Besides being the only Jewish state in the Middle East, Israel is also unique in its approach to medical marijuana—in fact, the country is a pioneer. Far from political stonewalling (our own federal government will take care of that), Israel freely sanctions cannabis research and treats marijuana like, well, medicine. The country’s superstar of cannabis research is Prof. Raphael Mechoulam. In 1964, Mechoulam was the first researcher in the world to isolate THC. Israel has a hospital, Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer, which offers cannabis as treatment. In 2004, Hebrew University conducted a study on the effects of THC on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder on members of the Israeli army. In 2007, researchers at Bar-Ilan University reported how THC could help treat brain cancer. But scientists aren’t ignoring the non-psychoactive CBD—far from it. Recently, researchers at Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem reported that CBD lowered the rate of diabetes in lab mice—a promising development for doctors investigating new ways to treat this disease in humans. The results of this study were published in the scientific journal Autoimmunity. (Michael Carlos)
