The pro-legalisation of cannabis Green Leaf Party got quite a bit of press in the lead up to the Israeli elections held on the 28th of March of this year, with talk of them gaining a seat or two in the 120-member Knesset. Formed in 1999 and led by 47-year old Boaz Wachtel, they narrowly missed out on electoral success in the 2003 elections by around 7,000 votes. Along with some other “ultraliberal” positions in their platform, they were trumpeted as the party that could gain some traction with Israel’s secular youth and reach the 2% threshold for entry into the Knesset under Israel’s proportional representation electoral system. The media’s predictions for the Green Leaf Party turned out to be less than the straight dope though and at times their coverage was just an excuse to rehash stereotypes of pot smokers and roll out some pun-laden headlines such as Political minnows are aiming high in dull Israeli election and ‘Green Leaf’ on a roll.
Technorati Tags: israel politics, drugs
