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Kosher Medical Marijuana?

Israeli Rabbi Efraim Zalmanovich has ruled that distributing and smoking medical marijuana is kosher, but that using the drug just for fun is forbidden, according to the Ma’ariv newspaper. Zalmanovich, the author of a book on alcoholism in Judaism, is quoted as saying, “Taking drugs to escape this world in any excessive way is certainly forbidden.” However he said, if the marijuana is used to relieve pain, then the person giving it is “performing a mitzvah”, a good deed. Israel’s health ministry says some 11,000 Israelis use medical marijuana, including those with post-traumatic disorders and for Parkinson’s disease.