Administering Cannabis for medicinal purposes

According to the government decision, the Ministry of Health will continue to serve as a “governmental agent” responsible for regulating the use of medicinal cannabis, and will act to simplify the processes to obtain licenses for using cannabis for medicinal reasons, and for supplying the substance to patients. According to the decision, by June 2014 about 10 additional physicians will be certified as “administrators” authorized to approve the use of medicinal cannabis, in addition to the 20 already authorized to do so. The decision further states that the Ministry of Health will act to establish an updated computerized system for managing licenses for using cannabis in order to increase their accessibility to patients and improve the existing database. The decision also states that a bi-ministerial committee will discuss the viability of exporting medicinal cannabis from Israel, and will submit its conclusions to the government in June 2014. Finally, the decision clauses would be reexamined by the government following a report to be submitted by the Ministry of Health no later than 18/12/2015.

As at November 2016 most of the clauses of this decision have been implemented. The Ministry of Health still functions as the governmental agent responsible for this matter and in April 2013 the medicinal cannabis unit was established within the Pharmaceutical Division of the Ministry of Health; 16 additional physicians were added to the “administrators” list authorized to approve recommendations to use medicinal cannabis; the procedures for granting licenses has been updated a number of times since the decision was made; and a computerized system is being used to facilitate the process of obtaining the licenses. The viability of exporting medicinal cannabis from Israel has not been examined, nor have additional significant sources been identified for producing medicinal cannabis.