Israel is investing $2.1 million (NIS 8 million) to advance medical cannabis crop research in the region. The funds, which will be provided by Israel’s Ministry of Agriculture, will be directed to more than a dozen projects to catapult the growth of medical cannabis in the country. The funds represent the first time the Israeli government has backed medical cannabis research and will pave the way for scientists to perform basic and applied research for the next five years in hopes of ushering in the next generation of medical cannabis products.
Israel has been among the nations trumpeting the proliferation of medical cannabis research by fostering innovation and most recently investment to bring the market more into the mainstream. “It is our privilege to fund these studies, which are likely to save many patients. This is further proof that agriculture is an important foundation for every field of life, including life-saving medicines, and I welcome this step,” said Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel as reported in The Jerusalem Post.
Israel’s Ministry of Agriculture in conjunction with the Health Ministry called for proposals and alongside the ag ministry’s chief scientist Avi Perl, identified 13 projects to receive the research funding. The winning projects are dedicated to various facets of medical cannabis research across biology and agriculture ranging from uncovering new strains of the crop to expanding the applications of medical marijuana, to “improve vision, fight intestinal cancer” and prevent organ rejection among transplant patients.
In addition, these projects support the irrigation of cannabis across inputs such as watering and fertilizing, as well as fighting crop diseases and insects.
The use of medical marijuana has been rising in popularity around the world. Nonetheless, the crop lacks standardization and certain quality control measures for medical cannabis to reach its growth potential, which is projected to nearly double to $11 billion in 2020, Bloomberg reports.
In Israel, some 25,000 nationals are currently suffering from diseases for which medical cannabis would provide relief, as reported by Bloomberg. That number could rise to 200,000, which would value the medical cannabis market in Israel alone at a reported $262 million (1 billion shekels).
GAI News recently reported about the need for greater standardization for the cannabis crop. Professor Oded Shoseyov, co-founder and CSO of Cannabi-Tech, which recently received a capital injection by Israeli-based ag-tech investment fund Agrinnovation, is behind the new technology that “detects, analyzes and sorts cannabis flowers” without destroying them.
“The medical cannabis opportunity cannot materialize in full until doctors … have 100 percent confidence that each time they prescribe medical cannabis, it comes in … controlled and standardized conditions, with the precise composition of active ingredients matching their patient’s therapeutic needs,” according to Professor Shoseyov.
Meanwhile, the nation of Israel on Jan. 26 moved a step closer to “decriminalizing” the use of marijuana for recreational purposes. A new law could replace penalties tied to personal marijuana use from arrest and prosecution to fines for first- and second-time offenders. As a result of any eased regulation, Israel would be able to reallocate its resources toward policing harsher drug use.
-Gerelyn Terzo
Gerelyn is a regular contributor to GAI News. She has been writing about institutional investing and asset management for the majority of her career and has developed a focus on agriculture given the global scale of the industry’s relevance and importance.