Montel Williams Impressed by Israel’s Medical Marijuana Policies

Montel Williams, activist and former talk-show host, believes that Israel is the leading nation with regards to their liberal attitude towards medical marijuana. On Sunday, he stated that the United States could learn something from the Jewish State.

In 1999, Williams was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and now for over a decade he has been a passionate advocate for the use of medical marijuana to relieve pain.

‘Montel’ (as we all know him) is currently in Israel on a mission to discover the nation’s medicinal marijuana practices. He is meeting with legislators, scientists, and doctors.

"We need to get out of the dark ages and into the new ages," he told The Associated Press "Not every patient can use cannabis, but for those who can — why deny it?"

Itay Goor-Aryeh, Head of Pain Management at the Sheba Medical Center in Israel agrees with Williams’ claims. He calls marijuana “the lesser of the evils.”

"Those patients, if they do not get cannabis, they will get morphine-like drugs and other harmful drugs," said Goor-Aryeh. "I think that in many ways, cannabis is tolerated and is less addictive that morphine-based drugs."

Williams admit to smoking marijuana on a daily basis. He hopes that one day it will become a regular prescription drug, and does not agree with the opinion that legalizing it for medical use will increase illegal use of the drug.

"For me, there is nothing else that can do what it does," he said. "It helps me suppress my pain ... When I am not using cannabis I am thinking about my pain every 45 seconds."

In the United States, there are sixteen states that have decriminalized the use of medical marijuana.