The Israeli media reports that there has been a “substantial” dispute between Supreme Court justices over the issue
Justice Ofer Grosskopf insists that cannabis trafficking offenses should be distinguished from drug trafficking offenses, and sentencing to the former should be facilitated.
Justice Ofer Grosskopf stands by his December 2020 ruling and, contrary to the position of other Supreme Court justices, this week has reiterated his decision to distinguish between cannabis trafficking offenses and drug trafficking offenses, even though the dry law does not currently distinguish between different types of drugs.
Reported about six months ago, Grosskopf was then hearing a petition from a 46-year-old Bedouin citizen in the Negev, a 46-year-old Bedouin resident of the Negev, who was charged with possession of 150 kilograms of cannabis and cannabisproduction and cultivation offenses after seizing hundreds of cannabis seedlings.
The defendant appealed to the Supreme Court after the decision of the Be’er Sheva District Court to detain him until the end of the proceedings against him, and Judge Grosskopf did reverse the district court ‘s decision and ruled that the defendant be placed under house arrest, with electronic handcuffs.
Judge Grosskopf then justified his decision by saying that there are different approaches to dealing with drug offenses, and he chooses to take a “diagnostic” approach that distinguishes between the various types of drugs considered “dangerous” by law, ie between cannabis considered “soft drugs” and other drugs .
Since the decision, in which he noted, among other things, that “growing cannabis is not as ‘sick ill’ as drug production,” until yesterday, no judge has joined the policy set .
