--- title: Medical Marijuana May Soon Be Kosher description: The Orthodox Union that offers kosher certification could make a move for kosher medical marijuana canonical: https://time.com/3718717/medical-marijuana-kosher/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-23T17:05:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:59:50.950Z article:section: Health og:title: Medical Marijuana May Soon Be Kosher og:description: The Orthodox Union that offers kosher certification could make a move for kosher medical marijuana og:url: https://time.com/3718717/medical-marijuana-kosher/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdf4701571b6003c6/69877bf7f887dc4f85e89bf4/marijuana-plant.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5057 og:image:height: 2845 og:image:alt: Medical Marijuana og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Medical Marijuana May Soon Be Kosher twitter:description: The Orthodox Union that offers kosher certification could make a move for kosher medical marijuana twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdf4701571b6003c6/69877bf7f887dc4f85e89bf4/marijuana-plant.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Medical Marijuana May Soon Be Marketed as Kosher > Sponsored content. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ## Video: Inside the World of Medical Marijuana for Kids [Watch (HLS stream): Inside the World of Medical Marijuana for Kids](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/6Ic4KUCK.m3u8) (16:16)  _Published 2014-10-21. The story of a family's illegal cross-country drive to transport marijuana oil for their epileptic 3-year-old daughter. A look inside the quasi-legal, science free world of medical marijuana for children from TIME's Red Border Films_ by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Feb 23, 2015 5:05 PM UTC  Medical Marijuana Medical MarijuanaColin Brynn—Getty Images by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Feb 23, 2015 5:05 PM UTC Medical marijuana may soon come with a kosher seal of approval. The Orthodox Union that offers kosher certification is in early discussions with parties interested in offering kosher medical-marijuana products, [according to the _Jewish Daily Forward_.](http://forward.com/articles/215113/medical-marijuana-may-soon-get-kosher-stamp-of-app/?p=1) In the past, the Orthodox Union has refused to certify cigarettes and e-cigarettes because of their clear health risks, but Rabbi Moshe Elefant, who leads kosher certification at the Orthodox Union, said it “would not have a problem” certifying medical marijuana since it has health benefits. Since marijuana is a plant, it would appear that the certification would not be necessary. But in New York State, where medical marijuana will go on sale next year, cannabis could be distributed in other forms like edible substances and capsules, which would need a kosher seal. Many Orthodox rabbis are still strongly against its use. \[[_The Jewish Daily Forward_](http://forward.com/articles/215113/medical-marijuana-may-soon-get-kosher-stamp-of-app/?p=1)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3718717/medical-marijuana-kosher/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3718717/medical-marijuana-kosher/"},"headline":"Medical Marijuana May Soon Be Marketed as Kosher","datePublished":"2015-02-23T17:05:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:59:50.950Z","description":"A certification agency is open to the possibility","url":"https://time.com/3718717/medical-marijuana-kosher/","keywords":["Health Care","Marijuana","medical marijuana","Jewish"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdf4701571b6003c6/69877bf7f887dc4f85e89bf4/marijuana-plant.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdf4701571b6003c6/69877bf7f887dc4f85e89bf4/marijuana-plant.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Medical Marijuana","caption":"Medical Marijuana","creditText":"Colin Brynn—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/health-care/","name":"Health Care"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3718717/medical-marijuana-kosher/","name":"Medical Marijuana May Soon Be Marketed as Kosher"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Inside the World of Medical Marijuana for Kids","description":"The story of a family's illegal cross-country drive to transport marijuana oil for their epileptic 3-year-old daughter. 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