Israel, the epicenter of cannabis research has become the epicenter of cannabis normalization.
Israel is home to 30,000 licensed cannabis users for medical purposes, with an estimated additional 100,000 likely to receive their license as the regulation begins to ease in the coming 12 months.
Israel is also home to over ONE million cannabis recreational users, which could be considered small compared to the UK’s estimated THREE million recreational users.
In the recent survey initiated by the Israeli Anti-Drug Authority (IADA) cannabis use in Israel has increased from 8.9% in 2009 to over 27% in 2017. Israel now holds the dubious honor of hosting the worlds highest % of cannabis users per capita !!
For consumers in an illegal market, price controls are outside the supervision of regulators. Medical cannabis patients pay on average $3.00 per gram, whilst illegal merchants are enjoying a 10x bounty of $30.00 per gram. (Israel’s illegal cannabis market is believed to be one of the most expensive in the world, only beaten by; Japan, Brunei and Cyprus.
Whether the increase in admitted use of recreational cannabis is accurate, or as is believed, the normalization of cannabis use in Israel across all sectors, business and political leaders has resulted in more ‘honesty’ in the responses provided in the Survey.
