The idea was simple: The Holocaust survivors would bring an ailing peer who would advocate legal uses for marijuana. He would speak Yiddish, in order to exploit the gimmick to the hilt, and a skilled videographer would film him for a televised election spot for the Holocaust Survivors and Grown-Up Green Leaf (Ale Yarok) party.

The slate members had gathered in the living room of survivor Yaakov Kfir (No. 2). List head Ohad Shem Tov, on behalf of Green Leaf, was there, along with No. 4 Yaakov Hollander, on behalf of the survivors. Hollander was to appear in the clip, and he wore a tailored suit. There was even a general idea for the text, something that would link physical suffering with the relief that marijuana can offer Holocaust survivors, among others.

[continues 863 words]

The Green Leaf Graduates, which split from the political party Aleh Yarok, best known for its advocacy of the legalization of cannabis, is making waves with its most recent announcement: a plan to incorporate the Holocaust Survivors Party.

The Holocaust survivors are focused on the controversial issue of their state pension disbursement, which has been weakened by rising demands among the country's retired workers.

The party accuses the government of misappropriating funds, donated by Germany, that were supposed to be given to Holocaust survivors. The survivors' party alleges that instead, those monies have been paid in part to thousands of other Israelis who have no connection to the Holocaust, to ease the government's pension burden.

[continues 642 words]

I recently went to a party with a large group of people, a pleasant and joyful gathering. There were idle conversations and deep ones, bursts of laughter and stormy debates. Most of us were 40 years old or more - busy people, most with children. It seemed that for a few hours we were free of cares and worries.

There were all kinds of refreshments, including high-quality alcoholic beverages. Most people drank wine, some sipped whiskey, and a few preferred vodka or Campari and orange juice. Some were smoking marijuana or hashish. Two people said they were on Ritalin, so they were staying away from alcohol, but they were calm and happy anyway. The next day, some of those present had headaches and took an Advil for relief. In the final tally, including the cost of the hangover, it was quite a successful party.

[continues 621 words]

Two to 3 percent of eighth- and ninth-grade students take Ecstasy, or smoke marijuana or hash, 9 percent inhale vaporous substances such as glue, Tipex, or air-conditioning gas, 23 percent consume hard alcohol and around 15 percent smoke cigarettes regularly, according to a study commissioned by the Education Ministry. The Hoffman-Martins Research Institute, which conducted the survey, was charged with checking the effectiveness of anti-drug programs in schools.

The study showed there was almost no difference found between students exposed to the programs and those who never attended a single session.

[continues 598 words]

This fall, Massachusetts voters will have the opportunity to vote for or against Question 2, an initiative that would decriminalize the possession of less than an ounce of marijuana. But in Israel, reforming marijuana laws goes beyond ballot initiatives and is the foundation of the Ale Yarok (Hebrew for "green leaf") party.

Boaz Wachtel, 50, paid the required 13,000 shekels and collected 100 signatures to found the Ale Yarok party in 1999. A former assistant army attache at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., Wachtel earned his master's degree in management and marketing from Maryland University.

[continues 340 words]

The Knesset Law, Constitution and Justice Committee approved on Sunday a law banning the sale of bongs ? water pipes often used for the smoking of marijuana.

The law, which was approved in the second and third readings, prohibits the sale and import of apparatuses geared for the production and consumption of illicit drugs. The main objective of the new law is to put an end to the sale of bongs at stores adjacent to educational institutions.

The law stipulates that the punishment for the sale of bongs will not exceed five years incarceration. However, the Knesset committee withdrew the clause that prohibits the possession of paraphernalia used for personal drug use.

[continues 157 words]

Rada stares into space. A month ago, she was released from the Neveh Tirza prison and has since been in a group for released prisoners planning to hunt for jobs.

"Employment is the main experience for us in the world," the community social worker and group's moderator, Ruthie Ofir, tells the ex-convicts, as her eyes move among the women and rest on Rada. "Our work defines us, and it is actually our entry card into the world."

Rada seems lost in thought. The moderator asks about her aims. She tries to respond, her lips move but her voice is inaudible. A grunt escapes after a few seconds, as if coming from the depths of despair. "I want to learn how not to use drugs" she says. "I'm not yet able to think in terms of work," she apologizes.

[continues 1640 words]

Israel's Anti-Drug Authority has launched a new campaign featuring Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, aimed at deterring Israelis from smoking marijuana.

As part of the campaign, the authority has published a poster showing the Hezbollah leader emerging genie-like from a bong (a waterpipe commonly used for smoking marijuana and hashish).

Underneath the image, the poster reads: "Hezbollah is clearly planning to flood Israel with narcotics. Narcotics pose a strategic threat to Israeli society. Whoever uses narcotics is giving a hand to the next terrorist attack."

[continues 106 words]

Tel Aviv has decided to join police in fighting against the party drug Hagigat and its substitutes, reports the Hebrew weekly Yediot Tel Aviv. The city has announced that local kiosks that continue to sell the substance may lose their business licenses, and issued warnings to three kiosks last week on the matter.

Hagigat and other so-called party drugs have long been a thorn in the side of police and medical authorities, who say their unlisted and uncontrolled mix of chemicals is often illegal and can be dangerous. But attempts to curtail sales have proved difficult. The report said that until now the authorities have operated under drug laws, and if the chemicals in the drugs have not previously been declared illegal, police have had no right of redress. But even when the substances do contain illegal drugs, by the time the authorities analyze them and announce their findings, the manufacturers have already changed the name and the composition and have distributed a new substance to kiosks around the city.

[continues 167 words]

Mind-Altering Drugs Common in Biblical Times, Professor Says

JERUSALEM - High on Mount Sinai, Moses was on psychedelic drugs when he heard God deliver the Ten Commandments, an Israeli researcher claims in a study published this week.

Such mind-altering substances formed an integral part of the religious rites of Israelites in biblical times, Benny Shanon, a professor of cognitive psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem wrote in the first issue of Time and Mind, a new peer-reviewed British journal.

[continues 236 words]

Tel Aviv has come up with a controversial new plan to give free heroin to addicts who have failed rehabilitation attempts, reports the Hebrew weekly Yediot Tel Aviv. City health and welfare officials are putting together the revolutionary plan, which is aimed at preventing the social damage caused by addicts trying to obtain money to buy the illicit drugs.

According to the report, four out of every five heroin addicts who complete rehabilitation programs eventually end up back on the drug, and three out of every four property crimes are committed by drug addicts. The city's welfare service has decided to follow the example of some European countries and has come up with a plan to provide controlled quantities of heroin free to adult addicts who have failed several rehabilitation attempts. The distribution would be done at a specific medical clinic under the supervision of doctors. The plan will need to come before the Health Ministry for approval before it can go ahead.

[continues 140 words]

A Tel Aviv medical clinic has quietly begun giving marijuana to cancer and AIDS sufferers, legally and with Health Ministry approval, reports Yediot Tel Aviv. The move, the first of its kind in Israel, is aimed at alleviating the pain suffered by the chronically and seriously ill.

According to the report, the clinic began giving the drug to suffering patients about six months ago. By Israeli law, marijuana can legally be used as a medicine if a patient obtains a special license from the Health Ministry. The drug is approved only for patients with cancer, AIDS or Crohn's Disease (a chronic gastro-intestinal illness), and aims to help ease the chronic pain they suffer from the illnesses or as side-effects of treatments for the diseases. The clinic - which the Health Ministry has refused to identify publicly, reportedly either to prevent protests or to keep criminal elements away - gives out the drug in small, controlled quantities when a patient presents their license.

[continues 108 words]

He travels between his secret grow site, where he caresses gently every bud with his own hands, and his living room, where he distributes the pot to tormented AIDS and cancer patients.

Funerals add to his busy schedule. "I stopped counting them," he says.

The only person in Israel who is licensed by the state to grow and distribute Medical Marijuana, is not yet thirty years old. He sees his work as a mission: "If I won't help them, nobody will."

[continues 3996 words]

At the Health Ministry's request, five dangerous substances sold in kiosks and 24-hour shops were added to the list of "dangerous drugs" by the Knesset Labor, Social Affairs and Health Committee on Monday.

The addictive "mind-benders," which previously were illegal to sell but were not on the ministry's list of restricted imports, are called Halahit shel Ilanit (Ilanit's Hit); Halom Belavan (White Dream); Rakefet (Cyclamen); Aspirin Im Kritza (Aspirin With a Wink); and Hagigat Kayitz 2008 (Celebration of the Summer of 2008).

[continues 197 words]

The first time D. smoked marijuana, he decided to make it a family affair. His wife, cousin and grandson sat with him as the 75-year-old Tel Aviv native carefully tucked the leaves into a Jamaican-accented pipe and lit up.

"They left as soon as I started smoking. That was important, that is part of the rules," said D. "I never thought, never in a thousand years, that I would be a marijuana-smoker... I also never knew what marijuana really did."

[continues 1197 words]

The pro-marijuana Green Leaf Party has told followers that marijuana is not kosher for Passover and that those who observe the holiday's dietary rules should take a break from it. It said products of the cannabis plant, including hemp seeds, had been grouped by rabbis with foods like beans that are off limits. But if cannabis is nonkosher for Passover, it said, "it is apparently kosher the rest of the year."

[end]

A new bill presented to Knesset on Monday would allow for a greater amount of growing, cultivation, and manufacture of marijuana plants for medicinal purposes.

The initiator of the bill, MK Professor Aryeh Eldad of the right-wing National Union party, stipulated that the growth and possession of marijuana which the bill would allow would be performed under the supervision of governmental authorities.

According to Eldad, medical research has shown that the use of cannabis improves the condition of seriously ill patients, and therefore, his bill must be approved.

[continues 55 words]

War, uh, what is it good for? Well, apparently not Middle Eastern pot smokers, who've now become the latest victims in the Israeli, Hezbollah conflict. According to reports, this past summer's war has forced an "eight-fold" spike in Israeli weed prices. The sky rocketing rates are believed to be a direct result of supply shortages forced by tightened security on Israel's northern boarder. Other cannabis transport routes such as the Sinai Desert corridor have been squeezed off by security patrols hunting for Palestinian gun runners. As a result, Israel now finds herself in something of a pot panic, with smokers shelling out dizzying sums of green to get their greens. In the words of one unnamed dealer, "They don't realize that all their wars are hurting the only thing that can bring a little quiet to the region." Do I smell a possible Nobel Peace Prize nominee?

[end]

At a time when Palestinians and Israelis appears on the brink of a new cycle of violence one group has found a way to have the two come together for a whole new purpose - the legalization of marijuana.

Aleh Yarok, Israel's branch of the Green Leaf Party, has organized the first ever conference for Palestinians and Israelis to discuss

Marijuana Legalization. Scheduled to take place October 25 at the Hebrew University, the day-long event will see speakers from both populations discuss ways in which they can mutually advance their causes.

[continues 323 words]

New York, June 20 (IANS) A chemical compound found in cannabis, also known as hashish or marijuana, may help lower blood pressure, say scientists after testing it on rats.

Yehoshua Maor, a researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, has created a synthetic version of a minor cannabis constituent named cannabigerol, which has been shown to help in lowering blood pressure, reported science portal The News Medical.

Maor carried out laboratory experiments with rats and found that this novel compound reduced blood pressure when administered to rats in relatively low doses.

[continues 103 words]