Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has suspended reforms aimed at allowing Israeli marijuana growers to export their product, pending new reviews by the Health Ministry and the chairman of the National Economic Council, Haaretz reports.
NEC Chairman Avi Simhon was instructed to conduct an economic feasibility study. The Health Ministry is to prepare a separate review.
Netanyahu made the decision Sunday after meeting with Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon and Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan. Officials from Erdan’s ministry presented new data regarding the “spillover” of medical marijuana grown into the recreational market that led Erdan to restate his opposition to the reform.
The move comes despite long-standing support by the health, finance and agriculture ministries, and a recent agreement between the treasury and the Public Security Ministry under which the latter would drop its object to the reform in exchange for funding for additional positions and an information campaign to improve the odds of a safe rollout of the reform.
Last year a joint committee of the health and finance ministries recommended allowing exports of medical marijuana, based on assessments that they might bring in as much as $4 billion a year in revenue.
Interior Ministry officials did not express any objections during a meeting three weeks ago with members of the joint committee, which focused on the Interior Ministry’s financial needs.