The percentage of Israelis using medical marijuana under the auspices of the Health Ministry is the highest per capita in the world, it was revealed during a session of the Knesset Drug Abuse Committee on Tuesday.

Maariv reported that 9,000 Israelis are currently registered for a program that provides marijuana to patients with serious illnesses such as cancer, glaucoma and multiple sclerosis. That’s a 57 percent increase from 2011, and Health Ministry officials estimate that by the end of the year around 11,000 Israelis will be legal cannabis users.

In comparison, England’s medical marijuana program has 850 patients and Canada’s, 1,350. Sixteen US states have approved medical marijuana programs, resulting in tens of thousands of patients, but guidelines for writing prescriptions and for deciding which doctors can write them are, in general, much more relaxed in the US than in Israel.

Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Free Sign Up

Israel’s program has been called one of the most effective and progressive in the world. Despite that, the Knesset Drug Abuse Committee found that regulation and oversight of the medical cannabis program is lax; in 2009 it was decided that a government authority would be created to oversee the program, but that decision has yet to be implemented. Currently it is run out of a small Health Ministry office in Bat Yam.

According to a Ynet report, a police representative present at the committee meeting said that fields and warehouses where medical marijuana is grown and stored do not have adequate security and are sometimes located close to schools and shopping malls. The police also contended that a large amount of the product grown for medical use ultimately makes its way into the black market.

Prof. Yehuda Baruch, the psychiatrist who coordinates the program and approves prescription requests, said that without proper government oversight, there is a danger that non-therapeutic marijuana use in Israel will gain de facto legitimization.