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HASH IN THE HOLY LAND:
An interview with Israeli cannibis legalization activist Booz Wachtel

interview by Steven Wishnia
08.24.02

BOOZ WACHTEL, 44, is a cofounder of Israel's Ale Yarok (Green Leaf) Party, which made a splash in the country's 1999 elections when it ran TV commercials with a Goa-trance version of the Hatikvah, the national anthem. The party's agenda includes legal cannabis, gay and lesbian rights, ravers' rights, drug and alcohol treatment on demand, free university education, and an immediate end to the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. It got 1% of the '99 vote, short of the 1.5% needed to win seats in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, but enough to qualify for government campaign funds.

A sabra (native-born Israeli), Wachtel was educated in the US, served as a combat medic in the Israeli Defense Force, and invented an irrigation system. Married with three children, he now runs a satellite-TV channel for overseas Israelis.

How did you get involved with the pot-legalization movement?

I was working as a medic and as an activist with Howard Lotsof (NDA International) and Bob Sisco (ICASH) from 1988-1993, conducting anti-addiction treatments with ibogaine in Holland and Panama. In Holland I noticed their humane and successful drug policy, i.e., separating soft and hard drugs, no criminalization of small-time nonviolent users, low threshold for treatment, needle-exchange programs, etc.

When I compared the health and well-being of American addicts I traveled with to Holland with that of the Dutch addicts, I came to the obvious conclusion that US drug policy is a colossal failure (so as in Israel) while the European harm-reduction approach is the model to follow. I was slowly convinced of the centrality of cannabis legalization as a way to reduce harm from drugs and bad drug laws.

My mentors were Howard Lotsof, Dana Beal, Jon Parker, ACT UP, the Drug Policy Foundation and Ethan Nadelmann.

What are the pot laws in Israel like?

Personal consumption of cannabis is defined by Israeli law as "up to 15 grams." Anything above it is considered not for personal use, and the users must prove so if they are caught. The punishment for personal consumption is up to three years in prison and a $22,000 fine. The maximum penalty has rarely been imposed. Out of 20,000 drug arrests a year, 12,000 or more are cannabis-related. Most cases of personal consumption end up with public service, a fine or a short prison stay.

How harshly are they enforced?

There are variables that depend on geography, even in such a small country as Israel. In Tel Aviv, they may take your joint and send you away, or take you in for questioning and then not file charges, if it is a first offense. If you are a repeated "offender," they may press charges. In northern Israel, if you have long hair or earrings, you may be searched on the spot without a reason. We call it "hippy profiling."

We had a case in 2000 of a woman whose house in Haifa was searched and 0.03 gram (not a mistake) was found when the cops shook her carpet. It was the fifth time she was caught, and charges were filed. We protested to the anti-drug authority chief, who got involved, and her case was dropped. We made her a sample case, because it showed the stupidity of prosecution and waste of resources.

What kind of cannabis is available, and how much does it sell for?

Hash is making a comeback after a decade when marijuana dominated the scene. Most of the cannabis is smuggled from Sinai (Egypt) or from across the Lebanese and Jordanian borders. The quality is far from desired. The smugglers are mostly Bedouins (Moslem desert tribes) who have family members across the border or cooperate with other Bedouin tribes. Some is smuggled by throwing it over the fence, some in camels that are released in Sinai and cross their way to Israel's desert, the Negev. That way, only the camel gets caught. By the way, there is no fence between Israel and Egypt on most of the border.

The hash or charas that is smuggled by travelers from India is good quality, and from the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon the quality is lower. Marijuana is now being grown indoors hydroponically, a relatively new phenomenon. Five grams cost about $10, so an ounce is roughly $60. Hash or charas are more expensive.

How old is the Green Leaf Party? How did it start?

I registered the Green Leaf Party in February 1999. We had a foundation from 1994. We went to the Knesset, made all the noise and spread info as much as we could, but I knew that if we really want to change the law, we must get seats in the Knesset.

What is the Green Leaf Party doing now? What next?

We demonstrate against drug policy, police brutality and for ecology, we push for medicinal cannabis (three patients already got permission to possess up to 200 grams), we work with patient groups (AIDS Committee) to inform them of the merits of medical cannabis, we issue harm-reduction information on drugs and prostitution. We formed an alliance with club owners and party organizers to distribute the info.

We are preparing for the next elections (in November 2003) and finalizing the campaign now. It will be a brain shocker, showing police violence, ecological degradation, etc. We are in the midst of a libel suit against a prohibitionist organization who accused us of "poisoning kids and wanting to help them get drugs."

We have no money, so we work with volunteers only. Great people. We are now forming loose coalitions with anti-occupation forces, and are pushing an idea we have of simultaneous referenda in Israel and Palestine on the Saudi peace plan (1967 borders in exchange for full normalization and peace).

How likely is it that pot will be legalized or decriminalized in Israel?

We think that it will be decriminalized, the question is when. If you do not educate the public and decision-makers and inform them of the merits of it, it will not happen. Important changes take a long time. We think that we will get into the Knesset in the next elections, and then we would expedite the process.
No country has done full legalization. We advocate it, but we have to face reality. We will settle for decriminalization.

Are there mainstream politicians or groups who support legalization? Or are most hardline prohibitionists? Does it vary by party?

There are four Knesset members in Meretz, a left-wing, liberal party, who support legalization. Other parties do not support it.

Yossi Beilin from the Labor Party was one of those who signed the famous letter issued by the Lindesmith Center asking the UN drug convention to reconsider international prohibitionist policies.

More and more academics and regular folks support cannabis legalization. The numbers increased dramatically since we started our work in 1994, and today it is close to 18%, if I remember correctly. Three years ago, it was 10%.

How big is the legalization movement? How many pot-smokers are there in Israel?

We believe there are between 500,000 to 1 million cannabis-smokers, and whoever smokes it usually supports decriminalization. We are a group of 20-30 hardcore activists who do most of the work. We have a mailing list of 2,500 people and we work the Internet very strongly. Most smokers hesitate to give their names or register with us, fearing that the lists will end up with the police. So many support us quietly, from afar.

Half a million to a million pot-smokers? That sounds kind of high. Israel only has 6 million people.

[Drug surveys show] multiple use of marijuana by 5.5% of adults 18-40, hash by 3.1%. We think the true numbers are much higher. It's hard to know. It could be as many as one out of four, one out of five Israelis.

The Jewish people were never too good with alcohol, and it's a tense society.

Are there Arabs involved in the movement as well as Jews?

The movement's mostly Israelis. Arabs find other issues more urgent, like equality. We're getting lots of Russian-Jewish immigrants.

Cannabis is not considered so much an Arab thing. It is more considered part of the counterculture of the West.

How does the near-permanent state of war in Israel affect the cannabis issue?

The "situation," as it is called here, meaning the conflict with the Palestinians, pushes all important issues aside. The opposition to cannabis legalization is often based on this line, "Because Israel is in state of constant war or conflict with the Arabs, we can not afford to experiment with drug policy." This crap ignores the fact that the current drug policy is failing to reduce drug use, and that the money spent on chasing cannabis users should be better spent on chasing terrorists and suicide bombers.

We believe that despite the situation, our obligation is to reduce harm from drugs and inform the public of the merits of cannabis legalization. By the time we will have peace here, we may have a generation of junkies if we do not change the drug policies. Every three years the drug surveys show a reduction of age of first-time users and an increase in the amount of users. [ L i P ]