New Hope MK appeals to Arab MKs to back marijuana decriminalization

21 July 2021, 3:03 pm

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Illustrative: A young Israeli smokes marijuana in Jerusalem, on April 20, 2017. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

New Hope MK Sharren Haskel appeals to Arab lawmakers to back her bill to decriminalize recreational marijuana use, a week after the proposed legislation was pulled due to opposition among lawmakers in the Islamist Ra’am party, which is party of the coalition.

Haskel says she will again present the bill for a first plenum reading next week.

“I appeal once again to representatives of the Arab public in the Knesset. Some 33 percent of arrests for cannabis are of Arab citizens, almost double their size in the population,” she writes on Twitter. “Among Arabs, 45% tried or use cannabis and you are sentencing them to a life of crime.”