Last week, Israel’s Health Ministry posted updated guidelines that, if implemented, would have significantly overhauled Israel’s medical cannabis program. The published guidelines were the result of a committee review, and one of the major components of the published guidelines involved banning medical cannabis flower. Thankfully, that proposal has been halted.

“Health Minister Haim Katz on Wednesday froze the implementation of Health Ministry recommendations that would sharply restrict the marketing and use of smoked medical cannabis within three years.” reported YNet. “Katz instructed ministry Director General Moshe Bar Siman-Tov to halt all activity related to implementing the recommendations after receiving a professional briefing on the issue.”

“Even if tighter supervision is needed, going backward, complicating the process and restricting the use of medical cannabis is not the way,” Minister Katz said after issuing the directive to halt the changes, according to the outlet.

The proposal would have required new patients to begin treatment with medical cannabis extracts or ‘precision inhalers,’ with rare exceptions being allowed in limited clinical cases, but medical cannabis flower use would only be approved in those instances under strict supervision and low dosage limits.

Additionally, lower THC concentrations were being recommended for all medical cannabis products, and the full responsibility for overseeing medical cannabis treatments would have been shifted to Israel’s health maintenance organizations (HMOs). Furthermore, the elimination of medical cannabis for PTSD was reportedly being considered, with a larger focus on addiction prevention and mandatory training for healthcare workers.

The committee review did yield some useful information about Israel’s medical cannabis program, including:

• Medical cannabis licenses have increased from 33,000 to 140,000 over the last decade
• 62% of medical cannabis patients consume more than 30 grams per month
• 88% of medical licenses are for “high THC concentrations”
• 98% of licensed purchases are for cannabis flower

Israel has served as one of the top global medical cannabis research hubs for many years, and patients have benefited from national safe access to cannabis in Israel for longer than most other patients around the world.