Dear Stoner: I was recently celebrating Jewish New Year, and my family and I began wondering if cannabis can be kosher? What about edibles?
Joe

Dear Joe: Happy New Year! If you want to celebrate your next Rosh Hashanah with reefer and feel strongly about respecting your religion, there do appear to be some safety nets or loopholes. Keeping kosher means that no products or ingredients from non-kosher animals or other substances proscribed by Jewish law are used. In a vacuum, cannabis is just vegetation and so appears to qualify. But if you consider growing nutrients and cannabis product additives, then things might not be so kosher.

Smoking cannabis could find a gray area in the Jewish faith, but eating has more challenges.

Jacqueline Collins

The answer also depends on the rabbi you ask. Although some rabbis still consider cannabis a forbidden substance, an influential rabbi once told Israeli newspaper Haaretz that smoking cannabis “isn’t not kosher,” while the Times of Israel reported that a rabbi proclaimed marijuana okay for medical reasons. Edibles, obviously, are another story, as they can contain cooking and diary products from animals that may not be kosher. There are several cannabis edible companies that claim to have kosher certification, but we’re not aware of any in Colorado. Easy answer: Make your own and keep things kosher.

If you like this story, consider signing up for our email newsletters.

SHOW ME HOW

X

Newsletters

_{All-access pass to the top stories, events and offers around town.}

• No Thanks
• Sign Up

X

SUCCESS!

You have successfully signed up for your selected newsletter(s) - please keep an eye on your mailbox, we're movin' in!

Send questions to marijuana@westword.com.

• Marijuana