Israel's Marijuana Industry May Have Breakthrough in Autism Treatment

Trials are reportedly underway in Israel on autistic children to determine the effectiveness of medical marijuana, an area of growing research in the Jewish state — with encouraging signs.

According to Haaretz, Israel has been positioning itself as a leader in the field of medical marijuana research, bolstered by a Health Ministry that encourages research — and an increase in the number of growers.

Unlike the United States, Israeli researchers are not constrained by the drug's designation as dangerous, and has been drawing the international investors looking to get potential treatments to market, Haaretz reported.

In trials of marijuana oil underway at Shaare Zedek Medical Center, children are given a strain of medical marijuana developed by the Israeli company Breath of Life Pharma, also known as Bol Pharma.

"Autism is still there, it's part of him," the mother of one of the doctor's patients told Haaretz. "But there's no doubt: the marijuana saved us."

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