Regulators in Israel have announced new changes that will greatly expand access to medical marijuana for patients.
Israel’s Health Ministry announced Tuesday a “comprehensive reform” of the nation’s medical marijuana laws. It said that the changes are designed to significantly reduce regulations, improve supervision of production and to transfer more responsibility to cannabis farmers.
Arguably the most impactful change will allow physicians to prescribe cannabis to patients as a first-line treatment, removing the requirement that it be used only as a “last resort”. Under current law doctors must try other medicines such as opioids before they can prescribe marijuana.
Another regulatory change removes hemp-derived CBD from the list of “dangerous drugs”. This will allow it to be used for medical and therapeutic reasons throughout the nation.
The ministry says the changes will also allow researchers to issue cannabis prescriptions to research subjects and conduct clinical trials.
Despite the strict nature of the current law, there are around 100,000 people in Israel who partake in the nation’s medical marijuana program. The changes are expected to result in a significant increase in the total number of medical marijuana patients.
The changes will go into effect in December.
