U.S. firms target investment in Israeli cannabis Research & Development
A worker harvests Cannabis plants at a plantation
near the Northern Israeli town of Nazareth. (Reuters)
Already a pioneer in high-tech and cutting-edge agriculture, Israel is starting to attract American companies looking to bring medical marijuana know-how to a booming market back home. Scientists say strict rules, some set by the Drug Enforcement Administration, limit cannabis studies in the United States, where the legal marijuana market is valued at $5.7 billion and expected to grow to $23 billion by 2020.
"In the United States it's easier to study heroin than marijuana," said U.S. psychiatrist Suzanne Sisley, who has researched the effects of cannabis as a treatment for American military veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
In a clinic in Tel Aviv, 65-year-old Noa lights a joint. She suffers from fibromyalgia, a chronic pain disorder, and explains how six months of smoking medical cannabis has transformed her life. "I can function again. Most importantly, I'm a grandma, I can roll around on the floor with the kids," she said as she discussed with a nurse what strain would best alleviate her symptoms.
Israeli authorities are liberal when it comes to research. Growers work with scientific institutions in clinical trials and development of strains that treat a variety of illnesses and disorders. Israeli Health Minister Yakov Litzman, an ultra-Orthodox Jew, supports medical cannabis usage and has introduced steps to ease its prescription and sale.
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The clinic belongs to Tikum Olam, Israel's largest medical marijuana supplier, which partnered this year with a private U.S. investment group to grow medical marijuana in four U.S. states.
Tikun Olam is taking part in clinical trials on epilepsy, Crohn's disease, spasticity and tinnitus, said Zvi Bentowich, its chief scientist.
Professor Raphael Mechoulam of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, whose landmark studies in the 1960s paved the way for cannabis research by isolating and synthesizing THC, the main psychoactive ingredient of marijuana, praised the Israeli government's open approach to the research.
"Cannabinoid research was and still is viewed positively by government committees," he said, adding that law enforcement was not involved in study approval.
"In the United States it's easier to study heroin than marijuana," said U.S. psychiatrist Suzanne Sisley, who has researched the effects of cannabis as a treatment for American military veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Israeli Health Minister Yakov Litzman, an ultra-Orthodox Jew, supports medical cannabis usage and has introduced steps to ease its prescription and sale.