After the two parties leading the political map decided to fully legalize the cannabis market in Israel, some of the local citizens began to celebrate - but only a few weeks later the government collapsed. The country is currently facing the fourth election in two years and it is unclear what will happen with the historic decision.

An old joke says that where two Jews live you will find three different opinions. And really, it is not easy to find many issues in the State of Israel that are widely agreed upon. Surprisingly, it was the issue of regulating the cannabis market that the current government managed to reach a common understanding.

The two sides that lead the local political system - both Benjamin Netanyahu from the right and Beni Gantz from the center-left, understood that there is almost a consensus among the Israeli public regarding cannabis and so they promised their voters legalization.

Last November, the bill to regulate the cannabis market for recreational purposes was passed - but almost immediately afterward the government collapsed, and the bill just might go up in smoke. so what are the chances that we will actually see cannabis stores in Israel as early as 2021?

"It felt like an illusion"

Like many countries in the world, the process of changing the Israeli public opinion regarding the cannabis plant was quite long and took several decades. However, politically speaking, there will be many who will claim that the most significant change of perception among the local politicians occurred in March 2019, after Israel entered the first round of elections (out of four as mentioned). A politician named Moshe Feiglin founded a new party, "Herut" ("Freedom"), which advocated liberal ideas, with first and foremost, of course, the cannabis legalization Issue.

While all the other politicians talked about high ideologies, Feiglin talked about the everyday guy wanting to enjoy a good smoke - and it worked: in some polls, his party climbed up and up, and it was clear to everyone what the reason was.

Since a new government had failed to be established after those elections, the Israeli citizens found themselves going to the pools for the second time in just a few months, only this time other parties understood the electoral potential of legalization and also promised to make changes on the issue. When the State of Israel reached the third round of elections (and the last so far), the pair who are considered to be the leading candidates for prime minister, both Netanyahu, and Ganz, had no problem to scatter promises to regulate the Israeli cannabis market. Benjamin Netanyahu went as far as making a special video regarding the subject that obviously went viral.

"These days felt to many Israelis like an illusion" Lior, a cannabis activist tells "Weed world", "after years in which a large part of the public was looking at the legalization idea as crazy, and suddenly each of the two candidates for prime minister is promising to make cannabis legal, Unbelievable".

Yes for shops, no for home grow?

The official decision was made by the government last November, after several meetings that included personages from different fields, such as the police, the legal system, the medical system, as well as a team of experts from Canada and other countries who advised the Israeli government.

The decision that has been taken spoke of full-scale legalization of the Israeli cannabis market for recreational purposes, including the opening of cannabis shops that will be allowed to sell the goods to any customer over the age of 21. The issue of home growing is still controversial and for this reason, has not yet been finally approved.

The responses to the historic decision of the government were encouraging, but ably a few weeks after, the government, which had suffered from countless other issues and problems, announced dissolution and new elections being held within a few months.

Only time will tell

Despite the downfall of the government, there were several attempts to fix the position of the law, and thereby create a situation in which one could continue the legislative process from exactly the same spot where it stopped, but unfortunately, these were unsuccessful, and it is very possible that in March 2021, when a new government will rise in Israel. there will be a requirement to go back to square one and start over.

According to recent polls, it appears that the next 'Knesset' (Israeli Parlament) will be less supportive of legalization, with a relatively large number of seats for parties that are considered to be strongly against the idea.

However, the current election campaign has only just begun and further significant fluctuations of votes are expected so that only time will tell whether the State of Israel will indeed be able to celebrate full legalization as early as 2021.