Israel is an emerging player in the international cannabis market, and the industry is embraced by pillars of the country\u2019s political establishment. But every aspect of Israeli society has been impacted by the horrific events of last October 7, and the ensuing war. The cannabis sector has been no exception.<\/p>\n
Those impacts were felt immediately on Oct. 7 itself, when four workers at a cannabis farm on a kibbutz near the border with Gaza were abducted by Hamas militants and taken across the line into the Strip.<\/p>\n
Two of the some 240 hostages seized by militants from Gaza that day were employees of\u00a0InterCure<\/a>, Israel\u2019s top medical marijuana producer. They were working at Kibbutz Nir Oz, an agricultural community less than two miles from the border with the Gaza Strip. The lands of Nir Oz produce potatoes and carrots, as well as hosting InterCure\u2019s expansive greenhouses.\u00a0<\/p>\n Elana Gritzewsky, a nursery manager (and a Mexican national), was released in November. Matan Zangauker, a maintenance worker, is still being held. Nearly 50 Nir Oz residents were killed in the attack, and some 70 taken hostage. A total of 37 are still being held, including a baby who was just nine months old at the time of the attack. Nir Oz was one of 20 communities in southern Israel struck by the militants that day.<\/p>\n Yael Marcus, who manages sales and business development for Israeli terpene company\u00a0Eybna Technologies<\/a>, lived at Nir Oz for three years. Speaking to\u00a0Cannabis Now<\/em>\u00a0via Zoom, she describes it as \u201ca paradise, idyllic, with a strong sense of community.\u201d She says a peaceful life at the kibbutz was interrupted by the attacks. With a certain sense of betrayal, she adds, \u201cNobody came to save us for twelve hours.\u201d<\/p>\n When the army finally arrived, they took over the entire zone near the Gaza border and evacuated the residents. Since shortly after the attack, the kibbutz residents been living in emergency housing at Kiryat Gat, approximately 40 miles northeast of Nir Oz.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cResidents had to get special permission to get in to Nir Oz to arrange to save the medicine,\u201d Marcus says. But the authorities were cooperative, and in February InterCure\u00a0announced<\/a>\u00a0that it had \u201cbegun the process of restoring the Southern Israel Site,\u201d meaning its complex at Nir Oz.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Marcus says that workers are now going back and forth from Kiryat Gat to Nir Oz daily to keep the grow operation up and running. \u201cIsrael is a medical cannabis market, and patients need their medicine,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n Israeli agriculture generally took a hit after Oct. 7, 2023, and cannabis cultivation especially so, as it\u2019s concentrated in the south and north of the country\u2014the most impacted areas. After Hamas attacked villages in the south, Hezbollah began firing missiles on towns in the north from across the border in Lebanon, similarly leading to evacuations.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n But volunteers mobilized to help in the harvest (whether of spuds or buds), filling in for the displaced residents, for migrant workers who went back home when the fighting began, or for workers who were abducted. Several Thai immigrant laborers were among those killed and abducted on Oct. 7. Eleven of those killed at Nir Oz were Thai, although they weren\u2019t among InterCure\u2019s employees.\u00a0<\/p>\n In fact, the current crisis could be a grim, paradoxical boon to Israel\u2019s medical cannabis industry.<\/p>\n Adi Rozenfeld is a partner and head of the cannabis desk at the Tel Aviv law firm\u00a0Herzog, Fox & Neeman<\/a>, which\u00a0represents<\/a>\u00a0Nir Oz\u00a0pro bono<\/em>. \u201cIsrael after October 7 is a traumatized country,\u201d she tells\u00a0Cannabis Now<\/em>. \u201cUnfortunately, the rates of anxiety and PTSD have increased significantly both among soldiers and the general public. This means a high increase in demand for medical cannabis for these indications.\u201d<\/p>\n It will take some time for the anticipated increase to register as cases wend their way through the process of diagnosis and enrollment in the program, which now has approximately 130,000 patients. But Rozenfeld says she\u2019s confident the industry will \u201covercome everything.\u201d<\/p>\n Partly in anticipation of this wartime boom, the government has\u00a0instated changes<\/a>\u00a0in the regulations for medical cannabis, which took effect in April.<\/p>\n The new regs relax the licensing requirements. Under the new policy an A-plus grade for a grow facility means license renewal will only be required every three years, not annually. The Israeli Medical Cannabis Agency (IMCA<\/a>), a unit of the Health Ministry, accepts the international standards known as\u00a0CUMCS-GAP<\/a>, for Control Union Medical Cannabis Standard-Good Agricultural Practice.<\/p>\n The changes are also intended to spur exports, for the first time allowing export licenses for firms not already producing for Israel\u2019s domestic market. The\u00a0first exports began<\/a>\u00a0in 2019 but are now anticipated to rapidly expand.<\/p>\n There are some 20 licensed growers in Israel, but the market has been increasingly dominated by imports since major producer\u00a0Tikkun Olam<\/a>, seemingly bedeviled by mismanagement despite its\u00a0idealistic image<\/a>,\u00a0closed its two major farms<\/a>\u00a0just over a year ago. These were at Moshav Neot HaKikar, also in the south. A moshav, like a kibbutz, is a form of cooperative agricultural community distinct to Israel, although both have started to function more like traditional capitalist enterprises in recent generations.<\/p>\n Much of Israel\u2019s medical cannabis is now coming in from Canada, South Africa and Uruguay. Israel\u2019s Economy Ministry earlier this year\u00a0opened an investigation<\/a>\u00a0into claims that Canadian cannabis companies are \u201cdumping\u201d cheap product on the country so as to undermine its domestic industry.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n But with the Israeli reputation for cutting-edge agrotech, industry leaders hope to both make the country self-sufficient and even a major world supplier.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The new regs will also mean changes for patients. They introduce a prescription-based model rather than the previous license-based model for conditions including cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson\u2019s, epilepsy, autism and dementia. This means patients will be able to receive prescriptions from their HMOs rather than having to get a license for use from the Health Ministry. The mandate that cannabis be only a \u201clast resort treatment\u201d for many of these conditions is eliminated.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIn my opinion the new medical regulations will ease both patients and operators and will lead to the opening of the market in a much larger scale,\u201d Rozenfeld says. \u201cTherefore, there is optimism and a sense that something positive is happening. Although the immediate impact may not be apparent, we should see significant changes within the next year or two.\u201d<\/p>\n Ophir Nevo of the\u00a0Israel Cannabis Association<\/a>, a trade group founded four years ago, echoes this assessment. \u201cAround the war, the cannabis space will grow, not be disrupted,\u201d he predicts.<\/p>\n Cannabis is widely used and generally tolerated in Israel<\/a>\u2014not only by enrolled medical patients. A decriminalization policy that was passed by the Knesset\u00a0on a provisional basis<\/a>\u00a0in 2018 (the\u00a0project<\/a>\u00a0of then lawmaker and Public Security minister and now UN ambassador Gilad Erdan) was\u00a0made permanent<\/a>\u00a0in April 2022. Personal use of up to 15 grams is no longer criminal offense, and the fine is capped at 500 shekels (about $130). This is a larger personal quantity and a lower fine than under the 2018 law\u2014which decriminalized only up to five grams, and capped the fine at 2,000 shekels (about $540).\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the beginning of a recreational market in Israel,\u201d Nevo says optimistically.\u00a0<\/p>\n In a manifestation of the tolerant atmosphere, a\u00a0Holy Flower Cup<\/a>\u00a0was held this April 20 (420<\/a>, of course) at the\u00a0Kuli Alma<\/a>, a music and art venue in Tel Aviv. The judges were all registered medical users, tasting 15 strains from five licensed growers.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n There are some voices of dissent to the new medical regulations\u2014from activists who intransigently advocate full legalization.\u00a0<\/p>\n Nir \u201cthe Angel\u201d Youftaro became what the Israeli\u00a0media called<\/a>\u00a0a \u201ccountercultural folk hero\u201d when he was arrested for producing and distributing his homemade cannabis oil in 2018. He was busted with 15 kilos of spent flower (post-extraction) on March 31 of that year\u2014the eve of Passover, which he spent in jail. The recipients of his oil were hundreds of chronic pain sufferers who didn\u2019t want to have to try opioid pain-relievers first, something that was required at the time for enrolled cannabis patients. He was also providing it to cancer sufferers, following the\u00a0example<\/a>\u00a0of his inspiration, Canadian\u00a0cannabis-oil proselytizer<\/a>\u00a0Rick Simpson.\u00a0<\/p>\n Youftaro pleaded not guilty, challenging the legitimacy of the law. Convicted and sentenced to two years in prison\u2014despite much supportive testimony from his patients\u2014he appealed. Just this May, his sentence was reduced by an appellate court to 350 hours of community service.\u00a0<\/p>\n Youftaro tells\u00a0Cannabis Now<\/em>\u00a0that the reform of the medical regs is not in the interests of patients. \u201cYou used to go to the Medical Cannabis Unit in the Ministry of Health; now we go to the medical cannabis unit in the HMO. It\u2019s the same process for the patients. But nobody has taught the doctors about cannabis, it\u2019s not in the medical schools.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Youftaro wants all doctors to be able to prescribe cannabis, and for patients to be able to buy it from any pharmacy, \u201clike any other drug.\u201d Currently, there are a limited number of doctors (generally affiliated with HMOs) authorized to prescribe cannabis, and a limited number of pharmacies authorized to sell it.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n He also complains that the cannabis companies aren\u2019t providing enough variety in strains to treat different ailments, and that there\u2019s insufficient quantity on the medical market to meet demand. \u201cPatients can\u2019t get enough from the medical program and have to buy the rest on the black market\u2014or, as I call it, the free market.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Youftaro says he testified before the Knesset when the decrim expansion was pending in 2022. \u201cI told them that two million people use cannabis in Israel. You can\u2019t chase after all of them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n As an immediate move especially mandated by the post-October trauma, Youftaro wants CBD to be freely available. \u201cIt\u2019s still not legal for those outside the medical program, and limited to 60 milligrams per day for those in the program, which is insufficient,\u201d he says. \u201cIt should be in every shop in Israel.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Youftaro blames the industry\u2019s corporate model for what he finds to be an inferior product.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re going to grow with pesticides and use radiation, sell it on the free market,\u201d he says. \u201cWhat\u2019s on the medical market should be no pesticides or radiation. Radiation allows poorer standards because bugs can be killed before it goes to market. Medical cannabis should be clean.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Despite such criticisms, radiation is a\u00a0widespread practice<\/a>\u00a0in the industry worldwide. Most Israeli medical cannabis is irradiated at\u00a0Sor-Van<\/a>\u2019s facility in the central town of Yavne.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n There are other prominent voices in Israel\u2019s cannabis community who are critical of the existing model. Gil Kitay, popularly known as \u201cQ,\u201d is the chairperson of Israel\u2019s\u00a0Green Leaf Party<\/a>, or Ale Yarok by its Hebrew name.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve never had an elected official, but we\u2019ve delivered more for our supporters than many parties,\u201d he says, pointing to Ale Yarok\u2019s lobbying of the Knesset to expand access to cannabis.\u00a0<\/p>\n Yarok is currently launching a class action lawsuit accusing the industry of illegal advertising, and seeking a court order to stop it. Officially, advertising is barred, but Kitay says colorful and splashy packaging and\u00a0websites<\/a>\u00a0constitute\u00a0de facto<\/em>\u00a0advertising. \u201cWe want the advertising to stop until it\u2019s brought under regulation, and payments to a fund for educating consumers on correct cannabis use,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n For a more long-term goal, the party seeks a sweeping legalization. \u201cWe want to remove the word \u2018cannabis\u2019 from the law, making use or possession not a criminal act. But if you are producing it commercially, there needs to be regulation.\u201d He would move this oversight from the Heath Ministry to the Agriculture Ministry.<\/p>\n Hets-David Ben am Israel, legal counsel for Yarok, emphasizes how thoroughly Israel\u2019s commercial cannabis sector is\u00a0ensconced in the country\u2019s political establishment<\/a>. \u201cThe cannabis industry in Israel is led by former elite officials,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n InterCure (which operates under the brand name\u00a0Canndoc<\/a>) is led by Ehud Barak, the former prime minister and minister of defense.\u00a0Together Pharma<\/a>\u00a0is\u00a0led<\/a>\u00a0by Yohanan Danino, former chief of the\u00a0Israel Police<\/a>, the country\u2019s national force.\u00a0Cann10 Ltd<\/a>, which recently acquired\u00a0Seach Medical Group<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0major consolidation<\/a>\u00a0of top industry players, is led by Tamir Pardo\u2014the former head of\u00a0Mossad<\/a>, Israel\u2019s intelligence agency.<\/p>\n Ben am Israel portrays an overlapping matrix between the industry and the regulatory and enforcement bureaucracy that allows bad practices to continue. He also charges that it holds back a general legalization so as to preserve the\u00a0status quo<\/em>. \u201cThe Israeli state-corporation complex is corrupt to the core,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n There is still a thriving illicit market in Israel that has traditionally been served by imports of hashish from Lebanon and Morocco. But in February, five months into Israel\u2019s bombardment of the Gaza Strip, Moroccan hash suppliers\u00a0announced<\/a>\u00a0they would boycott Israeli dealers over the Gaza war.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhy is it possible for Israelis to make a living selling Moroccan hashish when our Palestinian brothers are suffering from hunger and living in inhumane conditions?\u201d one supplier in Morocco\u2019s Rif Mountains was\u00a0quoted<\/a>\u00a0rhetorically asking Israel\u2019s News 12. \u201cWe no longer sell hashish to Israelis. Before the war, we did business here with Israelis\u2026merchants came here and made good money. Now that\u2019s the end of it.\u201d<\/p>\n The account also quoted Israeli dealers who confirmed that supply was indeed starting to dry up.\u00a0<\/p>\n The unrelenting horror of the Gaza bombardment, with some 35,000 now dead, has shocked the world. Israel is accused of genocide in cases\u00a0now pending<\/a>\u00a0before both the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and International Criminal Court (ICC). ICC prosecutor Karim AA Khan\u00a0announced<\/a>\u00a0May 20 that he has applied for arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as senior Hamas leaders, for crimes committed during the ongoing war. The officials face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.<\/p>\n The long Israeli\u00a0siege<\/a>\u00a0of the Gaza Strip since Hamas seized power there in 2007 gave a certain sense of inevitability to the Oct. 7 attacks. Israel has also been\u00a0accused by international human rights groups<\/a>\u00a0of \u201capartheid\u201d in its 57-year military occupation of the West Bank, and settlement of the territory in defiance of international law.\u00a0<\/p>\n Even the ex-Mossad chief Tamir Pardo said last September, just before everything exploded, that Israel is enforcing an apartheid system in the West Bank. \u201cThere is an apartheid state here,\u201d he said in an\u00a0interview with the Associated Press<\/a>. \u201cIn a territory where two people are judged under two legal systems, that is an apartheid state.\u201d<\/p>\n The international outrage may also have implications for the legal cannabis sector in which Pardo is a key player. The\u00a0BDS Movement<\/a>\u00a0is a global campaign for boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel, aimed at ending the occupation of the West Bank and siege of Gaza, as well as what it calls systematic discrimination against Palestinian citizens of Israel. It draws inspiration from the similar movement that\u00a0helped put an end<\/a>\u00a0to South African apartheid in the 1980s and early \u201890s.<\/p>\n When asked about whether the campaign applies to the cannabis sector, the BDS Movement offered this seemingly generic comment from the organization\u2019s general coordinator Mahmoud Nawajaa: \u201cThe BDS Movement calls for a full boycott of apartheid Israel and of all companies that are complicit in its grave violations of Palestinian human rights, particularly in this time of its livestreamed genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in the besieged and occupied Gaza Strip.\u201d<\/p>\n When reminded that the Israeli cannabis industry is actually a part of the medical sector, the BDS Movement said that the phrase \u201cunless there are no viable alternatives\u201d can be appended to the quote.\u00a0<\/p>\n When asked if this caveat might explicitly apply to medical cannabis, the organization did not reply.\u00a0<\/p>\n The post Israel\u2019s Cannabis Industry In a Time of War<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Israel is an emerging player in the international cannabis market, and the industry is embraced by pillars of the country\u2019s political establishment. But every aspect of Israeli society has been impacted by the horrific events of last October 7, and the ensuing war. The cannabis sector has been no exception.Continue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,80,133,7456,17733],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75958"}],"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\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75958"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75958\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75959,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75958\/revisions\/75959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Impacts of October 7\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Advances for Decrim<\/strong><\/h2>\n
The Cannabis Establishment<\/strong><\/h2>\n
The Question of Sanctions<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\n
\nRead More: Israel\u2019s Cannabis Industry In a Time of War<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"