The experimentation of therapeutic cannabis in France is off

Cannabis for medical use.

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Does the government really want to experiment with medical cannabis?

Faced with the delays which accumulate, doctors, patients and deputies come to doubt it and fear a new postponement of the project which could generalize the medical use of this plant which is now banned.

Launched two years ago, authorized by the National Assembly last October, the project has taken on the appearance of Arles.

In June, the Medicines Agency (ANSM) invoked the unforeseen events linked to the Covid-19 epidemic to announce the postponement of the experiment, scheduled for September for at least 3,000 patients, until January 2021 "at the latest".

But the implementing decree necessary for the start-up is slow, to the point of worrying many players.

"This generates anxiety in patients, doctors no longer know what to answer", explains psychiatrist and pharmacologist Nicolas Authier, president of the Temporary Scientific Committee (CST) responsible for supervising the experiment.

A forum to remember the good memories of the government

In a column in the newspaper

, about fifty doctors and associations claim Wednesday "the publication of the decree as soon as possible" to offer the treatments "from the first quarter of 2021." "What blocks is the political will ", believes Bertrand Rambaud, president of the Alternative cannabis therapy (ACT) association, which points to" the fear of politicians to see medical cannabis being the first step in legalizing recreational cannabis "while the government has taken the fight against drug trafficking a priority.

The experiment will rule out cannabis for smoking.

Medicines will come in the form of oils, capsules and dried flower spray and will only be given to patients with serious illnesses: some forms of epilepsy, neuropathic pain, side effects of chemotherapy, palliative care or multiple sclerosis.

Contacted, the Directorate General of Health ensures that a publication of the decree "is aimed for the month of September".

The Council of State "has just been seized" for validation and "the start of the experiment is still scheduled for January", she assures.

Onset in January unlikely

"Even if the decree was published in September, I am not sure that we will be able to start in January", doubts Nicolas Authier.

As cannabis production is banned in France, the ANSM would only have four months to launch calls for tenders, select foreign suppliers and then import their drugs.

Last problem according to him, the experiment did not receive any own budgetary allocation, contrary to the project validated by the Assembly.

"It means that the drugs would be provided free of charge by the suppliers", decrypts the deputy Robin Reda (LR).

With, he says, two potential risks: that these companies “limit the variety of drugs tested” or “ask for counterparts to position themselves on the French market” in the event of legalization of medical cannabis.

Faced with the “regrettable delay” of the experiment, the parliamentary mission on the uses of cannabis, which he chairs, will publish its conclusions on therapeutic cannabis as of next week.

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