An Israeli government committee has given the first go-ahead for the country to export medical marijuana. The green light came from a ministerial committee on Sunday, but the legislation could take months to get through parliament. The measure could generate an estimated $267 million per year for Israel, according to some projections.
The bill aims to regulate and enable the exportation of cannabis in response to global demands for the plant from medical marijuana researchers and business owners.
Today there are eight companies growing marijuana in Israel and there are dozens more requests from business owners wanting to practice, pending the relevant bodies. The largest Israeli marijuana pioneer grower has 230 strains of marijuana in its greenhouse.
Marijuana is currently only allowed for medical use in Israel by special permission. Around 26,000 patients were approved to use cannabis by the Israeli Ministry of Health in 2016, with the number of licenses expected to double by 2018.
The Israeli government announced recently plans to decriminalize home use and small-scale possession of marijuana, and allocated 8 million shekels to a dozen research programs studying cannabis for medical use.
In 2006, Israeli drugmaker Teva struck a deal with a Tel Aviv-based start-up Syqe Medical to give patients a pocket-sized inhaler that delivers an individualized dose of marijuana.
In the US, 28 states have legalized marijuana for medical use, and the market is estimated to reach $50 billion over the next decade.
