Israel Hayom: Report: Feiglin Threatened by Former MK over Medical Cannabis
- Sep-02-2014
- Health, In the News, Liberty, Media
- 1 Comments.
Report: Feiglin threatened by former MK over medical cannabis |
According to Channel 2 news, MK Feiglin squabbled with former Likud MK Yehiel Hazan over the distribution of medical marijuana by Sarel, a company whose CEO is a friend of Hazan’s • The reason is Feiglin’s desire to open the distribution market.
According to the report, the company, Sarel, is privately owned with an estimated 8 billion shekel ($2.2 billion) budget. It determines which providers can sell medical marijuana to the government for distribution. Feiglin’s stated desire is to expand medical marijuana distribution to patients, which could ultimately negatively affect the company’s interests.MK Moshe Feiglin (Likud), who supports the legalization of soft drugs, was threatened by a former MK of his party, Yehiel Hazan, who is also a close associate of the chief executive officer behind the company that has sole distribution rights for medical marijuana in Israel, a Channel 2 news report said on Monday.
In a taped conversation between Hazan and Feiglin’s assistant, Hazan can be heard saying, “The CEO of Sarel is my friend of many years, he lobbied, and he’s asked me for a little help. He told me, ‘Yehiel, we are ducking our heads all the time, in the end we’re going to fight, we’ll start getting dirty.’ Believe me, I am coming from a good place.”
Hazan also said, “I think the struggle against Sarel is going to hurt [Feiglin] in the end. I don’t want to say over the phone things I know they’re going to do. It’s a shame, truly a shame. I like what Moshe does, and it’s really a shame. What’s better? For Moshe to eat it afterward?”
When Feiglin’s assistant rebuffed Hazan’s remarks, the former MK continued. “You know that he is coming to me and telling me that patients have aligned with Likud? I said that if patients aligned with Likud in exchange for cannabis, that is corruption.”
“I don’t want them to put their money on Feiglin, and then in the end he’ll be left naked with them battling him,” he concluded.
Following the report on Sunday, Feiglin called on Finance Minister Yair Lapid and Health Minister Yael German to immediately withhold all communication with the Sarel group. Feiglin called for opening the medical marijuana market to true competition, and a speedy recovery in public health.
“I am also calling on them to approve the bill that I proposed, which is supposed to allow every patient whose doctor recommended medical cannabis treatment to get the immediate treatment the patient is entitled to,” he said.
In response to the Channel 2 report, former MK Hazan said: “MK Feiglin, a bitter political rival, is trying to take vengeance against me. Feiglin and his aides don’t discount a thing, they’ll use contrived, edited, partial and deceitful recordings, all in order to intimidate me, to silence me over the fact that I revealed Feiglin had brought illegal marijuana users to Likud. I am proud of my public and ideological battle, somebody who fought against drug use and is wholly opposed to Feiglin’s campaign.”
The Sarel group also responded to Channel 2’s report, saying, “Former Knesset member Hazan does not represent Sarel and is not under its employment. The comments being made, or that were made, by Hazan are his responsibility alone. We strongly reject any attempt to link what Mr. Hazan said with Sarel. The Health Ministry tasked Sarel with carrying out medical marijuana, and now the cannabis growers are working against Sarel to prevent it from opening up the market to free competition, which will make the price cheaper to the consumer and would hurt their profits.”
Related Posts
Moshe Feiglin: Medical Marijuana Prohibited, but Medical Suicide with Prescription Drugs Fine?
Moshe Feiglin: Health Ministry Using Driving Legislation to Wage War Against Medical Cannabis
Feiglin Blows Whistle on Corruption in Medical Market in Israel
Jerusalem Post: Feiglin: Lack of Parkinson’s disease specialists means many patients do not get treatment on time
Moshe Feiglin:Sarel Medical Company Monopoly Brings Hospitals to Brink of Collapse
Moshe Feiglin Applauds Controller General on Action Against Medical Corruption
Keep up to date with all the latest Jewish Leadership news!
Recent Posts
- Should Israel Boycott the World Because of the Holocaust? By Moshe Feiglin
- Israel a Terror Supporting State? By Moshe Feiglin
- The Freedom to Use Cannabis is a Basic Human Right: By Moshe Feiglin
- It’s Easier to Fight a Tunnel than the Real Enemy: By Moshe Feiglin
- Great Interview with Shmuel Sackett on Tim Constantine’s Capitol Hill Show
Categories
- About
- Environment
- Events
- Holocaust
- Issues
- Aliyah
- Articles
- Arabs in Israel
- by Shmuel Sackett
- Cannabis
- Democracy and State
- Demography
- Draft
- Economy
- Education
- Family
- Identity
- Israel and the Nations
- Jewish Identity
- Jonathan Pollard
- Justice
- Key Articles
- Land of Israel
- Leadership
- Liberty
- Meaning
- Media
- Politics
- Security
- Society
- Special Reports
- Temple Mount
- Torah Thoughts
- weekly column
- Democracy
- Demography
- Draft
- Economy
- Education
- Facts and Figures
- Family
- Health
- Human Rights
- Identity
- Israel and the Nations
- Jewish Leadership
- Justice
- Land of Israel
- Liberty
- Liberty and Meaning
- Meaning
- Policies
- Security
- Temple Mount
- The Jewish Agenda: 5 Points of Principle
- Media
- Pollard
- Religion and State
- Uncategorized
- Updates
- Video
This is disgusting. The last paragraph doesn’t even make sense. Why would cannabis growers not want to open up the market to free competition? Why would Sarel want its monopoly broken?
I don’t see any corruption in Feiglin’s encouraging supporters of his legislation to join Likud. People all the time join the party that they think will best meet their interests. All honest people do that.
As for accusations that illegal marijuana users are joining Likud, Feiglin has no part in any such thing. The people he is wooing are people who support *legal* use of marijuana; he is not responsible for what people do behind his back. I for one do not assume that any of his supporters is using cannabis illegally.
As to the recordings, I am sure a good forensics expert will be able to tell if they are genuine, or if they are “contrived, edited, partial and deceitful”.
כל הכבוד משה והצלחה
!