TEL AVIV (JTA) — Some 1,000 protesters gathered in Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square calling for Israel to legalize marijuana.

The protest Saturday night, which organizers dubbed the “Cannabis March,” began near Tel Aviv’s district courthouse and ended at the central square. There, several politicians and activists addressed the crowd in between musical performances and poetry readings.

Left-wing Meretz lawmaker Tamar Zandberg spoke at the event, as did Knesset members Yinon Magal and Miki Zohar from the right-wing Jewish Home and Likud parties, respectively. Former Likud Knesset member Moshe Feiglin, an outspoken proponent of legalization, also spoke.

In speech to rally, Jewish Home party’s Yinon Magal says current drug policy turns law-abiding Israelis into ‘criminals’

er a thousand people gathered Saturday in Tel Aviv for a march and demonstration against the prohibition on marijuana use in Israel as well as the harshness of measures taken by authorities against recreational users of the drug.

The event was attended by several Knesset members from right and left, including MK Tamar Zandberg of Meretz, Jewish Home’s MK Yinon Magal and Likud’s MK Miki Zohar, as well as former Likud MK Moshe Feiglin.

The knowledge that cannabis extracts can directly treat cancer has grown tremendously in the past couple years. An explosion of scientific research and anecdotal evidence has shown beyond doubt that cannabis extracts can, in many cases, kill cancer in humans. However, some patients and cancers are resistant to cannabis treatment, and we still don’t know what doses and cannabinoid ratios are best for which types of cancers.

An American-Israeli biotech team is taking cannabis research to the next level by developing novel therapies using cannabis extract to treat diabetes, inflammatory conditions, chronic pain and cardiovascular disease.

ISA Scientific just signed a deal with Yissum, the technology-transfer company of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Hadasit, the technology-transfer company of the Hadassah Medical Organization in Jerusalem, and the Kennedy Trust for Rheumatology Research (KIR) in the United Kingdom to help bring the drugs to market.

All the credit for the idea, however, goes to a Hebrew University researcher who has worked on idea for years.

Israeli research and development in traditional areas like agriculture technologies are crystallizing into new market areas for cannabis

Not long before flower children of the Sixties started talking peace and love and smoking pot, an Israeli researcher made a landmark study deciphering the chemical makeup of its active ingredient, THC.

Using an 11-pound lump of Lebanese hash seized by the national police, Raphael Mechoulam identified and synthesized the first known cannabinoid from cannabis, among an estimated 60 to 85 known compounds. He’d go on to discover more.

New research shows - with cautious optimism - that cannabis can kill or slow the development of cancer cells.

Medical cannabis is well known to cancer patients. A large number of Israelis receive it as part of their palliative care for dealing with the symptoms of the disease, as cannabis has been found to be effective in relieving chronic pain, nausea and loss of appetite.

Scientists from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa have been researching completely different possibilities for the use of cannabis by cancer patients – as an active treatment against the development of the disease itself. A precedent-setting study examined how dozens of strains of cannabis affect the development and growth of hundreds of types of cancer cells.

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The company has developed a unique range of proprietary cannabis varieties and innovative products based on unique world-renowned production techniques that focus on increasing the efficacy of the active ingredients (mainly THC and CBD) in the plant. Our unique varieties have made waves throughout the world and have garnered a lot of attention from international media sources (find out more here). Our varieties are being utilized in various clinical medical trials based on their safety and efficacy and provide relief and peace of mind for thousands of patients.

The administration of the non-psychotropic cannabinoid cannabidiol (CBD) leads to improvement in bone fracture healing, according to preclinical data published online ahead of print in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research.

Investigators at the Hebrew University Bone Laboratory in Israel assessed the ability of CBD administration to promote healing in rats with mid-femoral fractures. Researchers reported, “CBD markedly enhanced the biomechanical properties of the healing femora after 8 weeks.”