By Walid Shoebat

Israel Hayom says its a “historic decision”.

Marijuana is now to be sold at pharmacies all throughout Israel.
Deputy Health Minister Yakov Litzman, who admits to never having seen marijuana until last week, says pharmacies will be allowed to dispense prescription marijuana (under supervision, of course).

Now you can see Marijuana farms pop-up all over Israel. A photo of such a farm for a ‘licensed’ grower inspecting the ‘medical’ plant, of course:

Contrary to popular misconceptions, Israel distributes nearly 880 pounds of cannabis per month.

Deputy Health Minister Yakov Litzman, who functions as the de facto health minister, announced this “historic” decision on Monday during a Knesset committee meeting.

But of course, Marijuana will be sold to ‘responsible’ patients with ‘prescriptions’, and will be ‘controlled’ as if it was real prescription medication, for crying out loud.

“I am aware of the need to change the Health Ministry’s existing policy on the matter,” Litzman told the Knesset committee.

“Medical marijuana will be sold by pharmacies under an arrangement process, contingent on a prescription written only by a senior physician who has been trained for this specific purpose by the Health Ministry.”

“Today there are pharmacies that dispense all kinds of other drugs like morphine, so since that has been organized, this can be organized as well.”

Litzman voiced hope that the High Court of Justice would approve the cultivation of medical marijuana, pledging to “issue a tender for growers, which is currently being studied by the High Court of Justice.”

So why is Israel doing this? The reports say that placing the sale of medical marijuana under the supervision of pharmacies would help combat the black-market phenomenon.

“The moment medical marijuana enters the pharmacies, we will take aggressive measures to ensure that it doesn’t get out,” Litzman said.

So if you can’t beat them, join them, even if the government becomes a drug-dealer.

But Litzman subconsciously knows this stuff is not ‘kosher’. During the committee meeting, he conceded that marijuana was foreign to him personally.

“The first time I saw marijuana was last week. I had never seen it before, and never touched it,” he said.

So it’s “hey man, I sell, but I never inhale”!

“Under instructions of the High Court of Justice, I am taking action on the matter, after having made sure not to engage in it myself in the past.”

And Litzman is not alone. The surprising announcement was welcomed by many, including committee chairwoman MK Tamar Zandberg (Meretz), who has been active on this issue.

An Israeli medical marijuana patient getting help inhaling the drug. (Tikun Olam)

“This is an enormous change,” she said after the meeting.

“I’m not a criminal if I smoke a joint,” MK Tamar Zandberg said last year, calling the public more progressive than its leaders.

And not all Israeli MKs immune from doing drugs themselves. Habayit Hayehudi MK Yinon Magal, who confessed to using marijuana in the run-up to the last election, told Israel Hayom, “I hope that the new process will truly bring the much-anticipated relief within a short period of time.”

To emulate this madness going on in Israel, perhaps then all the U.S. candidates running for president should get high while we all run to the polls.

On May this year, over a thousand Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv for a march and demonstration against the prohibition on marijuana use in Israel as well as the harshness of measures taken by authorities against recreational users of the drug.

The event was attended by several Knesset members from right and left, including MK Tamar Zandberg of Meretz, Jewish Home’s MK Yinon Magal and Likud’s MK Miki Zohar, as well as former Likud MK Moshe Feiglin.

And you might think this to be a phenomenon only amongst the leftists and the crazies, got forbid, the religious institution approve of this stuff? In Israel, there are some prominent rabbis who approve. Rabbi Efraim Zalmanovich, an orthodox rabbi of some reputation, has issued a religious ruling sanctifying the use of marijuana. The rabbi’s ruling clarifies an opinion by Rabbi Hagai Bar Giora, of the Israeli chief rabbinate, who in March 2013 told reporters, “If you smoke it, there is no problem whatsoever.”

These are no small cheese and as it seems the more “prominent” you are, the nuttier. It is rather strange, tobacco is out and frowned upon while the mind altering Cannabis is in. So what’s next? Hashish?