Studying Marijuana and Its Loftier Purpose

Tikkun Olam, a medical marijuana farm in Israel, blends the high-tech and the spiritual.

Tikkun Olam, Farma  medicinske marihuane u Izraelu

SAFED, Israel — Among the rows of plants growing at a government-approved medical marijuana farm in the Galilee hills in northern Israel, one strain is said to have the strongest psychoactive effect of any cannabis in the world. Another, rich in anti-inflammatory properties, will not get you high at all.

Među redovima biljki koje rastu na farmimedicinske marihuane, koja je odobrena od vlade , na brežuljcima Galileje u sjevernom Izraelu, s jedne strane se kaže da biljka  ima najveći psihoaktivni efekt od bilo kojeg kabnabisa na svijetu, a sa druge strane da je bogata antiupalnim svojstvima.

U USA program "medicinske" marihuane postoji u 18 država,  ali ostaje ilegalan pred federalnim zakonom. U Izraelu zakon definira marihuanu kao ilegalnu i opasnu drogu i još nema zakona o njenoj upotrebi u medicinske svrhe. Ali je Ministarstvo zdravlja izdalo specijalnu licencu da se dozvoli da tisuće pacijenata prime medicinsku marihuanu i neki vladini  zastupnici sada promoviraju napredak u tom području kao primjer inovacije i "pionira"...

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Israelis have been at the vanguard of research into the medicinal properties of cannabis for decades.In the 1960s, Prof. Raphael Mechoulam and his colleague Yechiel Gaoni at the Weizmann Institute of Science isolated, analyzed and synthesized the main psychoactive ingredient in the cannabis plant, tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. Later, Professor Mechoulam deciphered the cannabinoids native to the brain. Ruth Gallily, a professor emerita of immunology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, has studied another main constituent of cannabis — cannabidiol, or CBD — considered a powerful anti-inflammatory and anti-anxiety agent.

When Zach Klein, a former filmmaker, made a documentary on medical marijuana that was broadcast on Israeli television in 2009, about 400 Israelis were licensed to receive the substance. Today, the number has risen to about 11,000. Mr. Klein became devoted to the subject and went to work for Tikkun Olam in research and development. “Cannabis was used as medicine for centuries,” he said. “Now science is telling us how it works.”

Israeli researchers say cannabis can be beneficial for a variety of illnesses and conditions, from helping cancer patients relieve pain and ease loss of appetite to improving the quality of life for people with post-traumatic stress disorder and neuropsychological conditions. The natural ingredients in the plant, they say, can help with digestive function, infections and recovery after a heart attack...

Working with Hebrew University researchers, the farm has also developed a version in capsule form, which would make exporting the drug more practical, should the law allow it.