Paris (AFP)

Deputies on Wednesday urged the government to act "quickly" to make up for the "worrying delay" taken by the long-awaited experimentation with medical cannabis in France, and pleaded for the establishment of a national production chain for this plant still illegal.

In its progress report, the parliamentary mission in charge of the issue denounced the "very regrettable delay" taken by this project, while "France is lagging behind on the issue of therapeutic cannabis", already authorized in many European countries.

The government "did not act in a sufficiently proactive manner", lamented the president of the mission, the deputy Robin Réda (LR), presenting the report to the press.

"For patients today, it is no longer bearable to wait a little longer", added its general rapporteur Jean-Baptiste Moreau (LREM).

"France must get out of prehistory in terms of cannabis", a plant "which is a drug but which can also be a medicine".

The deputies also criticized the speech of the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin, for whom legalizing cannabis would be an "intellectual cowardice".

"Cowardice is precisely to confuse the debates on purpose, to mix up the different uses of cannabis on purpose," Reda said.

"Therapeutics is not the Trojan horse of recreational cannabis," insisted the mission report.

The National Assembly authorized in 2019 the experimentation of therapeutic cannabis for at least 3,000 patients suffering from serious diseases such as certain forms of epilepsy, neuropathic pain or side effects of chemotherapy.

It was initially due to start in September, before being postponed to January by the health authorities, who explain having been delayed by the unforeseen events related to the management of the epidemic of new coronavirus.

Last week, about fifty doctors and patient associations, worried, demanded "the publication of the decree (authorizing the experiment) as soon as possible", in order to offer treatments "from the first quarter of 2021".

"No further delay should be taken," the mission insisted on Wednesday, recalling that the authorization issued by the National Assembly was only valid until December 31, 2021.

- "Generalization" -

Mr. Moreau said he was ready to present a bill if the government does not act quickly.

In the meantime, the parliamentary mission issued several practical recommendations concerning the experiment.

As cannabis production is banned in France, the Medicines Agency (ANSM) will first have to select foreign suppliers to import the necessary medicines, which will be in the form of oils, capsules and dried flowers to be sprayed. - cannabis for smoking will be excluded.

To ensure the "impartial unfolding" of the project, the deputies demand to "give up free" and to buy these drugs by endowing the experimentation with its own budget.

What to avoid that the laboratories limit the variety of products supplied and the suspicions of conflict of interest.

The report anticipates a "generalization" of medical cannabis in France and recommends widening the pathologies for which doctors would be authorized to prescribe, when other treatments have failed.

Eventually, "700,000 patients" could resort to medical treatments based on cannabis, according to the report.

Faced with these needs, the deputies want to develop an "entirely French sector of therapeutic cannabis".

Leaving this market to foreign companies would be an "economic and health aberration", they say, when many farmers want to produce cannabis.

The mission therefore wishes to modify the law which currently prohibits the cultivation of cannabis plants containing more than 0.2% of THC - the psychotropic molecule of cannabis - and the harvesting of their flowers.

The regulation of this medical production could then be entrusted to "a public body", in charge of controlling "the quality" of products and securing their "storage", as in Germany.

Finally, the report calls for training all doctors and nurses in the use of medical cannabis, to initiate a reflection on the status of cannabis to allow reimbursement of drugs, and to intensify research to set a threshold. below which patients consuming medical cannabis would be allowed to drive.

© 2020 AFP