The Ministerial Committee for Legislation approved today (Sunday) the bill initiated by Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel to regulate the use of cannabis for medical purposes. The path to approval was fraught with confrontations and conundrums among the committee members. Minister of Communications Shlomo Karhi criticized the Ministry of Defense for submitting requests regarding the proposal and demanded that no agreements be made outside of the Knesset. The chairman of the committee, Justice Minister Yariv Levin, responded sharply to the demand of the Ministry of Defense: "You want to violate the coalition agreement? There is no agreement because we do not support the bill at all but rather receive a decision of a free vote." Related articles: Dozens of officers raid crime families in Kafr Qara Watch: Police uncover large underground cannabis lab in the Negev Police destroy 160 drug incubators worth hundreds of millions 2-year-old in serious condition after eating cannabis cookies "If we do not support the bill we have no option but to put conditions on it. It will all pass in the Knesset committee. The government cannot demand consensus when it does not support the bill," he added. Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel expressed satisfaction with the approval despite the disagreements. "I have repeatedly warned that the current reform is not good and indeed what I said happened - there are fewer prescriptions, fewer available drugs and the State of Israel has already lost 3.2 billion shekels from losses and bankruptcies in the cannabis industry in Israel." "The bill I have worked on for the past few years will be brought up for a vote on Wednesday, and all coalition members will be given a free vote. There can be no political maneuvering at the expense of the disabled. We have a real opportunity to regulate the issue now. I thank MK Moshe Passal and Dan Illouz of the Likud for bringing up the bill," she concluded.
