Ceasefires Everywhere – Except Cannabis

The season of ceasefires is upon us. Gaza, Iran, Lebanon, Israel is holding fire and Israelis are left wondering how it will work out. What is common is that Trump (more precise than “America”) pressured Israel into all of them.

But there is no one there to press for a ceasefire on this current governments unrelenting battle to restrict any medical uses of that wicked plant named cannabis.

Of course this would seem strange in a place subjected to nearing three years of perpetual war with significant civilian impact. Let me document the way this strangeness is effected.

Medical cannabis was nearly pioneered in Israel for the treatment of PTSD. The interest was first for the military but then expanded to civilians. Since the appointment of the Pharmacist Yuval Landschaft – directly by the Prime Minister and without a public tender (Michraz). psychiatrist have been challenged to figure out how to obtain proper treatment for PTSD sufferers. Landschaft famously mad e up out of whole cloth (with absolutely no supporting research) a series of restrictions in the “Green Book” that drove psychiatrist mad. Close to two years ago the latest “reform” moved the writing of prescriptions for medical cannabis exclusively to the Kupot Holim who until then would never touch cannabis for PTSD and as a result know nothing about it. Strange way to respect experience. In addition Landschaft’s office NEVER conducted any clinical research to test the validity of the restrictions. I quote Claude to be clear:

“In short: the IMCU has fostered considerable research activity in Israel’s medical cannabis ecosystem, but no publicly documented study appears to have been specifically commissioned by the IMCU to rigorously validate or challenge the Green Book’s own regulatory assumptions. The Green Book was built from the best available evidence at the time, with an acknowledged expectation of future revision — but the feedback loop between subsequent research and actual regulatory updates has not been transparently documented in the public record.”

But now with inexperienced Sick Fund physicians making decisions, there is a much higher degree of insistence on fulfilling the unresearched decade old restrictions. So for example, I take care of Gaza Envelope victims, many with PTSD. As of this writing, here are the restrictions insisted upon for someone who went through October 7 to get a prescription out of the Sick Fund:

1. I have to prove that the individual has been my personal patient for a full year. This one had never been applied in my experience until now. I also have to commit to continue to follow the results of the treatment, that is not new. Since there are practically no psychiatrists available in the public (Sick Fund) and most of them to my experience refuse to consider cannabis for PTSD (see #5 below), it means that only a private psychiatrist who you go to see for a year can request a prescription. The inequity involved is obvious, as well as a barrier to treatment that has never been applied before. In every aspect of treatment for PTSD the sooner the treatment the better – medical cannabis excepted and only by IMCU.
2. The patient has to prove that he has tried two antidepressants and explain how they have failed  – for say three or six months each. I have noted previously that the medical literature is anything but enthusiastic about the efficacy of such medications. Forcing a patient to use drugs he does not want – or a physician to prescribe drugs in which he has no confidence- hardly seems justifiable in an emergency situation like Israel today. A client recently told me that when she enquired at IMCU a worker informed her. “You don’t have to take them, just prove you paid for them.” No small number of clients have figured this out. Is this a sensible way to conduct medical treatment?
3. The initial does is limited to 20 grams per month. This one would have been too easy to study and prove its  complete lack of foundation. It was implemented to avoid “leakage” to the street. Which doctors are not limited in any way to make a clinical determination about prescriptions of controlled substance like stimulants and narcotics, this seems strange. When I questioned it I was immediately restricted from requesting licenses, more than a decade ago, strange response to an inquiry. Many  many war-damaged civilians need more than 20 grams a month just to sleep, but their doctor cannot give them what they need based on an unfounded restriction a decade old from another Israel.
4. The initial dose is limited to low concentrations of THC and to oils. Here is a new invention, and the Kupot justify it base on “literature” of two articles which do not say this at all. I assume this “literature” was provided by IMCU, but it is bogus as I have pointed out previously. So an impacted Envelope denizen who has been using 20+% THC to sleep has to settle for less than half the concentration because…well, just because. Her physician of course has no say in the  matter.
5. Continued propaganda against cannabis poisons family physicians. For example, I started seeing members of Kibbutz Kisufim when they moved into my town for two years. Kupt Holim Kellalit provided a family doctor for them. To mu surprise she refused to submit my requests for medical cannabis. When I spoke to her, I encountered a perfectly well-trained and motivated family physician who explained that she attended some “workshop” where she was informed of the horrible dangers of medical cannabis. The workshop seemed to lump cannabis for pain together with PTSD and didn’t even discriminate between THC and CBD! My pathetic attempt to begin some education was futile in the face of the well-funded powerful presentation. Of course IMCU has never bothered to study the effects  on the PTSD population which I estimate over 100,000, leaving the field open for propaganda.

Here I hope the facts here speak for themselves. The same is now true for medical cannabis for autism and even try to attain pure CBD for children with PTSD, as I have pointed out before. I admit that after more than a decade, I have tired of protesting, tired of the media ignoring the matter, tired of being insulted by bureaucrats with neither experience nor treatment responsibility just delivering high-handed refusals, tired of colleagues vomiting the “not yet documented” zombie-response.  Maybe IMCU will finally get me to give up and let the system refuse safe effective  treatment to tortured souls just like that.

Anyone out there with any ideas? I need partners…