An employee sorts freshly-harvested cannabis buds at a medical marijuana plantation in northern Israel, March 21, 2017. Photo: Reuters / Nir Elias / File.

The Likud and Blue and White parties — the two senior partners in Israel’s current governing coalition — issued a joint statement on Tuesday declaring their intention to decriminalize and eventually legalize marijuana.

According to Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot, the parties will advance legislation in the Knesset to this end, as well as to reform the medical cannabis industry in order to make it easier for patients to access the drug and growers to obtain licenses.

The process of decriminalization has already begun, with the government approving the proposed reform in March 2017. At the time, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu endorsed the idea, but said it must be enacted “carefully.”

“We are open to the future, but we understand the danger, and we will try to balance the two,” he added.

In March 2019, Netanyahu said he was looking into possible legalization. In August 2019, he pledged to work toward opening the market to the import of medical cannabis.

Before the March 2020 elections, Netanyahu said he had “decided to promote the deletion of the criminal records of tens of thousands of Israelis for the personal use and possession of cannabis, causing unnecessary suffering to many and a burden on the courts.”

Blue and White has been less outspoken on the issue, but has endorsed regulating and expanding the medical cannabis industry and said it would consider legalizing the controlled sale of the drug.