Israeli marijuana breeders look to link strain to illness

In America, Charlotte’s Web is the most well-known medicinal cannabis strain without the high, thanks to a CNN special. In Israel — where medical marijuana is legally prescribed and dispensed at pharmacies — their non-psychoactive strain is called Avidekel. Both strains were bred to be very high in CBD, one of the non-psychoactive components of marijuana. Both bred very low in THC, which causes the classic high.

KanaboSeed wants to take it one step further with patented strains for different ailments.

One of Israel’s eight licensed growers, Seach Ltd., joined with an Israeli software developer in August to breed designer cannabis strains with specific traits, reports David Shamah for Times of Israel. The joint venture, KanaboSeed, just applied for its first two “registrations” — Israeli patents — for new marijuana strains. Hearings are held and public comment requested before the applications can be approved.