israel\u2019s] advanced knowledge in the field,\u201d Erdan said in a\u00a0statement<\/a>. \u201cBut as public security minister, I am obligated to make certain that exports from farms aren\u2019t diverted to illicit use by Israeli citizens, especially the\u00a0young<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu trusts Erdan a lot. Prior to Erdan\u2019s public comments in April, Netanyahu had already made up his mind and met with officials from relevant ministries to delay any decision on pot exports. But the delay came down specifically after Netanyahu heard concerns from Erdan\u2019s ministry that marijuana exports could be diverted to the local market for non-medical use.<\/p>\n Luckily, a\u00a0new effort to legalize medical cannabis exports was led by Yoav Kish, chairman of the Knesset Interior and Environment Committee, who\u00a0announced<\/a>\u00a0the successful revival of the law in mid-December. Kish added in the tougher regulations and jail sentences, and it\u2019s been smooth sailing ever since.<\/p>\n In addition to his approval of the changes in the new version of the law, Erdan cited the Treasury agreeing to provide the financial resources for his ministry to properly enforce the law and monitor approved growers as a reason for dropping his opposition.<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s agriculture sector was no doubt pleased with the Christmas Day decision, judging by what they said of the original plan\u00a0earlier this year<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s good news for hundreds of thousands of sick in Israel and the world,\u201d said Dubi Amitai, the president of the Israel Farmers Union. \u201cAnd a real opportunity for hundreds of growers, the industry that supports them, thousands of families and workers, most of them in [Israel\u2019s] periphery.\u201d<\/p>\n TELL US<\/b>, how do you think Israel exporting cannabis will impact access to medicinal marijuana?<\/p>\n The post Israel Approves Cannabis Exports, Pending Netanyahu Go-Ahead<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
While billions of people around the world celebrated Christmas, 45 miles away from Bethlehem, Israel\u2019s Parliament approved the export of the nation\u2019s medical cannabis products abroad. Like their peers in\u00a0Thailand who\u00a0legalized medical marijuana\u00a0on the same day, the Israelis\u00a0passed the law unanimously.\u00a0It is now on its way to Prime Minister BenjaminContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3454,50,4349,3514,6899,133,687,139,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31706"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31706"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31706\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31707,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31706\/revisions\/31707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}What\u2019s On the Horizon<\/h4>\n
Second Time\u2019s The Charm?<\/h4>\n
An Uphill Battle Won<\/h4>\n
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\nRead More: Israel Approves Cannabis Exports, Pending Netanyahu Go-Ahead<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"