What a long strange trip it’sbeen for marijuana.

From “Reefer Madness”to Woodstock to legally-

licensed medical dispensaries, mar-ijuana has come a very long way.

While Mary Jane has yet to ful-ly enter America’s cultural main-stream, there’s no question that itis edging closer to full social accep-tance, especially in Colorado.

For several years already, it hasbeen legal for Coloradans, undercertain restrictions, to use, purchase,possess, sell and grow marijuanafor medical reasons.

This November, Colorado voterswill have the choice to allow limit-ed possession of marijuana for anyreason. If passed, the initiative wouldmake Colorado the only state inthe US to legalize the herb for recre-ational use, a fact not lost on potlegalization proponents in many oth-er states.

Even though marijuana remainscriminalized under federal law – andUS enforcement officials have occa-sionally flexed their muscles in a

sometimes tense standoff with Col-orado over the issue – few doubt thatlegal marijuana, in at least someform, is here to stay.

Which, since there are more than90,000 Jews who live in Colorado,makes marijuana a Jewish issue.

It’s difficult to quantify somethinglike marijuana use in any popula-tion, largely because it often remainsan illegal, hence clandestine, activ-ity. But even in the legal realm ofmedical marijuana, it would be dif-ficult to ascertain how many Jewshave applied for and received licens-es to use, grow or sell, because eth-nicity and religion are not itemizedin such records.

There at least several Denver-area Jews active as marijuana grow-ers and sellers and several whoare involved as activists in the effortto legalize the substance.

As to users, both medical andrecreational, there is little more thananecdotal testimony and that rangeswidely. Whether there are hundredsor thousands of Colorado Jews whosmoke or otherwise consume mar-ijuana remains an unanswered, andperhaps an unanswerable, question.

It’s safe to say, in any case, thatthere certainly are Jewish mari-juana consumers in Colorado andthat some of them, at least, arereligiously observant on some lev-el.

Which, in turn, raises a fasci-nating question – can marijuanabe considered kosher? – a questionthat would have, just a few yearsago, seemed crazy and pointless toask.

No longer.

THE SELLERS AND GROWERS

Two observant Denver Jews,David “Dovey” Heller andCourt Monaghan, are plan-ning to be ahead of the curve

when it comes to legalized mari-juana in Colorado.

The partners are, first of all, mar-

ijuana growers, “connected,” as statelaw mandates, with a businessthat sells their product to licensedusers of medical marijuana.

In addition to this, Heller andMonaghan are planning to open acouple of dispensaries in Denveron their own.

They’re also hoping to put togeth-er a professional group, or co-op, ofat least 30 regional dispensaries andgrowers with the general idea ofestablishing standards of purity andquality, and overseeing the main-tenance of that quality.

“We want to go to testing the prod-uct, so we know that we have aconsistency,” Monaghan told theINTERMOUNTAIN JEWISH NEWS in arecent interview. “We need to do thatin-house, so one of the things thatwe want to do with our organizationis actually test the product.”

The partners would both be mem-bers and the operators of the co-op, which is being called CDHM

(an acronym of mixed initials). Theyaspire for this to become a nation-al organization.

Finally, Heller and Monaghan aredevising a system by which a coali-tion of legal dispensaries in Coloradowould distribute marijuana at nocharge, and under medical super-vision, to patients in hospice care.

They are calling this idea Ameri-camm – the American Alliance forMedical Marijuana.

“We have right now four differ-ent dispensaries that are willing tohand out this product, for free, toanybody who’s in hospice,” Mon-aghan says.

“The patients would have to becertified through the state. We havedoctors who are willing to give thehospice people free recommenda-tions.”

Heller and Monaghan, 72 and52 years old respectively, are bothmembers of East Denver OrthodoxSynagogue. While both say they triedmarijuana briefly in their youth,only Monaghan uses it today — legal-ly, he says, and strictly for a med-ical condition.

They support statewide legaliza-tion, they say, although they alsosupport recent federal moves to shutdown dispensaries that are locatedtoo close to schools.

By CHRIS LEPPEKIJN Assistant Editor

March 23, 2012 • INTERMOUNTAIN JEWISH NEWS — Kosher Living • Section B • 13

K O S H E R L I V I N G

Dovey Heller Mason Tzvert Kim Sidwell Court Monaghan Yaakov Meyer

Is marijuana kosher?Two businessmen, one activist, and one rabbi square off

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BUSINESSMENDovey Heller and Court Monaghan:Their conviction is that marijuana is

far less harmful than alcohol

Please see MARIJUANA on Page 14

“If they legalize it that’s fine,but the end that we’re on is the med-ical end of this,” Monaghan says.

Heller says he has no problemwith people using marijuana recre-ationally, so long as it’s not a crime.

“If it’s legal, I don’t have a prob-lem with it,” he says. “It’s whenit’s not legal that it gets out ofhand. They’re going to do it one wayor the other, so you might as wellmake it legal and have it super-vised.”

Their conviction is that marijua-na is far less harmful than alcohol,a product that has been legally avail-able for decades.

“I have not heard of one personwho has come to me and said, ‘Hey,did you hear that Bill beat the hellout of his wife at a Super Bowlparty because he smoked twojoints?’” Monaghan says.

“I’ve never heard that, but I haveheard, ‘Did you hear Bill beat thehell out of his wife? He drank acouple of beers and a bottle of JackDaniels.’

“It’s not the same drug.”

A s observant Jews, Heller andMonaghan say, it was impor-tant to them that growingand selling marijuana was

considered halachically and ethical-ly permissible.

Based on his own convictions,Heller says, selling marijuana wascertainly no worse than selling tobac-co, a product he sees many Ortho-dox Jews using regularly.

“I don’t think that halachicallythere’s anything wrong with grow-ing or selling or using,” says Heller.

Nevertheless, before going intothe marijuana business, Monaghan

says, he and Heller consulted witha rabbi and described their businessplan in detail.

The rabbi’s response: It is permis-sible for observant Jews to sell mar-ijuana so long as such sales are legalunder state law and are limited tomedical consumers.

Heller, who runs the TRI-Sulomkashrus organization under thesupervision of Rabbi Mordecai Twer-ski, has been asked whether it wouldbe kosher for Jews to eat, ratherthan smoke, marijuana.

“This came up, a while back, aboutedibles,” Heller says.

“Somebody wanted to do ediblesand they wanted to know whetherI would supervise the kashrus. Ofcourse I had to contact Rabbi Twer-ski about it, and he said as long asit’s legal and it’s kosher.”

In other words, he elaborates, theaddition of marijuana would not ren-der an otherwise kosher brownienon-kosher.

Whether kosher or treif –and whether legal or ille-gal – Heller and Mon-aghan say, Jews in Denver

are certainly using marijuana.Monaghan says that many Jew-

ish youths, middle-aged peopleand even seniors are using pot reg-ularly, some for medical and somefor recreational reasons.

“I know for a fact that there area lot of Jews who are using the prod-uct, whether they buy it through adispensary or don’t,” he says.

“There are lot who are using theproduct and not going to the dispen-sary to get it, because they’re wor-ried that their name might be tiedto something. I’m not saying thatthey’re right or wrong.”

Their observations of both Jew-ish and general consumption haveled these entrepreneurs to the con-viction that marijuana is a growthindustry and that the state of Col-orado should waste little time in con-trolling that growth and collectingsignificant revenue from it.

They are both hopeful and confi-dent that Colorado is going to leadthe way among American states inadopting a progressive policy regard-ing marijuana.

“From my perspective, the stateof Colorado has once again steppedout at the very edge and wants tostart doing something that every-body else is saying they want todo,” Monaghan says.

“The feds are going to lose thisbattle. Colorado is wonderful. Thestate has got it right.”

THE ACTIVIST

Sharing that hope is MasonTvert, cofounder and executivedirector of Safer Alternativefor Enjoyable Recreation

(SAFER) and co-author of Mari-juana is Safer: So Why Are We Dri-ving People to Drink?

One of Colorado’s most visible pro-marijuana activists, Tvert was raisedin a Reform Jewish household andhad a Bar Mitzvah. He is, howev-er, not connected to the organizedor religious Jewish community today.

When he testifies before legisla-tive bodies, speaks before activistaudiences or is interviewed fortelevision, his focus is on the legaland legislative hurdles inherent inthe struggle, not on Jewish perspec-tives on marijuana.

But that doesn’t mean that he’soblivious to those perspectives.

Tvert told the IJN that very fewif any Jews have ever asked himwhether it’s acceptable, from areligious or ethical standpoint, forJews to support pro-marijuanaefforts.

They’re far more likely, he says,to ask how they can help.

“The Jewish community is oneof the most predominant demograph-ics in support of loosening mari-juana laws,” he says.

That demographic covers a widerange of ages, genders and religiousbackgrounds, he adds.

He says that many Jews areinvolved in the pro-marijuana move-ment “professionally as activists, asthose who are supportive at the pollsand as those who want to work asvolunteers.”

Tvert cites a 2001 Zogby pollthat found that 86% of AmericanJews oppose arresting non-violentmarijuana users, while only 68%of Democrats felt the same.

“That gives you a kind of snap-shot,” Tvert says, although he isreluctant to attribute this to an easyexplanation, such as the theory thatJews seem to be more naturallyattracted to progressive causes.

“I always hesitate to attributesomething like this to anythingcausal, much like when we seepolling date saying that womenare less supportive of marijuanathan men. There are theories on whythat might be, but there’s no wayto know for sure. The same is truefor Jews. It’s something that I’ve

often thought about.”

While admitting that itwouldn’t deter him if rab-bis were to suddenly comeout and declare marijua-

na to be absolutely non-kosher, Tvertsays he is confident that pushing formarijuana legalization is an ethi-cal and moral cause.

“Obviously, I think it’s alwaysup to an individual whether theychoose to consume marijuana, butwithout doubt, I think there’s noproblem in supporting an end to thisfailed policy.”

The “failed policy” to which herefers is one that punishes citizens

for using a substance that he isconvinced is far less

harmful thanalcohol.

“Marijuana prohibition is a failedpolicy that causes far more harmthan it prevents,” he says.

“Not only does it contribute to sig-nificant problems such as organizedcrime, it also is unfair and reallyunjust to punish adults who are sim-ply using a substance that’s saferthan alcohol.”

Tvert has little doubt that manyJews feel the same way.

“Marijuana has been consumedby humans for thousands of yearsincluding, I would assume, Jewishpeople.

“The Jewish culture has embracedthe drinking of wine and every objec-tive study of marijuana has conclud-ed that it’s far less destructivethan alcohol. It’s irrational to arrestand jail people who make the saferchoice of using marijuana.”

Although Tvert makes no claimto rabbinical expertise, he cites apassage from Genesis that he feelsapplies well to the marijuana debate:

“And G-d said, Behold, I have giv-en you every herb bearing seed,which is upon the face of all the

earth, and every tree, in which isthe fruit of a tree yielding seed; toyou it shall be for food.”

The passage has become popu-lar among Jewish pro-marijuanaactivists who – although they mightbe taking liberties with the mean-ing of the word “food” -- see it as con-firmation that marijuana is an herbthat falls under G-d’s purview andblessing.

THE RABBI

Not so fast, says one DenverOrthodox rabbi.

And not so simple.Rabbi Yaakov Meyer, spiritual

leader of Aish Denver, says thatthe question “Is marijuana kosher”is not black and white, nor can itbe answered with a simple yes orno.

The use of marijuana is an issuein which context is all important.

Emphasizing that his com-ments are strictly “based on mystudy of the matter . . . andnot to be taken as any halachicdecisions by anybody,” RabbiMeyer draws upon his knowl-edge of Halachah to draw a clearline between using marijuanafor medicinal purposes and“recreational” purpose, i.e., get-

ting high.One might think that

Halachah, which stresses theimportance of Jews obeying the“law of the land,” might beconfounded by the apparentparadox that the state of Col-

orado considers certainforms of marijuana consump-

tion to be legal while the Unit-ed States government does not.Interestingly, while the issue

of legality must be considered,the rabbi says it’s not as mucha conundrum as it might seem.“Medical marijuana, when

there is not anything else thatis deemed to be as effective, wouldbe permissible,” Rabbi Meyer says.

“Even in states that might for-bid it, medical marijuana could

14 • Section B • INTERMOUNTAIN JEWISH NEWS — Kosher Living • March 23, 2012

K O S H E R L I V I N G

Is marijuana kosher?‘As long as it’s legal, it’s kosher, so a kosher brownie could have marijuana’

Please see MARIJUANA on Page 15

THE RABBIMedically, if it’s ‘absolutely necessary,’OK. Otherwise, marijuana ‘absolutelyconflicts with the idea of being holy’

THE ACTIVIST‘The Jewish community is one of themost predominant demographics infavor of loosening marijuana laws’

MARIJUANA from Page 13

be halachically permissible, becausethere’s a difference of opinionwhether the law of the land appliesin such matters, when it comes tomedical issues.”

For this conclusion to be halachi-cally viable, the rabbi stresses, themedical condition or pain the patientis experiencing – and the fact thatmarijuana is the only or best treat-ment -- must be genuine, ideally con-firmed by a physician.

“I don’t know that the patient canalways be trusted because thepatient might have other motives,”Rabbi Meyer says.

“But if the doctor, the caregiver,says that they need this and thiswill be the most effective form oftreatment, then it’s possible. Thereare opinions that we don’t take thelaw of the land as law and one wouldhalachically be allowed to use mar-ijuana, even in places where a par-ticular state forbids it, becausecivil law does not necessarily rulein issues of health.”

The same thinking should applyto situations where marijuana is“not absolutely necessary” for apatient but the patient honestlybelieves that the drug is the mosteffective form of pain treatment.

“Let’s say a doctor doesn’t sayso, but a person himself knowsthat they’re in real pain and theyknow that they’re not taking it forrecreational purposes, then that per-son would be allowed to take it.”

This would also apply, the rabbisays, in states where the law for-bids marijuana.

H alachah, however, is notnearly so understandingwhen the question iswhether a Jew should use

marijuana for recreational purpos-es.

This is strictly forbidden, RabbiMeyer says.

His thinking on that question isbased on various Jewish writingsthat he’s studied, most important-ly a responsa written by the lateRabbi Moshe Feinstein. That text,from the Yoreh Deah section of therabbi’s renowned work IggerosMoshe, has greatly influenced rab-binical thinking on the subject of

a d d i c t i o n ,i n c l u d i n ga l c o h o l ,tobacco anddrugs.

In essence,the escapismand addictiveproperties ofrecreationaldrugs andother mind-altering sub-s t a n c e srender suchsubstancesnon-kosherand antithet-ical toJudaism.

R a b b iMeyer para-phrases therelevant mes-sage of thesewritings:

“Judaismd e m a n d sworking ononeself inp e r s o n a lgrowth andin puttingforth effort.To feel good,we need to begood.”

“Drugs allow you to be happybecause they allow you to ignore theproblem, but they don’t solve theproblem.”

“That’s not the way that G-d wantsus to overcome the challenges in life.It’s avoiding the issue. We’re sup-posed to work on ourselves to tryto overcome some of those chal-lenges.”

The best “high,” Rabbi Meyer says,is G-d.

“It happens through study, self-refinement and ultimately makesyou feel better than any artificialhigh,” he says.

As all this applies to marijuana,Rabbi Meyers cites both Rabbi Fein-stein and other authorities in assert-ing that marijuana, like tobacco andalcohol, is a potentially addictivesubstance.

“Marijuana is addictive, accord-ing to most sources, and one is notallowed to indulge, just for recre-

ational purposes, in a pleasurethat can become addictive,” RabbiMeyer says.

“It can be dangerous to yourhealth. That would be the same assmoking, and Reb Moshe also saidyou’re not allowed to start smok-ing. It’s one thing if one already isan addicted smoker, but it’s definite-ly forbidden to begin smokingbecause of the addictive nature ofit.

“So one is not allowed to take mar-ijuana for recreational reasons bothbecause it could be harmful andit’s addictive.”

Also, marijuana can dull a user’sthinking.

“It can ruin a person’s concen-tration for a prayer service andthe ability to learn Torah which isa person’s main obligation. Accord-ing to most research, it clearlydoes or clearly can dull your brain.

“That would be prohibited. AJew is supposed to be a thinkingbeing. To dull your thinking and yourability to concentrate on these things,just for the sake of recreation, is adehumanization of the humanbeing.”

The argument put forth earlier inthis article, both by Monaghanand Tvert, that marijuana is at leastno worse than alcohol, is invalid, therabbi says, because the Torah alsoprohibits the excessive use of alco-hol.

“In fact, if a person takes alcoholrecreationally to the point where itaffects him, it’s doing the samething.”

One can have a shot of Slivovitzor schnapps after Sabbath ser-vices, “but not if it’s going to sloshyou,” Rabbi Meyer says.

“Aperson can drink something forrecreational reasons, to take offthe edge, or for socialization, but notto the point where it clouds the think-ing.

“If wine takes you to a point whereyou cannot think straight or concen-trate properly – and you’re doing itfor recreational purposes – then youshouldn’t be drinking it.”

W hile Rabbi Meyer fullyexpects Colorado to legal-ize marijuana in general— “once it becomes a pro-

fession it’s just a matter of time,”

he says – such legalization will haveno affect on how Jewish law viewsthe matter.

Just as the use of medical mari-juana is acceptable to Halachah,

even in places where it is consideredillegal under civil law, full civil legal-ization will not change Halachah’sprohibition against recreational use.

And the rabbi goes even fur-ther:

“Even if it’s acceptable within the

parameters of Halachah, it’s notacceptable within the parametersof growing as a Jew and the con-cept of Kedoshim Teheyu, which isthe Hebrew phrase for ‘you shall

be holy.’“If our goal in life as Jews is to

be a holy people, taking marijua-na for recreational purposesabsolutely conflicts with the con-cept of being holy.”

March 23, 2012 • INTERMOUNTAIN JEWISH NEWS — Kosher Living • Section B • 15

K O S H E R L I V I N G

‘Reefer Madness’ was a well-known 1936 Ameri-can propaganda exploitation film revolvingaround the melodramatic events that ensue whenhigh school students are lured by pushers to trymarijuana.

Is marijuana kosher?‘Drugs allow you to be happy because they ignore the problem, but don’t solve it’

MARIJUANA from Page 14

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