The latest Israeli cannabis news updates

The latest cannabis news from Israel

Yeruham, a desert city in Israel, is hoping to become a capital for MMJ

Yeruham is a desert city in Israel that is worlds away from the modern center of Tel Aviv.

Still, it hopes to gain an international reputation for medical marijuana technology. The country is already home to dozens of renowned cannabis tech startups, and new decriminalization rules in Israel are expected to further fuel market growth locally. However, there is an urgent need for employment in Yeruham as 12,000 people are unemployed. Thanks to CanNegev, the first medical cannabis startup incubator in Israel, many companies may soon be able to help solve unemployment while helping the industry grow faster.

“We have decided to make medicinal cannabis the focus of our activities, here in Yeruham, one of the most remote cities in Israel – a forgotten city,” said Zvi Bet Or, founder of CanNegev.

Tal Ohana, the first female mayor elected back in 2018, has responded to the cannabis industry’s growth. “My dream is to make Yeruham the medical cannabis capital of Israel,” Ohana told AFP. “It’s not every day that a new market emerges,” she said. “I said to myself that I have to do everything I can to be at the forefront of science and technology in this field.” She explains that cannabis technology could revitalize the city while helping to reduce the unemployment rate, which is currently with 8% above average.

Israeli study shows Tourette patients benefit from cannabis

Although the exact number of people with Tourette syndrome remains unknown, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 1 in 333 children ages 6 to 17 have the condition. However, about half of the children who also have it go undiagnosed.

Tourette’s syndrome is a condition that affects the nervous system and is characterized by tics, which are sudden movements or twitches that are involuntarily performed repeatedly. Both adults and children who have these tics cannot do anything to stop them. There is currently no known cure for Tourette’s syndrome, but a few types of treatments exist, although many patients do not respond to conventional medications.

However, many people have found relief from using cannabis to treat Tourette’s Syndrome. One of the latest studies showing the effectiveness of cannabis on Tourette was published this month; The study results, published in Behavioral Neurology, were discussed by the Israeli researchers, who studied the effects of medicinal cannabis in 15 patients with Tourette’s syndrome over a 12-week period.

Participants reported an average 38% decrease in tic severity as analyzed using the Yale Global Tic Severity Scale. Meanwhile, a significant population of participants also said they saw improvements in other aspects, including sexual function, mood and sleep. For this study, the researchers reported that the participants who reported the most improvements were those who took high-THC, low-CBD formulations. They also preferred smoking cannabis to taking sublingual oil.

“Our data shows that MC [medical cannabis] could be a treatment option for resistant TS patients, and MC has a significant impact on tics, cues, and overall patient quality of life,” the authors said.

Former Israeli government and security leaders are finding new careers in the cannabis space

ABC News reports that some of Israel’s former leaders have given up their previous careers to pursue new cannabis-related jobs instead.

Ehud Olmert, a former prime minister in Israel, is now one of them: he is trying to push for the legalization of cannabis in the country. “Everything will change dramatically overnight when there will be legalization,” Olmert told the Associated Press. He believes that “the market would be unlimited. That would be huge,” he said.

Currently, even though Israel is the world leader in cannabis research and cannabis use has been decriminalized, there are still extremely strict rules governing the research, distribution, processing and cultivation of the plant. These regulations may have created serious obstacles for domestic manufacturing in particular, preventing many from making money due to its potential to be a major cash cow.

The article also covers Ehud Barak who was also a former prime minister, former police commissioner Yohanan Danino, former foreign minister Tzipi Livni, retired director of the security agency Yaakov Peri, who are now investors and advisors in cannabis companies in Israel. “It’s a multi-hundred-million-dollar market just in the medical field, and it’s growing very quickly in Israel,” Barak explained. Barak is now the chairman of Intercure, a cannabis manufacturer, and has been since 2018. “I expect that once legalized, we’ll see a blossoming of the market for extreme products of the highest quality.”

Pharma chain in Israel wants to import MMJ to improve accessibility

Super-Pharm, an Israeli pharmaceutical chain, has just announced plans to import cannabis for medical use, reports The Jerusalem Post. It’s called Cannavix Miracle, a hybrid strain called Miracle Alien Cookies by Agrivabe, renamed for the dispensary.

This is one of the many steps Israel is taking to improve accessibility for MMJ. However, prices are still higher than average. “We are excited to launch our independent medicinal cannabis brand,” said Imad Sader, Super-Pharm’s Director of Marketing. “The addition of the Cannavix brand to Super-Pharm’s shelves expands our existing range of medicinal cannabis, which includes approximately 200 different strains,” Sader said.

Sader adds that the pharmacy chain will conduct training and workshops for its pharmacists so that they can “respond in a professional and optimal manner to patients and customers who want to buy medicinal cannabis”.

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