ANSM committee rules in favor of medical cannabis

ANSM expert committee on medical cannabis in France is due to deliver its verdict today, but we already know that it is in favor of making medical cannabis available in France, albeit subject to certain conditions. In theory, France already authorized the marketing of certain cannabis-based medicines, including Sativex. have never seen the color.

No «smoking joints»

Among the conditions laid down by the committee is the refusal to make the drug available in the form of «smoking joints». This method of administration is considered toxic and unsuitable for patients, as it is harmful to the lungs and generally associated with smoking. But will dried flowers be authorized for vaporization? No answer yet.

Instead, the committee came out in favor of making cannabis available «in capsule or herbal tea form, or in inhaled form via a vaping system». Again, this presupposes the use of flower, but details were not specified at the time of writing.

Of the 22 European countries that have authorized cannabis, 15 allow its flower to be used for therapeutic purposes, including Germany and Italy.

Next, the experts will have to specify the list of illnesses that justify the use of medical cannabis. On this point, they should draw on scientific literature and existing international medical cannabis programs. The list should therefore include palliative care and neurological diseases resistant to conventional treatments, such as multiple sclerosis or certain forms of epilepsy.

When will it be available?

The Committee's conclusions are only preliminary. Now that it has concluded that therapeutic cannabis is a good idea, it needs to think about the framework within which to regulate it. This means defining who will be able to prescribe medical cannabis, and where and under what conditions patients will be able to obtain it: in pharmacies on presentation of a card, for example, or directly from producers, as is the case in Canada. Finally, will cannabis be reimbursed by social security? as is the case in Germany?

The committee has six months to answer these questions. After that, it's up to the legislators to establish a production and distribution system based on the committee's advice.

Current laws prohibiting cannabis will also have to be amended, probably so that patients are no longer considered criminals.

All this work is likely to take time, and patients will have to wait until at least the end of 2019 for access to the drug. In the meantime, we don't know whether compassionate measures will be taken for the 300,000 to 1 million patients who could benefit.

In New Zealand, the law on medical cannabis has just been approved and the industry will be up and running within a year. In the meantime, a measure guarantees that palliative care patients will not be prosecuted for their use of illicit cannabis.