Ship sails 450 kg of cannabis to Tel Aviv to fight drug ban

Protesters claim marijuana on board ‘Erdalena’ is intended for medicinal use and distribution among the sick

A ship carrying 450 kilograms of cannabis set sail for Tel Aviv on Tuesday. Activists aboard claimed they were protesting the government’s refusal to decriminalize marijuana.

The “Erdalena” — a portmanteau of the Irgun ship the “Altalena” and Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan — is set to reach Tel Aviv’s Gordon Beach on Friday afternoon, Hebrew-language online magazine Cannabis reported.

The marijuana on board is intended for distribution among sick people who are banned from using it for medicinal use, the activists said.

In June, Erdan and Health Minister Yaakov Litzman torpedoed a bill that would have decriminalized possession of up to 15 grams of marijuana, claiming that it would increase traffic accidents because police would have no way of preventing drugged drivers from getting behind the wheel.

“On Friday afternoon an historical event will occur: The cannabis blockade in Israel will come to an end,” one activist told Cannabis Magazine. “It’s impossible that one man, Gilad Erdan, can block the will of the public. Erdan is an elected official and he must do what the public wants.”