Medical marijuana producers are carving out a niche market with kosher weed, now that rabbis have agreed to inspect their facilities, says the New York Times.
“There’s no question that the number of patients that desire kosher products, coupled with battling the stigma associated with medical marijuana, made this a wise economic investment,” says Ari Hoffnung, chief executive at Vireo Health, which became the first medical marijuana company in the U.S. to receive a kosher certification this January.
So far, leaders at the Orthodox Union and the Chicago Rabbinical Council, two of the most influential Jewish organizations in the U.S., have agreed to certify only medical marijuana and not recreational use. The rabbis aren’t concerned with smoking the plant, though, since kosher laws only pertain to food and drink.
But for edibles, capsules and tinctures the rules are strict. “Ingredients must not come into contact with forbidden foods, like pigs or insects, and the restrictions extend all the way down the supply chain. Every ingredient in a marijuana brownie, for example, needs to be kosher,” says the Times. “The leaves, if eaten, would need to come from a bug-free plant. Marijuana gelcaps cannot be made out of pig gelatin. There are also rules for the equipment that processes kosher food.”
Nineteen states allow the medical use of marijuana. Legal pot sales are predicted to climb from $4.4. billion last year to $5.7 billion in 2016.