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Editor’s Spiel | Coates’ Message: Jews are ‘Just White’
Coates refuses to consider what it means to exist as a remnant of our people, violently removed from the world in the European-wide effort to achieve a “final solution” to the problem of Jews—an existential threat to the white race.
Why I’m Stoked for Yom Kippur This Year
Yom Kippur is not exactly a holiday that we look forward to, observed by not-eating while we spend the day consumed with critical self-inquiry...
Editor’s Spiel | Reflections on the Cannabis Industry and Community After October 7th
The reason we expected more support and empathy from the cannabis community relates to the pivotal role that Israeli Jews have played in the history of cannabis research and advocacy, supported by a culture that values life over politics, guided by the Jewish effort to reduce suffering to repair the world (tikkun olam).
The Psychedelics Industry Faces a #MeToo Problem
The problem of psychedelic abuse is not new, and we need to question the “common sense” that reproduces the conditions that enable it to happen.
Mensch of the Month: James Gude
This month we honour Gude as our Mensch of the Month for his empathy, solidarity, and devotion to supporting minority groups in the cannabis space.
How Cannabis ‘Restores’ the Self: Trauma, Injury, and Broken Timelines
Part of the reason why it’s hard to take seriously this notion of a “restored self” as a medical benefit of cannabinoid therapy is because we tend to think about PTSD as a pathology of memory or repression that can be cured with the right therapist or strain of weed.
Cannabis Refutes Mind-Body Dualism: Can Medicine and Tech Keep Up?
It has given me no small amount of pleasure to learn that Israeli researchers are finding that with regard to understanding the medical benefits of cannabis, the biomedical model—based on mind-body dualism—just doesn't work.
GrowDirector is the AI Assistant You May Fall in Love With
As I was reading about this system that perpetually collects and analyzes environmental data in the grow room to correct for any problems before they occur, I kept thinking about a grower I know who spends most of his time collecting that data himself, and rarely leaves work.
Editor’s Spiel | Psychic Life of a Remnant
In the tradition of Dr. Franz Fanon and his classic work Black Skin, White Masks (1952), we can think about being-Ashkenazi in terms of the psychic scars suffered from being racialized and living in the world as a remnant.
When Healers Become Haters: Activism and the Limits of Empathy
How can I relate to the other’s experience of the world if I have no access to it, precisely because it is so different from mine?
Editor’s Spiel | To My Jewish Sisters
It’s hard to convey this ancient pain of feeling dispensable, reduced to a problem in the world. I am in awe of Jewish women because it also drives our will to create movements, make discoveries, and write books that change the world.
Mensch of the Month: Gerry Tissenbaum
"The trip was transformational. The gratitude that every Israeli had for this volunteer mission, made me feel like the grinch, whose heart grew three times larger."
Silver’s Uprising Delivers a Gripping Journey with Israel’s “Green Messiah” and a Masterclass in Trauma
I guarantee you will also be moved and transfixed by this exceptional, timely documentary about Amos Dov Silver⏤the ‘Green Messiah’⏤ who, with the creation of Telegrass, performed what may be the most successful, far-reaching act of tikkun olam by a single person.
Paradise Valley Botanics and the Canna-Jewish Community of Nelson, BC
When I was told that there’s a Jewish grower named Adam in Nelson, British Columbia who went from legacy to legal and became legendary for the quality of his flower and his Menschlikeit character, it sounded like someone I had invented—a Canadian version of Jack Herer—as part of a sales pitch for Cannabis Jew Magazine.
Canna-Jewish Wisdom for Jewish Heritage Month
We hope these Canna-Jewish reflections help provide context for the extraordinary contributions of Jews to cannabis culture, reseach and advocacy (and help explain Why Jews Love Weed).
A Canna-Jewish Reading of Exodus
In the spirit of our tradition, CJM offers this canna-Jewish reading of the Exodus that recovers the role played by kaneh bosem (Eng. cannabis) in the events leading up to our liberation through deduction, speculation and the light of Jewish herstory.
Mensch of the Month: Kathryn Reilly
The false accusations and threats leveled against me are not only unacceptable under Canadian law, but they undermine the very principles of openness, mutual understanding, and respectful dialogue that our event aims to promote. Moving forward, I remain committed to facilitating a space where diverse perspectives can be shared and constructive conversations can be had without hatred or intimidation.
Editor’s Spiel | Hope and Solidarity
I also heard from cannabis Jews and allies in the United States who wrote to tell me that the article resonated with them because they, too, are suffering from similar types of racist hate in the American cannabis and psychedelic communities.
Canadian Jews Suffer Antisemitic Hate from Cannabis Advocates
"The hate has been daily."
Canna-Jewish Holiday Guide | Greening Out on Purim (It’s a Mitzvah)
I'm sure I'm not the only Jew especially eager to celebrate Purim next week, the one day in the Jewish year when it's an actual mitzvah to get wasted in order to commemorate yet another occasion when we survived the genocidal intent of a Jew-hating regime thanks to the chutzpah and bravery of a Jewish woman (FACTS).
Mensch of the Month: Laura Kam
The sense of Tikkun Olam, of making the world a better place was prevalent thorughout the industry. Israel Cannabis had the effect of introducing the nation to millions⏤from investors to recreational users⏤in a new light.
Chosen Stoners: Cannabis and Jewish Resilience
The close relation between kaneh bosem and Jewish history has inspired a new generation of Jews to turn to herbal remedies in order to feel some pride and cope with anxiety at a time when most people in the world want us to die or disappear.
The Ancient Jewish Use of Cannabis Oil
By: Yoseph Leib Needelman-Ruiz (Ibn Mardachya)
Cannabis (kaneh bosem) is one of the only spices in the ancient anointing oil, as described in the Torah, along...
Rabbi Dr. Yosef Glassman on Jerusalem Cannabis
“It is well known that Jews seek out cannabis.”
The Symbiosis of Jews and Cannabis
The symbiosis of Jews and cannabis was forged by the Jewish approach to nature and the power of cannabis to help us recover from Jewish history.
Cultural Gaslighting is our (New) Reality
The cultural gaslighting of the Jewish community is becoming increasingly impossible to ignore in the cannabis industry, as young cannabis activists are publicly calling for the death of Zionists and the destruction of the state of Israel on social media.
Mensch of the Month: Gil Binovitch
"The farm in Nir Oz will get back to life. We choose life, we don’t choose death."
Editor’s Spiel: How To Be a Jewish Ally
During this open season of antisemitism when ancient resentments have mixed with modern revisionism to create a potent new version of anti-Jewish hatred circulated in the media and sanctified by academia, it feels like allies are hard to find.
Israel’s Anti-Dumping Probe Provokes Strong Reactions in the Cannabis Industry
"If I were an Israeli company, I too would be irritated with Canadians undercutting me."
How To Confront Anti-Jewish Bias in the Cannabis Sector
“Anti-Jewish bias? But there are so many Jews in cannabis.” I never know if someone says this as a complaint or as an observation, but it always makes me uncomfortable because the observation is a potent source of implicit, anti-Jewish bias.
ElionMED Delivers the Future of Medical Cannabis
The promise of ElionMED to normalize the use of medical cannabis by creating a platform that offers a different model for the patient-doctor interface is a stunning example of how women founders and all-women companies are quietly revolutionizing the medical establishment to carve a path for the future of medical cannabis.
Kosher Ethics, Living Soil, Baruch Hashem!
"It's probably drek cannabis. I’m sorry to say it."
Editor’s Spiel | Trauma, Cannabis and Jewish Culture
The Jewish relation to the herb is bound up with the traumatic arc of Jewish history.
Mensch of the Month: Abi Roach
Abi Roach is an innovative pioneer and visionary in the cannabis industry who has been making headlines and building Jewish community in the cannabis space for over 20 years.
Israeli Filmmakers Score with American Pot Story: Oaksterdam
One of the greatest strengths of American Pot Story is how it recovers the queer, disabled, and Jewish voices that played a pivotal role in the grassroots effort to normalize the use of cannabis.
Jewish Trauma, Kosher Cannabis, and a little Kabbalah
I get called by rabbis who have arthritis or just had a surgery, and they are looking for Kosher [cannabis] and I have to help them. When they take it, they'll swear by it, but they can't openly publicize it; you hear what I'm saying? There is still a shtickle stigma.
Kvel or Kvetch? Canna-Jewish Product Review of Stewart Farms Recovery Balms and Creams
Absorbtion vs. Consumption on Yom Kippur
Since it’s almost time for Yom Kippur (see the Canna-Jewish Holiday Guide), I’m sharing the results of my experiments...
Cannabis in Mexico and Israel: A Promising Path to the Future
By: Lior Yafe
In recent years, the cannabis industry has emerged as a focal point of global debate, challenging long-held stigmas and advocating for a...
Canna-Jewish Holiday Guide: Hoping for a Hannukah Miracle
The “festival of lights” is upon us, and I’m hoping for a Hannukah miracle to get all of the hostages back from Hamas and...
Mensch of the Month: Tanner Stewart
I believe you can be in support of protecting Gazan civilians, support Israel, and stand against antisemitism all at the same time, but the key is to stand.
To Advocate for Medical Cannabis, #Stand With Israel
The cannabis industry has a special responsibility to support Israel and defend Jews against those who deny our right to exist, since our resilience and recovery paved the way for the medical cannabis industry and its moral compass.
There Are No ‘White Jews’
The conjunction “White Jew” used to designate Ashkenazi Jews white-enough to be White is meant to signify both our racial and ethnic identities, but instead places them in a mutually exclusive relation such that I cannot identify as both White and Jewish at the same time.
How Can We Honour Dr. Mechoulam’s Legacy?
The inaugural issue of Cannabis Jew Magazine was inspired by the desire to honour Dr. Raphael Mechoulam (zt''l) not just as the "father of...
Cannabis Rabbinics with Yoseph Leib Needelman-Ruiz (Ibn Mardachya)
Yoseph Needelman-Ruiz a.k.a. Yoseph Leib Ibn Mardachya is the author of Cannabis Chassidis: The Ancient and Emerging Torah of Drugs (Autonomedia press, 2012); an...
Israeli Tech Growers Want: GemmaCert
When I attended a post-secondary program on Cannabis Cultivation in the winter of 2023, we had a series of local Licensed Producers visit our...
Mensch of the Month: Dr. Av Singh
Av Singh, PhD., PAg is a proponent of regenerative organic cannabis production, being engaged in projects across six continents. Av has had the privilege of visiting over...
Notes on Kosher Cannabis
Although it may seem from the mainstream press that the question of what makes cannabis kosher has been settled, things are rarely (if ever)...
Aaron Genuth Feels the Love at the Chassidic Psychedelic Pushkina Festival
Aaron Genuth is a journalist, advocate, and entrepreneur who has worked extensively in the cannabis and psychedelic spaces for over a decade. He has...
Editor’s Spiel: Cannabis Advocacy is a Jewish Issue
Ultimately the distinction between the recreational and medical use of cannabis rests on the ideological (and colonialist) insistence that there is no therapeutic value in “getting high,” or consuming cannabis to alter one’s state of consciousness.
Canna-Jewish Book Review: Dr. Peter Grinspoon Keeps it Real and Continues the Family Legacy
The Grinspoons are like the First Jewish Family of Cannabis Activists, so it felt like kizmet when I received the opportunity to review Dr....
