Become a Member
World

Israel’s Doctor Cannabis is on a mission to heal

Technion University-based David Meiri's research explores the vast therapeutic potential of various types of marijuana, and is particularly directed at its effect on cancer, inflammatory diseases and neural disorders

November 14, 2022 09:56
Dr Dedi Meiri in office with cannabis on the table
3 min read

David Meiri dives into a drawer in his office and pulls out a handful of bags of cannabis: in his laboratory he has more than 1,000 different kinds of cannabis, which are kept in a safe.

Dr Meiri — universally known as Dedi — is in charge of the biggest cannabis research laboratory in the world.

Housed in an unassuming building on the Technion campus in Haifa, his lab is dedicated to exploring the vast therapeutic potential of various types of cannabis, algae and even the infamous “magic mushrooms” beloved of stoner hippies.

The research is particularly directed at the effect on cancer, inflammatory diseases and neural disorders.

“I have all the teams and the knowledge to take today any type of plant, and to try to connect between the herbal medicine known for thousands and years, and to explain to a physician how to use it in modern medicine,” he explains.

He works closely with hospitals in Israel, and as a result of an agreement with the Ministry of Health, all cannabis products grown for use on patients goes to the Technion lab first for analysis, to narrow down and refine the effectiveness of what people are being given.

Dr Meiri, whose proper title is principal investigator of the Laboratory of Cancer Biology and Cannabinoid Research at the Technion’s Faculty of Biology, took time off from his research work to explain how he became internationally renowned as “Cannabis Man”.

Modest and softly-spoken, though clearly passionate about his work, he declares: “I’m not reinventing the wheel. Plant biology and treatment has been known for many years.

Cannabis is the oldest plant cultivated by human beings, even before wheat: it was known as medicine by the Egyptians, Indians, it is mentioned seven times in the Bible, and Maimonides — who was a physician — wrote about its properties.”