Minister insists PTSD-struck veteran be jailed for cannabis use

Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan has rejected an appeal by a Knesset member on behalf of an IDF veteran who used cannabis to deal with his PTSD, but is now facing a seven-month prison sentence.

Police found slightly less than a gram of cannabis in the Ramat Gan home of Yehezkal Sarabi, 52, a father of five, who served in the army during the First Lebanon War in 1983-1984.

As a result of his experiences Sarabi developed post-traumatic stress disorder, leading to heroin abuse, rehabilitation, and his eventual use of marijuana, the Israeli pro-marijuana website Cannabis reported Tuesday.

In March Sarabi was sentenced to a month in prison for the cannabis possession but already had an additional six months on probation that was then added to his sentence after, by his own admission, he refused to cooperate with a rehabilitation program. Since the police raid, the Health Ministry has approved Sarabi to use medical marijuana, something he was denied in the past due to his previous hard drugs offenses.

Likud MK Sharren Haskel, who has strongly pushed for cannabis decriminalization, sent a letter to Erdan urging the minister to intervene and stressing that Sarabi should not be jailed just for using marijuana.

But Erdan refused.

“Contrary to what was written in your request, the defendant is not among the “normative public” and this is a person who has 17 previous convictions for no less than 74 crimes of delinquency, among them violence, property and drugs, including those that aren’t cannabis,” Erdan wrote according to the website report. “He was given an opportunity to undergo rehabilitation but he refused to cooperate.”

Despite his stance regarding Sarabi, Erdan is behind a drive towards decriminalizing cannabis use in Israel.

At the beginning of March ministers approved proposed guidelines on limited decriminalization put forward by Erdan and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, allowing for the establishment of an interministerial committee of directors that will decide how best to implement the measure. The committee is to present its findings by May 7.

Sarabi, who plans to appeal the sentence, explained to Cannabis that the dozens of crimes Erdan cited were all offenses related to his heroin use but he has found that cannabis is a successful alternative that helps mitigate his PTSD. He has been using marijuana for eight years.

“To put someone into prison because of cannabis use is abuse rather than a punishment,” Haskel told Cannabis.

“He just had some cannabis for personal use — use that today the Health Ministry also approves was for the purpose of treating PTSD.”

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.