Canadian Jews can get a halachic high with kosher-certified medical marijuana

“According to the Torah... this is something that if we are able to help [sick people], that is my obligation."

By JTA
Marijuana plants (photo credit: REUTERS)
Marijuana plants
(photo credit: REUTERS)
MONTREAL — Canadian Jews were able to get halachically high for the High Holy Days after a company became the first in Canada to obtain kosher certification for its medical marijuana.
The certification was granted by the Vaad Hakashrut, a kosher certifier in Ottawa, on the eve of Rosh Hashanah.
“According to the Torah, according to the Talmud, this is something that if we are able to help [sick people], that is my obligation,” the Vaad’s Rabbi Levy Teitlebaum told The National Post.
The Canadian company involved is Hydropothecary Corp., a medical marijuana producer based in Gatineau, Quebec, near Ottawa.
“As the only medical marijuana company in Canada with kosher-certified processed products, we take great pride in having the support of the kashrut council,” company CEO Sebastien St-Louis said in a statement.
In 2016, Montreal kosher certifiers said medicinal pot needed kosher certification because it is ingested, while certifiers in Toronto said it didn’t because it is being used as medicine.