Bridging the Accessibility Gap of Cannabinoid Medicine and Arabic Culture

Dror Robinson, Sivan Ritter, Lilach Zadik-Weiss, Hadile Ounallah-Saad, Nour Abu-Ahmad, Rashid Kashkoosh, Mustafa Yassin, and Reuven Or

Abstract

Arabs are a large minority group in the Israeli society. With the increasing use of medical cannabis throughout Israel due to changing governmental policies, the interactions of the Arab society with medical cannabis becomes of scientific and medical relevance. Recreational cannabis use is considered haram (forbidden) in Islam. However, most religious scholars agree that medical cannabis usage might be justified as zarurat (emergency and life-saving, therefore allowed) use. Obstacles to medical cannabis use within the Arabic population may relate to language barrier and/or cultural barriers. There are few Arabic-speaking web-based medical-cannabis support groups, and little official information about it is available in the Arabic language. In order for the full benefits of medical cannabis to reach the entire Israeli population, a government-sponsored web-based educational program is necessary in Hebrew and Arabic, both of which are among the nation’s official languages, thereby contributing to the equalization of health resource accessibility.

Rambam Maimonides Med J 2020;11(1):e0010