A new method for lowering blood pressure with a compound that synthesizes a cannabis (hashish or marijuana) plant component has been developed by a Hebrew University doctoral student in pharmacology.

For his work on the cardiovascular activity of cannabinoids (chemical compounds derived from cannabis), Yehoshua Maor has been named one of the winners of this year's Kaye Innovation Awards, to be presented on Tuesday during the university's 69th annual board of governors meetings.

The Kaye Innovation Awards, established by British pharmaceutical industrialist Isaac Kaye, have been given annually since 1994 to encourage HU faculty, staff and students to develop innovative methods and inventions with good commercial potential to benefit the university and society.

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A lean young man with black curly hair is standing on a small dune, his back to the sea, talking to the wind: "My brothers, come here. Come close, by my side. It's so beautiful here. Look at the sea. At nature. I am only from nature. Only green, bro [laughing]. Okay, green and black. Kfar Izun, eh? I'm king here. Shhh. Quiet, quiet. Don't talk. I decide. What I say, everyone does, yes? I'm the boss. I make the rules. No, no, don't answer me."

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Millions of people will celebrate International Marijuana Day, which calls for legalizing the private use of the cannabis plant, in over 150 cities throughout the world.

In Yarkon Park in Tel Aviv and Sacher Park in Jerusalem, Israelis will gather for the ninth year in a row for a mass picnic in honor of the day. The heads of the Green Leaf Party, along with other cannabis legalization activists, were expected to speak at the gatherings.

The chairwoman of the Al-Sam anti-drug organization, Liora Ofer, submitted an urgent appeal to the High Court of Justice last Thursday in which she demanded that the court prevent minors from participating in the day's activities. Ofer also demanded that police check for drugs at the entrances to the gatherings.

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Three Rockville Jewish day school students were arrested Friday in Israel for allegedly buying or using marijuana at a school there, according to e-mails sent to parents and sources familiar with the incident. Six other students from Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School were asked to leave the Israeli campus, where they were participating in the study abroad program.

The three U.S. citizens allegedly purchased marijuana and brought it to the Alexander Muss Institute for Israel Education in Hod HaSharon, according to two e-mails sent to school families. Their six classmates were accused of either buying or using marijuana, said the e-mail from Jonathan Cannon, head of the school.

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TEL AVIV - The parties my father votes for never get into Parliament. One year he'll vote for some economist with thick glasses who promises a revolution in tax law, the next year for an irate teacher with a ponytail who advocates a revolution in the school system, the year after that for a restaurateur in Jaffa who explains that only a new culinary approach can bring peace to the Middle East.

The one thing these candidates have in common is a genuine desire for fundamental change. That and the naivete to believe such change is possible. My father, even at the age of 78, is naive enough to believe this, too. It's one of his finest qualities.

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"We'll teach Blich's principal a lesson in civics," said Green Leaf chairman Boaz Wachtel.

The high school customarily holds mock elections that are traditionally seen as predicting the outcome of national election results.

Green Leaf's platform, which was unveiled Monday at a news conference in Tel Aviv, calls for the legalization of soft drugs, whose use would not entail punishment unless carried out in the presence of minors. It also calls for criminal cases to be closed for those convicted of using soft drugs.

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The Tel Aviv municipality will soon be running a drug rehabilitation program developed by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. Drug addicts enrolled in the program, called Narconon, spend extended periods in a sauna and receive food supplements and vitamins to increase their perspiration rate and speed up the detoxification of their bodies. The program is being financed by private donors.

Despite City Hall's enthusiasm, the Health Ministry and the Israel Antidrug Authority have not approved the program.

"In my opinion, the Tel Aviv municipality cannot start such a process without the approval of the Health Ministry and the Antidrug Authority," said authority director general Haim Messing last week.

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Activists of the pro-cannabis Alei Yarok party are on a mission to bring relaxation to Gaza during disengagement.

On Sunday, party chairman Boaz Wachtel and group members campaigned in Gaza for the government to issue a temporary order to allow settlers and security personnel to use cannabis during planned evacuation of settlements in August to reduce the level of violence.

However, Wachtel and his cohorts, who support the disengagement plan, mostly got a negative response to their idea.

"A brawl started and we were nearly tossed out of the Maoz Hayam Hotel" where settlers were holed up, he said.

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Thousands of people gathered at Hayarkon Park in Tel Aviv yesterday to take part in the International Marijuana Day picnic and call for the legalization of marijuana.

"This is a day of protest, to show how peaceful, unaggressive and law-abiding the people who support legalization are," said Lior Lubelski, one of the organizers.

The event was far from being a potheads' convention, but rather resembled a picnic of Tel Avivians enjoying a sunny day on the grass. Instead of joints, reefers and bongs, there was sunshine, dub and reggae music and a few speeches.

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Likud MK Yehiel Hazan called Yahad MK Roman Bronfman's participation in Saturday's World Marijuana Day events in Tel Aviv "cooperation with drug dealers."

Hazan, the chairman of Anti-Drug Committee, added that he would file a complaint against Bronfman with the Knesset's Ethics Committee, Army Radio reported.

Bronfman called upon the police to target drug dealers, in his speech to participants marking World Marijuana Day in Tel Aviv's Yarkon Park Saturday evening.

But he also supported the right to lobby against the prohibition of light drugs. Bronfman told Army Radio that the government's current policies are "weak."

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Erik Siegal was a young American Jew with a drug problem. He chose to embrace a religious life, and came to Israel to learn Torah and start afresh.

It didn't work out that way. Siegal, a yeshiva student at Neveh Zion in Telz Stone, west of Jerusalem, died this week of a heroin overdose.

"A horrific series of events led to Erik's death," said an acquaintance. "He came to an unfamiliar country. He bought heroin that was different from what he was used to in the US. He sniffed too much, went to sleep and never woke up."

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Hagigat has not been added to the dangerous drugs list because the official government printer has yet to publish the order in the government gazette Reshumot, members of the Knesset's anti-drug committee were astounded to hear yesterday.

The move to outlaw hagigat, which is derived from the leaves of the khat plant and contains cathinone, a psychoactive ingredient that has an amphetamine-like effect, was recommended by the Health Ministry last month.

Committee chairman MK Yehiel Hazan was outraged by the news. "It's a scandal that because of a shortage of paper at the official government printer, the order to add Hagigat to the list of dangerous drugs has not been published, even though the Knesset approved the amendment to this law."

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JERUSALEM - Israeli soldiers traumatised by battle with the Palestinians have a new, unconventional weapon to exorcise their nightmares - marijuana. Under an experimental program, Delta-9 tetrohydrocannabinol (THC), the active ingredient found in the cannabis plant, will be administered to 15 soldiers over several months to fight post-traumatic stress disorder.

Raphael Mechoulam, of Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the project's chief researcher, described the program as a world first. He said the chemical could trick the brain into suppressing unwanted memories.

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Army to Test THC on Soldiers With Post-Traumatic Stress

JERUSALEM - A joint program between the Israeli Army's medical corps and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem will start treating soldiers suffering from combat fatigue with a component of cannabis to see if the drug might help alleviate the symptoms of post-traumatic stress.

The army issued a confirming press statement after an Israeli newspaper reported the mental health unit of the medical corps was about to test the THC from pot on soldiers returning from duty in the West Bank and Gaza Strip where the Israeli military has been conducting day-to-day operations against Palestinians for the past four years.

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President Moshe Katsav has pledged that he will neither pardon nor reduce the sentences of convicted drug dealers.

Katsav gave this assurance on Sunday at his annual meeting with the National Authority for the War Against Drugs NAWAD).

Deeply concerned about rising statistics of drug and alcohol abuse, both within and outside the work place and particularly among youth, Katsav called on the government, the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor, the Israel Manufacturers Association and employers throughout the country to spare no effort in fighting drug and alcohol consumption.

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The IDF will soon begin using cannabis to treat soldiers suffering from combat stress, the military said Wednesday.

An army statement said the military medical corps and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem would begin treating victims of post-traumatic stress - commonly known as shell shock - with THC, the active ingredient in the cannabis plant. It said the treatment would begin on an experimental basis. "The use of THC as part of the treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder was approved by military and civilian committees relevant to the subject," the statement said.

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Uniformed and undercover police officers on Saturday shut down the International Marijuana Day event at HaYarkon Park in Tel Aviv after detaining 30 participants, including three minors, for suspected use and possession of marijuana.

Boaz Wachtel, an organizer of the event and head of the "Green Leaf" political party was among those detained for questioning.

At approximately 3:45 p.m., about four hours after the event began, police swarmed upon the sound system and shut it off as partygoers were dancing to Peter Tosh's reggae classic "Legalize It." A large crowd gathered around the police, with many shouting "Police state" and "Fascists."

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Wanna score some government dope? In Canada, the courts recently ruled that patients suffering from Aids, cancer and other diseases were entitled to enjoy the benefits of "medical marijuana" - and not just any old marijuana, but official government marijuana, supplied to them by Health Canada, the government health system. Health Canada mulled it over and set up a program to grow the court-ordered Federal pot in a disused mine in Flin Flon, Manitoba.

Of the first 10 patients to be supplied with the government weed, half claim it's the worst pot they've ever smoked. They're sending it back to Ottawa, and they want a full refund.

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Researchers Find Early Success With Genetic Engineering

By engineering new genes into plant-killing fungi, scientists in Israel report they're creating extra-potent biological weed-whackers.

The fungi, which can be applied via spraying, are still in the research phase. Before being widely used, said plant scientist Jonathan Gressel, the gene-modified fungi must be guaranteed safe.

But if super-efficient weed-killing fungi do work and prove harmless, they could greatly improve farmers' ability to control weeds. Success should reduce food costs, energy use and herbicide application.

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Eleven Israelis - Jews and Arabs - have been charged with running one of the largest drug smuggling networks in the North of the country since the Israel Defense Forces' withdrawal from Lebanon.

The ring, captured about a month ago following a joint Shin Bet and northern police district investigation, provided the Hezbollah with intelligence and military equipment, including photographs of northern sites, night-vision glasses, an Israeli Statistical Yearbook and electronic dictionaries. In exchange, it received hundreds of kilgrams of hashish from Lebanon.

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