Boaz Wachtel of the Green Leaf Party said 13,000 people are arrested for using cannabis each year.

Most members of the Knesset Committee on Drug and Alcohol Abuse boycotted a meeting Tuesday on “progressive cannabis policies,” in protest against panel chairwoman Tamar Zandberg (Meretz) being pro-legalization.

MK Eli Cohen (Kulanu) wrote a letter to Zandberg in the name of six of the committee’s 10 members, saying they would not attend in protest of her “turning [the committee] into the caucus to promote cannabis..instead of the goal for which the committee was formed to fight drug abuse and drug-related crimes, rehabilitation of users, and public campaigns to prevent drug and alcohol abuse in general and especially among youth.

Break a bone? Your doctor may soon provide you with an unexpected prescription – marijuana.

Researchers at Tel Aviv University have discovered that a component of marijuana “significantly helps heal bone fractures,” university officials announced Thursday.

The study, published in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, found that the non-psychotropic cannabidiol, or CBD, considerably sped up the healing process of rats’ broken leg bones. Those benefits were also present, even when the molecule was separated from THC, the major psychoactive component of cannabis.

As an Israeli, an entrepreneur, and the general manager of the Microsoft Ventures accelerator program, I’m constantly asked to explain the secret behind the massive success of Israeli startups. Even though there are successful entrepreneurs in almost every corner of the world, it seems that a disproportional amount of successful startups are located in Israel.

A new survey of 219 PatientsLikeMe members has found that patients with certain conditions who use medical marijuana believe it is the best available treatment for them, with fewer side effects than other options and few risks. The survey, conducted in June 2015, is among the first to gauge patient perceptions about the benefits and risks of medical marijuana and their level of willingness to recommend its use.

Israel’s leading producer of medical marijuana is joining a local group vying for a coveted license to distribute the drug in New York State.

Tikun Olam, which serves about a third of Israeli medical marijuana patients, has joined forces with the Compassionate Care Center of New York (CCCNY) in hopes of winning one of five licenses. If the state grants CCCNY the license, Tikun Olam will ship their products and conduct research through the group starting in January.

Forty-two other companies applied for the licenses, including a handful of health groups with Jewish ties.

“We’re looking for occasions to be involved,” said Tikun Olam’s CEO, Aharon Lutzky. “We found [in] CCC in New York a wonderful team and very serious people.”

BOULDER, Colo. (CBS4) – A Boulder marijuana company says it has a new breakthrough for medical marijuana patients — a marijuana capsule that looks and acts more like traditional pharmaceuticals.

Wana Brands says it now has an alternative to smoking or edible marijuana called Wana Caps.

“We feel like we are making an important step in giving patients another alternative in consuming cannabis,” said Wana Brands owner John Whiteman.

The marijuana maker worked with Cannabics, a pharmaceutical company based in Israel, to develop the first extended release formula to make marijuana last up to 12 hours. The capsules are filled twice — first with a dose that kicks in almost immediately, and then with a dose that starts to work after about four hours.

Israel’s leading producer of medical marijuana is joining a local group vying for a coveted license to distribute the drug in New York State.

Tikun Olam, which serves about a third of Israeli medical marijuana patients, has joined forces with the Compassionate Care Center of New York (CCCNY) in hopes of winning one of five licenses. If the state grants CCCNY the license, Tikun Olam will ship their products and conduct research through the group starting in January.

Forty-two other companies applied for the licenses, including a handful of health groups with Jewish ties.

“We’re looking for occasions to be involved,” said Tikun Olam’s CEO, Aharon Lutzky. “We found [in] CCC in New York a wonderful team and very serious people.”

MARKHAM, Ont. – From the outside, MedReleaf’s production facility in Markham, Ont., doesn’t look like much. It’s a large rectangular building about three stories tall, shorter but wider than a football field, and camouflaged by an unassuming white exterior with few windows. There are no signs or company logos to tempt inquiring minds or mischief-minded passers-by.

That’s partly by design, CEO Neil Closner said.

“We’re very low-key,” he said. “We don’t want people knowing who we are, what we do, where we do it.

“The product we have inside the building is quite valuable.”

The product: Medical marijuana.

It all began when Yali was just four months old. The tiny boy squirmed with pain as his muscles went into spasm.

He suffered the epileptic fits for years—sometimes several times a day—and was forced to wear a crash helmet to stop him from injuring himself.

His parents were in a constant state of worry and his two brothers felt neglected. “The illness took over our entire life,” says his mother, Yael Bracha.

Today, Yali is seven years old and no longer suffers the epileptic fits that tortured him for so long. His family says that’s thanks to a drug that is illegal in many parts of the world: cannabis, or marijuana.

ISRAELI researchers are leading the world in highlighting the medical benefits of marijuana.

That was the message from journalist Helen Kapalos who spoke last Sunday night at an event on the topic hosted by Magen David Adom and the Zionist Council of Victoria.

She has recently interviewed doctors, patients and researchers in Australia, Israel and across the globe for a documentary that is expected to be screened later this year.

“This feels like the most important thing that I have ever done in my life,” Kapalos told the more than 200-strong crowd.

The journalist spoke about the largest human studies that are being undertaken in Israel, the regulated medical marijuana market in Israel and the black market for cannabis oil in Australia.