LICENSED BY THE STATE OF ISRAEL

He travels between his secret grow site, where he caresses gently
every bud with his own hands, and his living room, where he
distributes the pot to tormented AIDS and cancer patients.

Funerals add to his busy schedule. "I stopped counting them," he says.

The only person in Israel who is licensed by the state to grow and
distribute Medical Marijuana, is not yet thirty years old. He sees
his work as a mission: "If I won't help them, nobody will."

Allowing a private entrepreneur to do this does not seem to a
problem, says the Israeli Health Department: "It's the best solution
possible today."

The smell hits you first. The sweet heavy scent. Then comes the
sadness. The room, soaking with soft light, typical for an Israeli
winter morning, is filled with pain. Wherever you look, you see
torments of pain. A woman stands at the door. Her face is pale, it is
evident she is under chemotherapy. Embarrassed she greets us with a
short "Hello", lowers her eyes, takes a tiny bag, and hurries outside.

The door is open and the traffic of people never ceases. From morning
till night, patients and their family members come in and go out,
most of them have met each other in former visits. Cancer, AIDS and
Tourette patients. They come from all over the country, mostly twice
a week, sit on the couch and chairs, exchanging treatment and
hospitalization stories. Some of them are at the end of the road,
their doctors are helpless. All they can do is try to ease the pain.

They come here for compassion - it's the only distribution point for
Medical Marijuana in Israel, and this is the first time it's being
exposed to the public. It's the last stop for many of the people who
enter this door. They yearn for the drug dosage that would save them,
they reach out to as if was a magic potion, handed to them by an
ancient Medicine Man.

Last April the Health Department produced for the first time in the
history of the State of Israel, "A license for growing, conveying and
supplying a dangerous drug (Marijuana) following chapters 6, 7 of the
Dangerous Drugs Ordinance," for a private non-patient entrepreneur.
That "private entrepreneur" is the only person in Israel who grows
and distributes medical quality Cannabis, under the Health Department
license and with its blessing. The man to whom the Health Department
handed the job of relieving terminal patient's pain is a single man,
under thirty years old, whose eyes are shining with religious fire
when he talks about his life mission.

The people who knock on his door can only reach him through a
referral authorized by an expert doctor. The location of the house
where he distributes the drug to the patients, as well as the
location of the farm where he grows the plants is secret, so that
criminals wouldn't be able to put their hands on the exquisite drug.
Only patients get his phone number - from the Health Department. They
call, make the appointment, arrive hesitantly to the secret "clinic"
and leave it with an opaque bag with 5-10 grams (0.17-0.35 oz.) of
excellent marijuana.

The "Pharmacist's" hands are busy at work. He stands above a large
tray, laden with green cannabis buds and fills bag after bag with
pot, which is still considered a dangerous drug in Israel. He is so
young and fragile looking, but he already knows every kind of pain
that exists in this world. He is a believer - he believes in God and
in Cannabis. For him, marijuana is a gateway for a better world,
calmer and more peaceful, that can change a terminal patient's life
totally, relieve their pain and sometimes heal the pain.

The patients' pain goes deep inside his soul. They feel that his
heart is open and open up to him, confess their agonies to him, and
he does his best to lend them a non-judgmental ear, to listen, say a
warm word, and in most cases, to comfort them. "Since I started
distributing pot, I absorb more and more pain," he says, "I'm now on
the edge of my capability to witness human suffering."

"I can't count the number of funerals I attended. I have to go, these
people opened their soul to me. SO I stand there, absorb all the pain
and sadness, then gets back here and the phone rings again, patients
ask me when should they come." Several times during our conversation
he couldn't hold himself. His eyes are full of tears.

"It Saves Me"

The TV set in "The Pharmacist"'s reception room is on, turned to the
fashion channel, where beautiful healthy people project from the
screen. A tray with cannabis buds is on the table, and the
bookshelves contain the Zohar (A kabbalistic book, of Jewish
mysticism) books and books of prayer, alongside books by K.Zetnik,
the Holocaust survivor author who wrote about his experience when he
was treated with L.S.D, the hallucinatory drug that helped him quiet
his nightmares from the concentration camps.

Yossi Boozaglo, 49, an AIDS patient, sits on the couch. "Do me the
favor," he pleads to the 'pharmacist,' with a choked voice, "help me
with this mucus." The "pharmacist" treats him to a joint soaked in
cannabis oil he produced. The cannabis oil enhances the drug's affect
on the body. "the Cannabis saves me, just like that," says Boozaglo.
"Thanks to the Cannabis I can eat. I gained some weight and I look
more or less like a human being. It helps me take my medication. I
don't vomit and I'm more relaxed."

About 60 patients in Israel hold a license for using Marijuana. In
some cases they are permitted to grow it, i.e., to produce it, by
themselves, for no more than ten plants. But most of the patients
don't grow them by themselves. Many tried and gave up, some because
they didn't manage to grow anything, or because the low quality of
the drug. People tormented with dying pains don't have the energy to garden.

Boozaglo was the first patient in Israel who received a license to
grow, keep and use Cannabis. It happened in 2000, following a
campaign that Boaz Wachtel from Ale Yarok party (Israeli Legalization
party) held for him. Even prior to that, Boozaglo had a
recommendation for Cannabis usage for four years, and each time he
needed it, he had to go to a dangerous criminal neighborhood to get
it. He paid a hefty price for these trips: 25 police records of
dealing dangerous drugs.

"On the one hand they gave me permission to use, on the other hand
they told me to get it on my own, that is, obtain it illegally," says
Boozaglo. "The growing license I got didn't make sense either. I take
the cocktail for AIDS, 20 pills, twice a day. That's torture. The
pills make cause me nausea, degeneration, legs paralysis, lack of
appetite, most terrible suffering. Who has energy to look after the seedlings?"

"I couldn't wait until something would sprout in my pots. I'm a
hairdresser, I used to design haircuts. What did they think? That I
would turn into a farmer in one day?! Now, when we have the
"Pharmacist" here, I don't need to meet criminals, I don't need to
spend the little money I have, it's a very heavy burden that's off my
back now. Truth is, without the "Pharmacist" I wouldn't have made it
this year."

In many cases, the family members are those who encourage the
Cannabis usage. A cancer patient's daughter we met at the
"Pharmacist" told us that her mother wasn't willing to hear about
smoking pot. "My mom used to smoke a cigarette a week maybe, and had
many years when she didn't smoke at all. For her pot was a hard drug,
just like Heroin. It took me two years to convince her to smoke
Cannabis. She didn't want to hear about it."

"After a radiation treatment, she couldn't leave her bed for two
weeks. She suffered terrible fatigue, constant nausea, emotional
'downs'. She had non-stop pain in the abdomen and the back. She felt
like shit most of the time. An absolute catastrophe. Two weeks ago
she received her medical Marijuana license and she is a different
person now. It reduced her nausea radically, eased her pains
significantly. It relieves her. She can breathe and eat. She started
whining recently that she was gaining weight."

A regular client is a father of a fourteen year old cancer patient.
He comes to pick up a cannabis bag for his son. "Ten month ago he
was diagnosed with a brain stem tumor," he shares. "After radiation
and chemotherapy he lost his appetite. The boy couldn't eat anything.
Every week he lost two pounds. Except for water, he couldn't put
anything in his mouth. He wanted to eat, he said he missed his
grandmother's cooking, but he wasn't capable of eating. Four months
ago his ward director gave him a recommendation for Cannabis usage."

Q: how did the boy react?

A: "He was very surprised. He didn't get it at first, but we
convinced him it would help him."

Q: You didn't have any problem with it?

A: "Not at all. Life saving demands adjustment sometimes. Since he
started smoking his blood test are fine, his weight is stable and he
has gotten his appetite back. I will never forget the first night he
smoked. I came home with the bag I got from the "Pharmacist", and I
rolled him a joint for the night. Who would believe I'd do such a
thing? After a short while he asked for Dulmas. Seeing him eat and
enjoy his food after all these month was amazing, and very very thrilling.

The "Pharmacist" tells us about parents of small children for whom
this is the last hope. They take the buds to their kids, whose
suffering is immense, and blow the smoke into their faces to relieve
their pain a little.

The Forbidden Garden of Eden

The patients see him as their angel, and he makes the best medicine
for them. He redeems them, and seeks redemption himself, while seeing
his occupation as a merely spiritual one. When we drove with him to
the growing site, somewhere in Israel, he noticed a holy place
suddenly, and asked us to stop, "to bless the whole world, my
patients, me, and you too." He encircled the place seven times until
he clamed down, after which we continued.

The growing site is secured and surrounded by a high fence. The
"Pharmacist"'s facility is one of the most advanced ones in the
world: Exquisite seeds, organic farming, a special lighting for the
fifty plants, a highly efficient irrigation and an extremely accurate
air conditioning - all these give the plants an opportunity to grow
in a five star environment. The green potted plants, arranged in
lines, bloom beautifully, and the whole place is charged with the
intoxicating smell of the Cannabis flowers. A forbidden Garden of
Eden, that is permitted here, with a special license from the Health
Department.

He knows every plant, cares for each bud like a baby. Touches, pets
and checks the leaves. Caresses with his hand and puts to his nose.
The smell tells him all about the bud. A woman in a white robe is the
gardener. A devoted student of the "Pharmacist", she is a biologist
who sees the growing as a mission, a Mitzva (a religious duty).

"The Pharmacist" shows us a diploma from a Dutch medical institute
for growing Cannabis, that confirms he indeed studied how to grow
Cannabis. Turns out he was a very good student. The guy grows
Cannabis of an incomparable quality. 23% active ingredient, according
to the laboratory of Prof. Raffi Meshulam, who won the Israel Prize
for his life long study of medical Cannabis. The Cannabis distributed
by "The Pharmacist" to his patients is the best organic quality that
has been ever examined officially in a laboratory.

For example, the Marijuana that is grown by Bedouins in Sinai and
smuggled into Israel, the rate of the active ingredients is not more
than 4%. Marijuana that is grown by drug dealers in Israel it might
get to 12%, the same as the pot one can purchase at the coffee shops
in Holland. It takes 165 or more of active ingredients to make a
Cannabis bud into a medical one.

The expenses are enormous: Electricity, water, organic farming and
all the rest. The Health Department supplies him with a license,
sends people to him, but does not pay a penny, and does not
participate in the growing expanses. "The Pharmacist" doesn't ask the
patients to pay either, he gives the drug for free. It sounds
dubious, but "The Pharmacist" claims he does it for love, because he
needs to help people.

"This is the way I was brought up," he explains. "I grew up with
parents who gave and gave. For me, money is only on the fanfare,
although I live on the overdraft the bank lets me have, and my
expanses get bigger and bigger."

Q: how come you took charge of the whole thing, including growing and
distributing? You took a role that should be taken by the state.

A: "It didn't happen in one day. A few years ago I lived in
California, where 600,000 patients have a license to use Cannabis. I
knew a patient there, who had a license and took me to a compassion
club, where the stuff was distributed. When you visit such a place
and see the patients who go there, in which state they are and how
they sit and smoke and suddenly smile, relieved a little from the
pain, you can't remain indifferent to it."

Q: And still, why did you take charge?

A: Because when I returned to Israel I had to make a decision. Do I
take the path of ordinary life and work, or do I do something
significant? When I returned to Israel it I already had a passion for
it. I researched the topic briefly and realized there was nothing
here. That the very ill people have nowhere to go. Even if they have
a license, they can't obtain high quality Cannabis. And for that
matter, only medical quality Cannabis can relieve pains and improve
the quality of life for the chronically and terminally ill.

"So I went to Holland to study how to grow, knowing that I am going
to return to Israel, to grow for patients. When I got back I started
going to the cancer wards of the big hospitals in Israel. I talked to
patients, and told them about the Cannabis and its benefits. In some
places the doctors threw me out, claiming that I came to drug the patients.

"You go looking at the hospitals and realize that the state deserts
people when they get sick. You see people in pain who continue
suffering. You try to help, but you can't do much. If I won't give
them a hand, nobody will. People at the end of their life, at the
last stop on their journey, need compassion. I took charge of that mission.

Pot With a Police Certificate

The official connection between "The Pharmacist" and the Health
Department started about four years ago. The young "Pharmacist"
turned to Dr. Yehuda Baruch, who heads currently the mental hospital
Abarbanel, and formerly the head of healthcare services in the Health
Department and the person who is in charge of producing the medical
Marijuana licenses in the last six years.

"The Pharmacist" introduced himself and asked to take part in the
department's activities. "I came out of Dr. Baruch's office with a
permission to help the Medical Cannabis association. It was a small
non-profit group of patients who tried to grow it themselves, but
with the treatments and their own problems, they couldn't afford to
do that seriously. Working with them was hard and we lost touch, but
I continued to visit the hospices in the hospitals regularly."

Last January the cooperation between him and the Health Department
was upgraded to a new stage. "The Pharmacist" initiated, produced and
organized a medical Cannabis conference in Abarbanel hospital in Bat
Yam. With Dr. Baruch's permission and blessing. The conference
features talks by the Health Department's CEO, Dr. Boaz Lev, Prof.
Raphael Meshulam and other experts from Israel and abroad. AIDS,
cancer and pain patients talked about the improvement that occurred
in their life following the usage. After the conference "The
Pharmacist" submitted an official application for a growing and
supplying license.

Dr. Baruch discussed the application with the members of the
consulting committee, who recommend giving licenses to qualifying
patients. The discussion included other high officials form the
Israel Police and other units of the Health Department. After the
consultation they decided to allow "The Pharmacist" to grow and
supply medical Marijuana, on one condition: The approval of the Israel Police.

"They let the Police run a check on me, and they researched my past
thoroughly," says "The Pharmacist", but of course I have no criminal
record. Since that time, every six months I am obligated to send the
Health Department a confirmation from the Police that states that I
don't have any criminal record.

Ever since it became official, Dr. Baruch's office refers all the
licensed patients to "The Pharmacist". His office manger, Hannah
Daniel, is the one who refers the patient to the distributor. Dr.
Baruch doesn't see the fact that the Health Department has handed the
task of relieving terminal patient's pain to a private entrepreneur.
He doesn't find the fact that in a socialized medicine country such
as Israel, the state does not fund the Cannabis problematic.

"In the original license we produced, we decided to allow the
patients to produce the drug for their own needs," he explains,
"however, since the patient found growing difficult, and the number
of Cannabis patients grew larger, the State had to come up with a solution."

Q: So, is it the best possible solution?

A: "There are too many issues and problems we have to solve before we
completely settle it officially. The main factor here is the best
interest of the patient. If somebody is willing to grow and supply,
I'm willing to give him a license, after I checked him."

From that point of view, "The Pharmacist" is a godsend to the Health
Department. "The Health Department won't fund him, because apparently
there's a legal problem here," elaborates dr. Baruch. "Look, it's a
complicated situation. We acknowledge him, and therefore we gave him
a permission to works with the government, and we let the Police know
about it."

Q: What do you know about "The Pharmacist" and his capability?

A: "the Police confirmed that he has no criminal record and this is
all I know about him. My job is to make sure the patients get a
service, and I need to find a legal supply of the stuff, and I don't
have a problem with it. Everything is done in the light of day . It's
none of my business if he served in the military or if he is mentally fit."

Having said that, Dr. Baruch admits that "in a way, I feel
uncomfortable. I don't avert my eyes, and I'm aware to the fact that
he wants his business to grow, and have a status of an approved
supplier for the USA."

Q: Did you look for other resources?

A: "Nowadays the Health Department is negotiating with another
entrepreneur who might get a license for growing Cannabis, because
the state can't depend on one supplier only."

Until about a month ago, the Police supervised "The Pahrmacist""s
grow facility. Once a week a police officer used to come to count the
plants and make sure he obeyed the license restrictions, that he
didn't grow more than he is allowed and that he didn't sells the
surplus. A few weeks ago the supervision was transferred to the
County Pharmacist. "The Police didn't like this job. On the one hand
they chase Marijuana dealers, on the other, supervising a growing
facilty. In cooperation with them, we decided to take charge of the
supervision."

The Police reports: "The Health Department is the one that can permit
growing medical Marijuana by law. The department chooses the grower,
set the terms, and it's the Health Department that supervise the
extent of the growing, the number of the patients and their free
supply by the grower."

"The Pharmacist" swears that all the plants he grows by permission go
to the licensed patients only. "I have never sold Cannabis for money.
Never in my life."

Doctors for Smoking

Despite the problematic procedures, the medical community agrees
almost unanimously about the benefits of medical Marijuana. Dr. Itay
Gur- Arie, who is the head of the Department of Anesthesiology at the
Sheba Medical Center and the head of the Israeli Pain Association is
an ardent supporter. "Many patients, some of them terminal, take all
kinds of Morphine to deal with the pain, but in many cases, in spite
of the high dosage, it doesn't affect them. In addition to that,
these substances have dangerous and serious side effects. In some of
these cases, mainly when the Morphine treatments has failed, the
medical Marijuana does a perfect job."

"Some conservatives still oppose treating patients with this drug,
that unlike Morphine, that is produced from Opium, wasn't approved
legally. Those opponents stick to a common notion, that is not
necessarily progressive, that says: 'Give the patients Morphine,
anything but Marijuana.' That's like saying: 'Don't give your kids
pot, give them Heroin'. In the recent years, there's a new
understanding of this matter, and surprisingly enough, it comes from
the regulator, the Health Department. It doesn't come from the HMOs
or the companies. It shows that they are open. It's enlightened and right."

Prof. Raphael Meshulam of the Hebrew University, chairperson of
Natural and Medicine Sciences in the Israeli Science Academy, who
supervises the Israeli universities, supports the usage of pot for
medical purposes, but also points out that such usage is not
problem-free. "In nature, there is no problem-free substance, not
even vitamins, and the same thing can be said about medical
Marijuana, that is produced from Cannabis."

"A high dosage of medical Marijuana can cause changes in the
emotional, perceptual systems and in a person's judgment, AKA 'High'.
Nevertheless, when it is taken through the mouth, by smoking or
inhaling, it is absorbed well and is highly effective. Therefore we
have found that taking it naturally is much more beneficial than the
processed version. That is to synthesize it in a laboratory and make
it into a pill."

In the meantime, "The Pharmacist"'s enterprise is threatened due to
lack of funds. "I don't know how I'll be able to continue growing and
supplying the Cannabis to the patients, when the costs are growing
bigger, and I'm too busy to have a proper job that brings a regular
salary. I received $5,000 from the MAPS organization that promotes
using drugs as medicine and used it to build the fence around the
facility, and I'm negotiating with them for a possible regular
financial support. Support comes through my own personal connections.
The Health Department is not involved in this."

"Even if I have permission to sell Marijuana to patients for money,
that's not the answer. Patients who come to me can't purchase the
medicine themselves, because they can hardly afford the treatments
costs. I'm willing to get the funds for the patients from the state
or medical insurance companies. In any case, the patients must be
able to receive the medicine free and safely. After all, they are the
ones who really suffer."