How Israel and US compare on marijuana research

"Everything is set up here to be the epicenter of cannabis research," organizer Clifton Flack told Quartz.

Why medical marijuana research is blossoming in Israel?


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The Israeli government's stance on medical marijuana research and the country's cultural landscape make it far friendlier to marijuana than the puritanical policies of the U.S. government.

Israel, the Netherlands and Canada are countries with government-sponsored programs dedicated to cannabis medical research. "There is even a Medical Cannabis Unit within the Israeli Ministry of Health," Newsweek reported.

Cheryl Shuman

Israeli medical marijuana patients are granted access to greenery through government subsidies.

The majority of Israel's research institutions test cannabis, the Observer reported.

Marijuana is not legalized as a recreational drug in the country.

But the Health Ministry granted 23,000 individuals permits to obtain medication through nine suppliers, Reuters reported.

Growers in the country cultivate plants for research institutions to develop clinical trials to treat a wide range of physical and mental illnesses, from cancer and arthritis to PTSD, with the support of Orthodox Jewish Israeli Health Minister Yakov Litzman.

Medical marijuana is available in many forms, including cigarettes, baked goods, and even inhalers, and can be administered within a state medical facility or taken at home.

marijuana-leaves

The Washington Post described an idyllic secluded greenhouse nestled in the mountains of Galilee, where lab techs tend to seeds to treat epileptic children.

Such initiatives are not only permitted by Israeli lawmakers, but also encouraged. Growers can develop marijuana-based treatments under Israeli Health Ministry cannabis unit senior medical adviser Michael Dor.

Meanwhile, in the states…

The DEA announced an August policy shift allowing growers to register to cultivate and distribute marijuana for research.

Previously, the agency only issued a license to cultivate marijuana plants for research to one institution: the University of Mississippi.

Mississippi

From Newsweek:

"'Marijuana was an integral part of American medicine for more than 100 years, from the 1830s through the 1940s, and it was used safely and effectively for all of that time,' says Dr. Alan Shackelford, a Harvard-trained physician who prescribes medical marijuana in Colorado. But today, bipartisan legislation (the Compassionate Access, Research Expansion and Respect States Act) meant to reclassify marijuana as a Schedule II drug remains stalled in Congress, 'not for any scientific reason but pretty much out of ignorance of what is actually intended, which is to allow scientific inquiry and study,' Shackelford says."

More than half of U.S. states have now legalized medical marijuana as a result of this year's election.

Yet the U.S. government continues to classify marijuana as a Schedule I drug, along with heroin, ecstasy, and LSD.

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Photo Courtesy of Cannabis News World

Source: Cannabis News World