Dr. Ronni Gamzi, director-general of the Health Ministry, decided on Thursday to
establish a unit within the ministry to manage the supervision and supply of
medical marijuana and to serve as an agency for this purpose according to the
demands of an international agreement on the subject.
The unit will begin
operating in January, 2012.
RELATED:Police: Importing medical marijuana would curb illegal use Future of medical marijuana in Israel up for gov’t debate It was also decided that medical cannabis
will continue to be grown in Israel for at least two years, because imports
would be tenfold more expensive.
The head of the unit will be chosen in a
public tender according to his or her management experience, but a medical
degree is not required. The ministry unit will include a medical and logistical
branch that will function in cooperation with other relevant ministries, Gamzu
said.
Until now, authorization for the use of medical marijuana to
relieve pain and provide other relief for patients – adults and children – with
severe illness has been supervised and authorized for specific patients by Dr.
Yehuda Baruch, a psychiatrist at the government’s Abarbanel State Mental Health
Center in Bat Yam.
Currently, medical marijuana is supplied exclusively
by local growers to some 6,000 patients authorized by Baruch, but there are
predictions that doctor and patient satisfaction is so high that the number
could reach 40,000 in 2016.
Members of the Israel Pharmacists Association
have been pressing for permission to distribute medical marijuana to authorized
patients through their pharmacies. Although the Israel Police has urged that
supplies be imported rather than locally grown because customs agents could
minimize their reaching illicit users, the ministry decided that in the near
future, no imports would be allowed.