By Brian Walker and Oren Liebermann
Israel's fast-growing cannabis industry has high hopes for a new market -- exports of medical marijuana to America.
The country is already a leading supplier of pharmaceuticals to the
U.S. Now its government, scientists and companies are working together
to turn the once illicit drug into a booming new medical business.
With
conservative Rabbis giving the okay for medical marijuana use, and the
government adopting a relaxed stance, investment in cannabis production
has exploded.
The industry is being pushed by Israel's Ministry of Health, which is trying to take the morality out of weed.
"I'm
not sure that my people, my voters are so [happy] about what I did,"
Health Minister and ultra-orthodox Rabbi Yaakov Litzman told CNN. "If I
have to look strictly at how I can help sick people who need this
cannabis, I think I did the right thing."
The number of people in
Israel being treated with cannabis has soared from a few dozen 10 years
ago to about 23,000 in 2015. Cannabis producers expect that growth to
continue.
"It could be a business of hundreds of millions of
dollars to Israel," predicts Aharon Lutzky, CEO of medical cannabis
supplier Tikun Olam.
That's still tiny compared to the size of the
U.S. market for legal cannabis, which could be worth $22 billion by the
end of the decade, according to industry data analysts New Frontier.
Israel
allows companies to export their knowledge, but not marijuana or its
extracts, although Lutzky and others expect the law will be changed soon
to allow shipments.
Tikun Olam, which means "Healing the World"
in Hebrew, is hoping to capitalize on its know how overseas by getting
patents on its best strains, and by entering joint ventures with other
firms. It has already established greenhouses in Canada with MedReleaf,
and says it has three agreements for similar investments in the U.S.
The
company claims to have developed a cannabis strain with the highest
level of THC ever grown.
THC is the chemical responsible for the drug's
high -- it's also good for relieving severe pain.
Another plant
the company has developed has virtually none of the psychoactive
chemical but the highest CBD level currently in cultivation. CBD is a
cannabinoid that may have a number of medical benefits.
That could
open up new markets for children, or professionals who need treatment
but can't spend the day in a mental haze. Tikun Olam is also trying to
produce personalized therapies.
"The real thing holding back the
industry is the problem of how to make a standardized level of product
from a plant where so many factors are based in nature," said Scott
Levenson, COO of Tikun Olam.
To help maintain standards,
the company's labs and greenhouses are strictly controlled to make sure
there is no cross-pollination. Levels of cannabinoids are measured
precisely and plants are bar-coded and tracked closely from planting to
harvest.
Cannabis is not considered a restricted food in Judaism,
therefore it does not carry a kosher certification. The Jewish religion
permits ingestion of anything natural that helps people stay healthy,
and medical cannabis has been accepted even by religious conservatives.
But
it has its critics in Israel, and regulations make cannabis research
difficult. Still, experts say the country is well placed to exploit the
potential of medical marijuana, partly because of tighter controls on
the industry in the U.S.
"Israel is right on the cusp of being
able to grab hold of this entire industry and become the real mecca for
marijuana research," says Suzanne Sisley, physician, Internal
Medicine/Psychiatry at the Arizona Telemedicine Program.
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