The Israeli city of Tira establishes the first medical cannabis cafe

Based in Tira, Smokey Monkey has just defied the odds. It is the first medical cannabis cafe in Israel. This is a place where people can legally buy and use medical cannabis.

Its owner, Kama Shbeeta, a former psychiatric nurse, is on a mission to change the stigma surrounding cannabis use. In founding the cafe, he hoped to become an alternative to the black market for those who need help managing their chronic pain and help patients use the drug more safely.

Initially, Shbeeta received death and fire threats from people who wanted to burn down his house. But gradually the neighbors began to understand what he was doing. Now people with medical cannabis licenses can come together in a safe place and experiment with different types of cannabis at a facility that is already promoting itself as a place where Palestinians and Israelis can heal together.

Smoking the cannabis peace pipe

The fact that a cannabis cafe has opened in Israel is news enough. But the exact location is also important.

Smokey Monkey is located in a town called Tira. This name means “The Fort” in both Arabic and Hebrew. It is part of a cluster of Arab villages near the so-called “Green Line”. This refers to the green ink used to draw the line that marked Israel’s first borders on the map as the armistice talks created the country after World War II. The border existed until the 1967 Six-Day War, after which the areas beyond that border were subsumed by Israel and are better known today as East Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights, and the Sinai Peninsula (although this was announced in 1982 after Egypt returned).

The area includes farmland that is considered the most fertile in all of Israel. For this reason, until 1976, Tira had 2/3 of its arable land expropriated by the Israeli state. Today the area is known for its high crime rate and youth unemployment.

However, the cafe’s Facebook page makes it clear that Arabs and Jews have so far come together in very different ways to treat their illnesses with cannabis.

Where Israel stands in the legalization discussion

Israel is a leader in cannabis research as well as medical legalization. Unfortunately, the leisure reform continues to falter.

On April 1, 2019, the government decriminalized the use of cannabis by those over the age of 18. Possession of home-grown cannabis is no longer a criminal offence. However, adults caught in public with small amounts of cannabis still had to pay a fine of $275 for the first offense, $550 if caught a second time, and if caught 3 times in 7 years, be prosecuted by this year .

On March 9, Attorney General Gideon Sa’ar signed an ordinance making possession and use an administrative penalty only—and both a cheaper one and one that doesn’t increase with a later “offence.” Such regulations also replace the older laws from 2019, which expire at the end of this month. Fines are capped at approximately $150 per violation. Minors, soldiers, police officers and soldiers serving as prison guards remain barred from deployment.

While still not full legalization, this is at least a measure of maintenance of the status quo after efforts to fully legalize recreational activities failed in November 2020.

Israelis who wish to have their criminal record for cannabis possession wiped off the books can also use this form to request the Justice Department to have their “crime” erased.

Guests at Smokey Monkey may be the first Israeli cannabis users to step inside a cannabis café, but of course they won’t be the last.