The Israeli Police arrested six senior doctors on suspicion of issuing and illegally trading licenses for the use of medical cannabis on the Telegram app - is this what caused the hundreds of percent drop in the number of new cannabis licenses issued that month?

During the past year, The Israeli police national cyber unit conducted an undercover investigation against doctors and other suspects for accepting bribes and illegally selling licenses for medical cannabis, through online channels, including Telegram.Among other things, the doctors and the others involved are suspected of committing the crimes of taking and giving bribes, drug trafficking, forgery under aggravated circumstances, crimes under the Income Tax Ordinance, offenses under the Money Laundering Prohibition Law, and crimes under the Ordinance the doctors.

A cannabis permit within 24 hours without  a medical history

The investigation so far shows that some of the suspects advertised through the Internet and Telegram channels a service for the sale of medical cannabis licenses, which arrived to their customers within 24 hours and without any need for a medical history.For the license purchase, the customers paid thousands of NIS ("New Israeli Shekel," worth about 0.25 GBP) and an additional payment for license renewals and approval for increased dosages. The license was sent to the customer at the end of the process and was viewed as an authentic license signed by doctors authorized to approve it on behalf of the Medical Cannabis Unit at the Ministry of Health.The investigation by the national cyber unit revealed a network of doctors who issued a medical recommendation necessary for obtaining cannabis licenses, along with doctors authorized by the Israeli Ministry of Health to approve the issuance of licenses, as well as other people involved who mediated between them and the customers who requested to obtain a license for cannabis without any medical reason.

Earned more than 17 million NIS

According to the police report, the scope of this license-issuing "industry" crime is estimated at a value exceeding 17 million NIS (approximately 4 million GBP)

The police unit also exposed the company that provided the criminal organization with a package of services, posing as a legitimate company engaged in the exploitation of rights in the field of medical cannabis.The company assisted the license buyers in coming up with a "cover story," which was used as an excuse for recommending the use of cannabis, guidance on how to present the cover story, help in obtaining medical documents, and connection to the "recommending" and "approving" doctors to whom the company paid for each approved license.As part of the investigation, it also emerged that in several cases, drug dealers took advantage of the permits received from the suspected doctors to trade cannabis for profit.This is not the first time doctors have been arrested in Israel on suspicion of issuing cannabis licenses without a sufficient medical reason. This already happened at the beginning of last year (2022) as well, and as about 6 years ago, in 2016, in a similar case, when another doctor, Dr. Avraham Dotan, was sentenced to 4 years in prison after it was determined that he had issued medical cannabis licenses to healthy people.A few weeks after the arrest of the doctors, the Israeli Ministry of Health published a report with information on the number of new licenses for medical cannabis for December 2022 - according to the data, only 200 new licenses were added in December (as opposed to an average of about 4 thousand licenses per month during the past year).Not all of the thousands of licenses issued each month during the past year came from the suspected doctors. Still, it is presumed that many other doctors who work in the field began to fear following the arrests and slowed their activity accordingly.

The district pharmacist ordered the local pharmacies to stop advertising cannabis on social networks, against the increase in the phenomenon while presenting information "that encourages the purchase and use." Pharmacies are also prohibited from displaying and selling smoking accessories such as ashtrays, grinders, rolling papers, etc.Miri Trainin, The District Pharmacist of Tel Aviv, issued an unusual notice containing instructions for pharmacists and pharmacy owners working in the field of cannabis to stop advertising cannabis products, mainly on Facebook but also on the pharmacy's premises.

"Conveys an atmosphere of purchasing cannabis for non-medical purposes."

According to the Israeli "Cannabis" Magazine, Trainin clarified in the email that, "Recently, under the auspices of pharmacies, publications that encourage the purchase and use of cannabis products for non-medical purposes have been published on social media. This advertisement is contrary to the purpose for which medical cannabis was approved in pharmacies. Moreover, some of these publications present information that exceeds the provisions of the law. In light of the above - these publications should be discontinued."In addition to clarifications regarding Facebook and other social media networks, Trainin instructs the pharmacies to stop using signage in front of the pharmacy that presents the pharmacy as a "cannabis store" or "unprofessional" term from the world of cannabis."All of these practices harm the professional status of the pharmacy, convey an atmosphere of purchasing cannabis for non-medical purposes, may harm the feelings of patients who need cannabis due to their health condition, and therefore these signs are invalid," it said.

The possession and sale of rolling papers and other smoking accessories are prohibited

Furthermore, Training wants to end a relatively new phenomenon in which many pharmacies display and sell rolling papers, grinders, bongs, and other "smoking accessories" - which will be prohibited for possession or sale in pharmacies. It is not clear what is the official directive about vaporizers."A pharmacy is not one of the businesses where smoking products can be displayed and therefore is not allowed to present to the public ashtrays, tobacco products, mixtures intended for smoking including tinctures, and any product used for smoking including pipes, rolling papers, electronic cigarettes or cartridges," she wrote.Finally, the new procedure also refers to pharmacies that offer online cannabis sales services, i.e., through websites they own and home delivery services. According to the updated procedure, express permission must be obtained from the district pharmacist for online sales or delivery.Since the district pharmacist of Tel Aviv published the procedure, it applies only to the pharmacies subordinate to this district. However, professional officials explain that this is a refinement of procedures issued by existing ones. Hence, this is not a new directive; therefore, these instructions are probably valid for all of the pharmacies  in Israel.