Comment by nataliste | Hacker News Reader

Comment by nataliste | Hacker News Reader

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>You live in Greece. You are a physician. It’s a free country. Yet you have chosen to blame a “Jewish company.”

From August, 2025: https://businessofcannabis.com/as-canada-floods-europe-with-...

>Currently, only three medical cannabis flower strains are available to Greek patients, all produced by Tikun Olam Europe.

From: https://tikuneurope.com/en/

>The pioneer for his time, Tzahi Cohen, decides to start growing cannabis, with the aim of offering its therapeutic properties non-profit to specific groups of patients: cancer patients, people addicted to opiate drugs and war veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder syndrome (PTSD)

>Israel’s Ministry of Health has granted the world’s first government license to Tikun Olam to produce medical cannabis products

>Founded in Israel, its verticalized production units have expanded across the world: USA, Canada, Asia and Europe (based in Greece)

So, uh, how is this a conspiracy and not a factual statement?

The issue here is the insinuation that it’s a “Jewish” company that is responsible for unhealthy use of cannabis in Greece.

The Greek government banned imports and effectively created a temporary, legally mandated barrier to entry for international competitors, which directly benefited Tikun Olam as the first local producer to be ready for commercial sales. That's typically called a monopoly.

Seems like Tikun Olam, and only Tikun Olam, directly benefit from increased medical cannabis sales. Doesn't seem like you need an insinuation.

And coincidentally, Teva Pharmaceuticals (the parent company of Teva Israel) has an exclusive distribution deal with Tikun Olam. Teva itself has a history of significant legal issues related to anti-competitive practices and price manipulation in the generic drug market.

Doesn't seem like a stretch to say that Tikun Olam is probably leveraging Teva's playbook. Especially likely, given that Avinoam Sapir, the General Manager of Tikun Olam-Cannbit, was previously the CEO of Teva Israel.

The original commenter, being Greek and possibly not a native English speaker, doesn't understand the subtlety of Israeli-founded, Israeli-sponsored, Israeli-owned, Israeli-staffed, with a board comprised entirely of ethnically Jewish Israelis, and named after a major concept in Judaism versus being a "Jewish" company. An easy mistake for someone to make.

Or, quacks like a duck, swims like a duck, is an antisemitic duck.

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