Medical cannabis: France finally legalizes!

It's official. After years of waiting, postponements and «soon», medical cannabis is finally legal in France.

An experiment that has taken everything but its end

In 2018, the France announces national experimentation with medical cannabis,a first in France. Scheduled launch: early 2020. Then the pandemic. Then elections. Then a report. Then another report on the first report.

The experiment finally starts in march 2021, with a maximum of 3,000 patients and five targeted pathologies: resistant epilepsy, refractory neuropathic pain, palliative care, multiple sclerosis and certain cancers. Participating doctors must undergo specific training. Pharmacies must be accredited. All under the supervision of ANSM.

Supposed to last two years, it was extended for the first time until march 2024, then a second time, then a third, The experiment turned into an eternal restart, until just over 600 patients were included, despite positive findings. Meanwhile, Germany, Luxembourg, Portugal, the Netherlands, Malta, Poland and much of Europe have moved ahead.

The statements that changed everything

Last week, the Minister of Health was quoted as saying at a press conference: «France has waited too long for its patients. From now on, medical cannabis will become common law. It's a question of dignity.» - Dr Stéphanie Rist, Minister of Health.

Subsequently, a source close to the Élysée Palace told us that Mrs Jacqueline Beaumont, a senior advisor to the President, reportedly welcomed the decision, citing «the human urgency of the situation».

Patient relief

On forums and in patient groups, the reaction would have been immediate.

«I've been waiting four years. Four years of living with pain that cannabis relieves, and watching my German or Dutch neighbors simply go to their doctor.» - typical testimonial, compiled from hundreds of actual messages read on the networks in recent years.

Because that's true. Testimonials from suffering patients are not made up.

🐟 April fool.

Legalization has not taken place. The minister's quote doesn't exist: is she even interested in the subject, she's so absent from it? None of the above is real, except for one thing: patient situation.

The experimental delays are real. The geographical exclusions are real. The lack of products is real. Patients who turn to the Netherlands, Germany or Spain, or even to the black market, to access what their own country denies them: real.

In 2026, patients with serious pathologies continue to navigate between the black market, medical tourism and the hope of legal access, which slips further and further away every year.

We're the April Fool's joke. The joke is French medical cannabis policy, which has been doing it since 2018.

Article published on April 1. The quotes and personalities in the central section are fictitious and invented for the purposes of this satirical format. The data on French experimentation, on the other hand, are perfectly accurate.