"Shifting to decriminalization with responsibility" is the title of a new plan offered by Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan. The plan would ease penalties on cannabis users, but must still get approval from the Israeli cabinet.
The "four felonies plan" dictates that first-time felons would be fined but have no criminal record, second-time felons would be fined at twice the rate and enjoy no criminal record. A third felony would be nullified with a special settlement from a policy instituted years ago "which has started to be implemented in recent months," Erdan noted. For third-time offenders, "the police have more options" to scrap the case and remove the offense from the criminal record. Fourth-time offenders would be criminalized, but at the discretion of law enforcement officials.
For youth, criminalization procedures begin with the third offense. They would get sent to treatment facilities after a first offense, according to Erdan’s plan. Lawmaker Ilan Gilon commented that the plan is "far from being perfect," but that it represents an "awareness change toward cannabis users" that is "positive and essential."
Entrenched attitudes and policies toward the recreational use of cannabis have "benefited mostly the industrial stakeholders," Gilon said. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime estimates that 9 percent of Israelis use cannabis.
Justice has begun to shed its powerful light on cannabis users in recent years. According to official data, convictions against cannabis use have fallen 30 percent in the past six years. The Israeli Justice Ministry has also published data detailing that in 2015, 188 individuals were detained for using the plant, a precipitous 56-percent decline since 2010.
Permits for medicinal use of marijuana in Israel have picked up in recent years as well, from a few hundred to some 20,000, according to former police commissioner Yohanan Danino. "It’s high time that the police and state examine the traditional approach to cannabis," Danino told Haaretz in April, 2016. It appears lawmakers have heeded his calls to lighten up on law enforcement.
