Cannabis

jaysunb

(11,856 posts) Tue Mar 8, 2016, 11:17 PM Mar 2016

Cannabis: Israel's next big medical export?

Israel's fast-growing cannabis industry has high hopes for a new market -- exports of medical marijuana to America.

The country is already a leading supplier of pharmaceuticals to the U.S. Now its government, scientists and companies are working together to turn the once illicit drug into a booming new medical business.
With conservative Rabbis giving the okay for medical marijuana use, and the government adopting a relaxed stance, investment in cannabis production has exploded.

The number of people in Israel being treated with cannabis has soared from a few dozen 10 years ago to about 23,000 in 2015. Cannabis producers expect that growth to continue.
"It could be a business of hundreds of millions of dollars to Israel," predicts Aharon Lutzky, CEO of medical cannabis supplier Tikun Olam.
That's still tiny compared to the size of the U.S. market for legal cannabis, which could be worth $22 billion by the end of the decade, according to industry data analysts New Frontier.

"Israel is right on the cusp of being able to grab hold of this entire industry and become the real mecca for marijuana research," says Suzanne Sisley, physician, Internal Medicine/Psychiatry at the Arizona Telemedicine Program.

http://money.cnn.com/2016/03/08/news/cannabis-israel-medical-exports/index.html