Labor leader Yacimovich admits to recreational drug-use in her youth

Yacimovich responds to Lapid's repeated denials of same offense: "I’m at peace with my past, unlike Yair Lapid."

By LAHAV HARKOV
Labor leader Shelly Yacimovich 370 (photo credit: Artiom Degel)
Labor leader Shelly Yacimovich 370
(photo credit: Artiom Degel)
Opposition leader Shelly Yacimovich admitted to using recreational drugs Wednesday, unlike Finance Minister Yair Lapid, who denies allegations he did so.
“I’m at peace with my past, unlike Yair Lapid who keeps forgetting parts of his past, like, for example, that he emigrated from Israel, or other things,” Yacimovich said on the Knesset Channel.
When asked if she smoked recreational drugs, the Labor leader responded “yes, several times when I was young. The last time was about 16 years ago.”
At that time, Yacimovich was a wellknown journalist and host of Israel Radio’s popular All Talk current events program.
As for legalization of cannabis, Yacimovich said she opposes it but thinks that medical marijuana should be more accessible to those suffering from diseases.
Yacimovich’s admission comes a month after Lapid courted controversy by saying in an interview he never smoked marijuana.
“It wouldn’t harm me politically if I said I smoked grass, but I didn’t,” Lapid stated.
Soon after, actors Tomer Sharon and Sophia Trotoush Argaman took to Facebook to write about their experiences smoking cannabis with the finance minister, both calling for legalization.
“[Lapid’s] insistence that [he didn’t smoke marijuana] is incomprehensible and raises concerns about the way you make decisions.
You are sticking to your lie! Are all the people who smoked with you peons?” Trotoush Argaman wrote.