Israel: Can cannabis legalization regain momentum?
Bureaucratic disconnect and political shifts may have scuppered Israel’s once imminent prospect of adult use legalization
Tuesday, March 23, 2021
As recently as November, it seemed as though Israel was cruising toward nationally legalized cannabis by summertime. But that effort has stalled at the side of the road, and its proponents are unsure how to get it going again. For a while, it certainly looked like smooth sailing. A Knesset vote last June sent two legalization bills, drafted by Ram Shefa and Sharren Haskel, to the review stage of ratification, at which point they were thoroughly dissected by the Special Committee on Drugs and Alcohol. Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn declared that adult use legalization was expected to be enacted by the summer, and that the bills were examples of “significant, holistic, and responsible reform, which shows the State of Israel isn’t ignoring reality and is going in the footsteps of developed countries.”
