The State of Israel is expected to be in the legal process of decriminalizing recreational marijuana across the board.
JERUSALEM — The Israeli government is considering an act to decriminalize recreational marijuana across the country.
At least, that is according to President Isaac Herzog and Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar, via Haaretz.
President Herzog and Minister Sa’ar have issued “a call today to anyone who has previously been convicted of offenses involving the possession or use of cannabis for personal consumption and has not previously been convicted of other offenses to submit a request for the erasure of their criminal record.”
According to the president’s office, rulemaking promulgated on February 9, 2022, covering the possession and use of cannabis found that the offense of possession or personal consumption of cannabis is merely an administrative offense, not a criminal one.
“It must be emphasized that every request will be considered on its merits, according to its particular circumstances, on an individual basis, considering the abovementioned changes of policy and law,” said Herzog’s office in the same statement.
“This call is addressed to anyone who has been convicted of offenses involving possession or use of cannabis for personal consumption and has not previously been convicted of other offenses besides possession of instruments for the preparation and consumption of dangerous drugs for personal use alone.”
Legislation passed through the Israeli Knesset, the country’s legislature, in 2019 decriminalized the use of cannabis in most cases for citizens over the age of 18 years when used in private. Possession of home-grown plants and buds is also no longer a criminal offense in Israel.
“In the spirit of established law and policy, this call is not addressed to anyone who at the time of the offense was a minor or a soldier as defined in the Military Justice Law,” said Herzog.
