Thoughts from the void: Cannabis and Israel

Israel is said to have as ancient a tradition with cannabis as Iran, India and China. Many Hebrew texts speak of cannabis. The word cannabis is said to have its roots in Hebrew and Sanskrit. Cannabis is claimed to have been used by John the Baptist and Jesus Christ as a part of the holy communion. Some say that the medication applied to the wound on Jesus' side during his crucifixion was cannabis oil.

Modern Israel has a complex relationship with cannabis. It is officially illegal, in line with the UN ban on cannabis. However the recreational use of cannabis is known to be very prevalent among the Israeli population. Every year large numbers of Israeli youth, after serving their mandatory army service, head out to India to visit the various places where cannabis is freely available so that they can de-stress and unwind. Israeli drug networks are said to flourish in India along with Russians operating out of key cannabis cultivation and consumption areas like Goa, the Himachal region and Kodaikanal. These networks may be playing a key role in cannabis distribution between India, Israel and other parts of the world especially European countries like the Netherlands, Denmark, etc. Israeli research on cannabis biology, its medical properties and its industrial applications is said to be the best in the world.

Raphael Mechoulam, called the modern father of cannabis research, because of his discovery of the endocannabinoid system(ECS) in humans and its interaction with cannabis, is of Israeli origin. It is another matter that he is said to have done his research on Lebanese hashish seized by the Israeli police. Since his discoveries, Israel has made rapid steps in medical cannabis research and applications. Israel has a rapidly growing medical cannabis community. Israeli companies are going global and setting up growing and processing centers in Africa. Recently Israel approved the export of cannabis to other countries. I am not aware which countries the exports are to but it could most likely be European countries like Germany, France, UK, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Switzerland, Finland, etc that are seeing high demand and are willing to pay high prices. Israel has embarked on cannabis cultivation among its farmers for research, export and medical purposes but most of this does not reach the common man in the country, as per my understanding. For that the adult recreational use of cannabis needs to be legalized. If not, people will depend on the black market within the country and the international illegal trade of cannabis.

Legalizing for recreational use has vast benefits including spawning multiple businesses, boosting the economy, removing the hurdles on research, reintroducing sustainable industrial applications, reducing excessive and wrong law enforcement action and enabling the poorest and the most needy persons to get access to the plant. Otherwise only the wealthy will have access, while the sick, elderly, armed forces personnel, women, minorities, indigenous communities and the young will continue to be increasingly vulnerable to the more deadly and increasingly accessible opioids, synthetic cannabinoids, methamphetamine and other amphetamine type substances (ATS), abuse of prescription drugs, novel psychotropic substances as well as the legal but deadlier drugs alcohol and tobacco. Decriminalization is not enough when it comes to cannabis, full legalization is the only way, not just in Israel but all over the world. Recreational use is harm reduction and preventive medicine.

The UNODC World Drug Report 2020 speaks of methamphetamine flowing into the Middle East from South East Asia. It also speaks about how the Middle East is now the hub of amphetamine type substances (ATS) that are manufactured primarily in countries like Lebanon and Syria and shipped to Europe and Africa besides being locally consumed in large quantities by all countries including Israel. Being in close proximity with Iran and Afghanistan means that heroin is also always very accessible.

What Israel needs to do is to cease its stop-start romance with regard to cannabis and legalize cannabis for adult recreational use. This presents an opportunity for Israel and its neighbors to trade and build friendly relations on the basis of a truly spiritual, medical recreational plant. The plant can be the one key common factor that binds together people of diverse nationalities and religious backgrounds. Given the plant's ability to grow and thrive in most conditions, the limited areas of Israeli agricultural land, with its highly controlled used of water resources, could be an ideal platform for growing the cannabis plant. If there are indigenous cannabis varieties in Israel as there are likely to be given its long history of cannabis usage, these need to be protected and revived. The plant could be the perfect medicine to diffuse the tensions and anxiety between Israel and the Arab world, which only serves the purposes of arms manufacturers and dealers, and amphetamine and opium networks. Cannabis presents an opportunity to forget the traumatic past and to build afresh a world of harmony for the Middle East, especially for Israel, its neighbors and equally importantly, its indigenous community, the Palestinians.

The country must also strongly support world wide cannabis legalization at the UN as it is not enough to think of the well being of one's own nation. It is equally important to think of the well being of the entire world because without the world there is no nation.

In December 2020, the UN voted to remove cannabis from its most restricted Schedule IV category of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. It does however still remain in Schedule I, which is the least restrictive. This one move by the UN itself should be sufficient to bring about the recreational legalization of cannabis in every nation and an overhaul of national drug laws.

It must be noted that in most places where cannabis legalization has happened it took the efforts of the people who mobilized themselves through grassroots level movements to bring about this change. Left to lawmakers legalization would have been impossible, as the main interests of lawmakers concern the protection of the big industries opposed to cannabis such as pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, medical, alcohol and tobacco. For something that truly benefits the people, the people themselves have had to make the change.

Listed below are articles taken from various media related to the above subject. Words in italics are the thoughts of your truly at the time of reading the article.

'Netanyahu said at a press conference Thursday that he agreed to give a ministerial post in a future government to Zehut leader Moshe Feiglin and advance medical marijuana legislation, an issue supported by Feiglin. In exchange, Feiglin’s party agreed not to run in next month’s elections.'
https://apnews.com/818f3295e3814bacb02ecf9cb7354a7f

'Israel had no large imports before 2020, but in only six months the country became the largest importer in the world, underscoring how quickly things change in this nascent international industry.

Israeli producers have long eyed the export market, but the government has been slow to successfully facilitate exports, despite many attempts.

Several government decisions supposedly approving exports have been widely celebrated over the past couple of years, but so far no meaningful exports from Israel have occurred.'
https://mjbizdaily.com/israel-passes-germany-as-worlds-largest-importer-of-medical-cannabis-flower/

'Much of the methamphetamine production in these subregions was originally intended for exports to the rapidly growing markets of East and South-East Asia, but domestic markets also appear to have started to emerge in the Near and Middle East/ South-West Asia in recent years. Of 15 reporting countries in these subregions, 12 countries reported the use of methamphetamine by 2018 (or the latest year for which data are available). In the absence of scientific data for the Near and Middle East/South-West Asia, qualitative information on trends in methamphetamine use reported by national authorities to UNODC give an indication of the threat experienced by the region. National authorities have reported a clear upward trend in methamphetamine use in those subregions. Methamphetamine appears to have emerged in the Near and Middle East/South-West Asia as the main ATS used in the Islamic Republic of Iran (2009– 2018) as well as in Iraq (2016 and 2017), Lebanon (2014–2017), Bahrein (2016), Afghanistan (2015 and 2016), Israel (2014 and 2015) and Kuwait (2003, 2009, 2013' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_4.pdf

'In the past few years, the manufacture and use of methamphetamine have emerged in the Near and Middle East/South-West Asia, subregions that until recently were dominated by use of “captagon”. Methamphetamine manufacture and consumption used to be largely unknown in those subregions. Initially reported by only one country in the subregion (Israel), the number of countries reporting seizures of methamphetamine has increased in subsequent years. Overall, eight countries in the Near and Middle East/South-West Asia reported seizures of methamphetamine in the period 2000–2009, rising to 14 countries in the period 2010–2018. The bulk of the methamphetamine seized, however, continued to be seized by the Islamic Republic of Iran.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_4.pdf

'Netanyahu said at a press conference Thursday that he agreed to give a ministerial post in a future government to Zehut leader Moshe Feiglin and advance medical marijuana legislation, an issue supported by Feiglin. In exchange, Feiglin’s party agreed not to run in next month’s elections.'
https://apnews.com/818f3295e3814bacb02ecf9cb7354a7f

'Of the 34 new ministers, including the prime minister, 19 support fully or to some extent legalization of cannabis use, or at least the regularization of the medical cannabis market; six are undecided, with a tendency to support it; five have not declared their position in any organized manner; and only three have declared that they oppose the legalization idea. In terms of percentages, 57% to 75% support advancing legislation on cannabis, and only 9% to 24% are opposed. The Cannabis Magazine news site shared with Al-Monitor results of a public opinion survey on the issue, conducted in August 2018, which found similar support (71%) among the general public'
https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2020/05/israel-benjamin-netanyahu-yuli-edelstein-cannabis-knesset.html

'It is a development that brings a new meaning to the title of high priest. Religious rituals in ancient Judah were carried out amid clouds of potent cannabis smoke, archaeologists have said.

Researchers in Israel have found residues of cannabinoids including tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive constituent of cannabis, in a shrine of the 8th century BC.

They conclude that the black solidified residue, which was found in a shallow depression on top of a limestone altar, derived from the burning of hashish to "stimulate ecstasy" in religious rites.'
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/judean-worshippers-were-high-on-cannabis-archaeologists-reveal-mkmxx2nd7

'However, this is the first time physical evidence has been identified that indicates the tribe of Judah participated in marijuana-infused ceremonies. Evidence of frankincense being burned was also found at the site.

The team behind the study, from the Israel Museum and the Volcani Center, relied on two common methods of identifying cannabinoids: liquid chromatography and gas chromatography. They found components of marijuana known widely today such as THC, CBD, CBN and various terpenoids.'
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/proof-of-marijuana-use-discovered-at-ancient-biblical-site-in-israel/

'A team of Israeli researchers assessed characteristics in 181 medical cannabis patients with fibromyalgia. Qualified patients may legally access state-regulated medical cannabis products in Israel.

After initiating cannabis therapy, 51 percent of subjects either "reduced the dose or the number of medications" that they took to treat fibromyalgia-related symptoms. Nearly half of the study's participants reported ceasing their use of prescription medications altogether'
https://norml.org/news/2020/06/04/study-fibromyalgia-patients-reduce-or-eliminate-their-prescription-drug-use-following-cannabis-therapy

'The Israeli police is expected to oppose a government-backed bill to fully legalize cannabis, senior officials told Haaretz, ahead of a Sunday ministerial meeting to discuss the proposed legislation.

Police officials have argued in discussions about the proposed move that it would lead to an uptick in drug abuse, encourage youth to use drugs and increase crime organizations' influence over the drug trade. However, the police’s stance is considered only as a professional recommendation and policy makers aren’t bound by it.'
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israel-police-warns-against-government-backed-reform-to-legalize-cannabis-1.8918341

'A team of Israeli researchers assessed the impact of prolonged cannabis use (median treatment duration = three years) on the frequency of monthly migraine attacks.

The majority of subjects (61 percent) in the cohort reported a greater than 50 percent reduction in monthly migraine attacks following the initiation of cannabis therapy. Those patients who responded favorably to cannabis treatment also reported reducing their anti-migraine medication intake, particularly their use of opioids and tryptamine-based drugs.'
https://norml.org/news/2020/06/18/study-prolonged-cannabis-treatment-associated-with-reduced-migraine-frequency

'Meiri is best known for his work matching specific components of cannabis to affect different types of cancer. But when the interviewer asked the Israeli researcher which areas of medicine he thought cannabis offered the most promise, the answer was surprising.

On top of what is already known and treated… pain, sleep, epilepsy, anxiety and these kinds of things, I think that one of the things that is still not being treated with cannabis … and I really, really believe in it, and in my lab I have phenomenal results, is dementia and Alzheimer’s.'
https://www.forbes.com/sites/abbierosner/2020/06/18/notes-from-the-cutting-edge-israeli-researcher-dedi-meiri-on-cannabis-alzheimers-and-dementia/

'While methamphetamine trafficking flows from East and South-East Asia to countries outside the subregion remain modest, some smuggling to destinations around the world was reported, mainly smuggling from Malaysia, Thailand and Myanmar in 2018 or, when the period is extended to the past five years, mainly from China and Thailand. Destinations outside the subregion included countries in South Asia, the Near and Middle East (Saudi Arabia as well as Israel), Oceania (Australia and New Zealand), North America (the United States as well as Canada), Western Europe (notably Switzerland as well as Italy, Germany, France, Spain and Iceland), Eastern Europe (notably the Russian Federation) and Africa (notably South Africa) over the period 2014–2018' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_Booklet_3.pdf

'Although data for 2018 were unavailable for key countries in the Near and Middle East, more than half (54 per cent) of the global quantity of amphetamine seized in the period 2014–2018 was reported in the Near and Middle East/South-West Asia. Of the rest, some 24 per cent was seized in Europe (including 14 per cent in Western and Central Europe), 13 per cent in the Americas (including 7 per cent in North America), 6 per cent in Africa (mostly in North Africa) and 1 per cent in Oceania (mostly in Australia). The regional totals for Europe and the Near and Middle East/South-West Asia show larger seizures of amphetamine than of methamphetamine over the period 2014–2018, suggesting that the availability of amphetamine may be still greater than of methamphetamine in those regions' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_Booklet_3.pdf

'In the Near and Middle East/South-West Asia, the quantities of methamphetamine seized increased markedly in 2018. However, the marked decline in the reported quantities of amphetamine seized in recent years (-37 per cent in 2017 and -80 per cent in 2018) seems to be largely a statistical artefact. Some of this decline may have been related to changes in the categorization of stimulants seized, for example, “prescription stimulants” instead of “amphetamine”. Even more important has been the hiatus in the reporting of seizures to UNODC by some countries known to be affected by major amphetamine trafficking activities. There is plenty of evidence that trafficking in amphetamine, in particular of “captagon” tablets, has also continued in the Near and Middle East in recent years. INCB, for example, in its most recent annual report noted the following: The manufacture and trafficking of counterfeit “captagon” continued to seriously affect the countries of the Middle East, which not only are destination markets for those drugs but are also increasingly becoming a source of counterfeit “captagon”…Political instability and unresolved conflicts, poverty and the lack of economic opportunities in some parts of the subregion have contributed to increased trafficking in…“captagon”' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_Booklet_3.pdf

'Instability and conflict in the Middle East contributed to the trafficking in falsified “captagon” in the subregion. A lack of control and monitoring led to an increase in the manufacture of “captagon” tablets in some countries over the period 2014–2018, which turned into an additional source of income for terrorist and insurgency groups in the Middle East. Captagon was originally the trademarked brand name of a medicinal product containing fenetylline, until the substance was placed under international control in 1986. While the diversion of fenetylline from existing stocks might have continued until the end of the 1990s, those stocks, some of which were apparently located in Bulgaria, became depleted. However, the “captagon” name and logo continued to be used even though the composition of the counterfeit tablets had changed, and increasingly, seized “captagon” tablets were found to contain amphetamine, often mixed with caffeine and other substances.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_Booklet_3.pdf

'The two countries most frequently reported as countries of origin of amphetamine (mainly “captagon”) seized in the Near and Middle East/South-West Asia in the period 2014–2018 were Lebanon and the Syrian Arab Republic, which together accounted for some 40 per cent of all mentions of countries of origin reported by the authorities in the subregion. Final destinations are mostly countries in the Near and Middle East, most notably Saudi Arabia and various other Gulf countries, in particular the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, using both direct and indirect routes.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_Booklet_3.pdf

'Large-scale trafficking of “captagon” from Jordan to Saudi Arabia has also been documented. In two separate incidents, in January and March 2018, customs authorities in Saudi Arabia foiled attempts to smuggle “captagon” tablets into the country. Prior to that, a total of about 6.3 million tablets of the substance were recovered during operations at the border with Jordan in 2017. Although some of those tablets may have originated in neighbouring countries, in January 2018, Jordan also dismantled a clandestine laboratory manufacturing “captagon” that was mainly destined for markets in Saudi Arabia and neighbouring countries.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_Booklet_3.pdf

'Afghanistan appears to be the second most important source country of cannabis resin worldwide, with 19 per cent of all mentions worldwide in the annual report questionnaire over the period 2014– 2018, followed by Pakistan and Lebanon. The cannabis resin produced in these countries is principally destined for other countries in the Near and Middle East/South-West Asia, although cannabis resin originating in Afghanistan has also been identified in Central Asia, Eastern Europe and Western and Central Europe. The Islamic Republic of Iran reported that the cannabis resin found on its territory originated mainly in Afghanistan (followed by Pakistan), with some 65 per cent destined for countries of the Arabian peninsula, 15 per cent for the Caucasus and some 20 per cent for domestic consumption. Cannabis resin originating in Lebanon is mainly found in the Near and Middle East and, to a lesser extent, in Western and Central Europe.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_Booklet_3.pdf

Afghanistan and Mexico source the heroin and morphine. Mexico, Thailand, Myanmar and China source the methamphetamine. The Middle East and Eastern Europe sources the amphetamine. The US consumes heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine. Europe consumes heroin, morphine, methamphetamine and amphetamine. Asia consumes heroin, morphine and methamphetamine. Australia consumes methamphetamine. The Middle East consumes heroin and amphetamine. West Asia consumes heroin and methamphetamine. All countries grow and consume cannabis. Opioids, methamphetamine and amphetamines kill the most in terms of drug deaths, cannabis kills none. Who are the leading opponents to cannabis legalization and leading enforcers of global anti-cannabis policy? The countries involved the most in heroin, morphine, amphetamines and methamphetamines. They put on a mask of concern about harms from drugs, produce, sell and consume the most dangerous synthetic drugs and vehemently oppose cannabis legalization worldwide while clandestinely feeding their habits and protecting their sources. They use arms and armies to protect and promote their synthetic drug habits, and drug money to fund and wage a war on cannabis everywhere, pushing man and planet ever closer to death on massive scales and away from the safe, healing cannabis herb...
Jul 10, 2020, 1:14 PM