The Knesset voted on Wednesday to advance two bills to decriminalize the use of recreational marijuana, paving the way for the full legalization of marijuana in Israel.
However, full legalization is still months away since the bills still have to be combined and approved by the Ministerial Committee on Legislation and then brought to the Knesset for a vote three times as a government-sponsored bill before becoming law.
The Chareidi MKs of UTJ and Shas walked out during the vote.
Yamina MK Bezalel Smotrich slammed the bills, saying: You’re going to carry out an extremely dangerous social experiment that if fails, and there’s a very high likelihood of it failing, will destroy the future generations of Israelis.”
“I understand that the next bill of the liberals in the Knesset will be to annul the obligation to wear seat belts because of course, we support personal responsibility and minimum involvement of the state,” Smotrich said sarcastically.
If the bills pass, it could open the possibility of the establishment of marijuana “bars” in Israel.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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2 Responses
Seems like certain MKs need to chill out and focus on real issues. The horse has been out of the barn for years and is unlikely to be pushed back in. Anyone who has traveled in EY knows that recreational marijuana is widely used and readily available, even in certain Chareidi neighborhoods. Even today, the police and criminal justice system do not prioritize marijuana0related arrests and have much more important drug-related (opioid) issues to focus on.
Is anybody worried that the Knesset will outlaw wine or other alcoholic intoxicants? Yeah, me neither.
And, by the way, I don’t think the Knesset is the authority on koshrus, just civil legality.