Kosher Cannabis Becomes a Reality
The Seach Medical Group, an Israel-based medical company, recently disclosed that it had received a shemita certification which makes its products okay to use by anyone observing Jewish laws and customs. To receive this stamp of approval from religious authorities, the company had to review and adjust some of its cultivation processes and make changes to its growing facilities.
The Seach Medical Group is a pioneer in a huge and mature Israeli cannabis market. As of now, about 100,000 people in the country have medical marijuana licenses. Moreover, millions of Jews live outside Israel, including such states as New York, California, and Florida which are important medical marijuana markets.
What, Even on Shabbat?
The word ‘kosher’ generally applies to food and means that a product meets certain criteria which specify how it should be processed and what the place of processing should be like. It’s like Good Manufacturing Practices meet International Standards, only with much less science but a lot of religion instead.
Medicine better be kosher as well if you want to medicate on Shabbat (which takes up the better part of the weekend). An exception can be made if it’s a life-or-death situation, but let’s face it – smoking some weed pronto is rarely a medical emergency. This has so far made many religious Jews reluctant to try medical marijuana, especially the one with high levels of THC.
Now, that the first cannabis company in the world will be able to put a ‘kosher’ symbol on its products, it paves the way for more people to turn to marijuana as medicine.
Potentially Huge Target Audience
According to polls, the number of Israelis identifying themselves as secular is surprisingly big for a nation where religion is such a big part of national identity – 42 percent. Nevertheless, the majority say they are religious. Doesn’t it mean that the population of medical marijuana patients can at least double if the scruples of the Orthodox are taken out of the equation?
And one shouldn’t forget that a huge proportion of Jewish people live outside their ancestral homeland. In chain supermarkets around the world, there are whole sections with kosher food. Most countries are still very far from having cannabis dispensaries, but they do have them in California and New York, as well as Florida. These three US states have the largest Jewish communities in the country, and for them, having kosher edibles or flowers on the menu would mean a major bump in sales.
