Paris (AFP)

Cannabis for medical use, an experiment received Friday the green light of French MPs, is authorized in thirty countries, having experienced the past 10 years a strong expansion that has whetted the appetite of producing countries.

- Precursors: Canada, the Netherlands and Israel -

Canada launches in 2001. Canadians with certain serious or incurable diseases, such as AIDS and cancer, can be licensed to smoke marijuana. The country went further in October 2018, being the first G7 country to legalize recreational cannabis.

The Netherlands, where the possession, consumption and retail sale of less than five grams of cannabis in coffee shops has been tolerated since 1976, follows in 2003. People with serious diseases are allowed to buy cannabis in pharmacies upon presentation of a medical prescription.

For its part, Israel has authorized therapeutic cannabis since 2006, which can be prescribed for controlled doses to patients suffering from cancer, epilepsy, post-traumatic stress disorder or degenerative diseases.

- domino effect in Europe and America -

In recent years, many European and American countries have legalized therapeutic cannabis.

In the United States, 33 states now allow medical cannabis. Missouri, the latest, has legalized it in November 2018.

In Latin America, it has been authorized in Chile and Colombia since 2015, in Argentina, Mexico and Peru since 2017. Uruguay is the most liberal in this region: the country has not only legalized medical use, but also authorized the production, distribution and consumption of recreational cannabis in December 2013.

In the European Union, 21 out of 28 countries allow, at different levels, cannabis for therapeutic purposes. Some have taken the step very recently: Germany in 2017, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Luxembourg and Lithuania in 2018, Cyprus in early 2019.

In Belgium, though a pioneer with a law authorizing the prescription of cannabis-based drugs by hospital doctors in 2001 as part of clinical trials, access to pharmacy is in practice almost impossible for patients and the government has ended in 2017 to the tolerance surrounding the Cannabis Social Clubs and the detention for personal consumption.

- Rush to "green gold" -

The global market for medical cannabis could rise to $ 55.8 billion in 2025 (€ 49 billion), a figure almost five times higher than in 2015, according to a study by Grand View Research in 2017.

Forerunners since 2002, Canadian producers - Canopy Growth, Tilray, Aurora, Aphria - are among the leaders in the sector.

Israel, where cultivation has been legal since 2012, authorized the export of medical cannabis in January, hoping to reap significant economic benefits from this promising market.

In Australia, which legalized therapeutic use in 2016, farms have been legally cultivating medicinal cannabis since 2017. The country authorized exports in early 2018 to increase market opportunities for its domestic producers.

In Europe, it was in the Netherlands that the first legal cannabis producers appeared in 2003. The country was recently followed by Denmark, Portugal and Greece.

At the end of 2018, Thailand became the first country in Southeast Asia to legalize the cultivation of cannabis for medical purposes, while in Africa it was Lesotho, a small kingdom of two million inhabitants, that played the pioneers in 2017.

© 2019 AFP