| Photo: Limor Edrey |
| Bags and joints of Israeli medical cannabis |
Patients who use marijuana for medical purposes must wait six hours after smoking it to drive a car, the Israeli Health Ministry is set to announce soon.
Until now, the issue of driving and medical marijuana had not been clarified formally in Israel, causing several police-related incidents, reports Dan Even at Haaretz.com.
In one incident in November 2010, scriptwriter Ran Sarig, a medical marijuana patient, was investigated after he was seen on a TV program driving with a joint in his mouth.
Drivers of public or commercial vehicles will be completely barred from using medical marijuana under the new regulations.
Medical marijuana use has risen in Israel in recent months, according to Health Ministry figures. About 4,000 medical marijuana permits have been given.
According to the Health Ministry, about 40,000 patients in Israel will use cannabis after final regulations are worked out for its medicinal use.
Israeli medical marijuana patients are allowed to possess up to 200 grams of cannabis (just over seven ounces) at a time.
Marijuana is cultivated and supplied for medical purposes by government-authorized cultivators.