French Senate in favor of medical cannabis

On Wednesday May 29, the French Senate held a debate on therapeutic cannabis: «Therapeutic cannabis: a public health issue». Elected representatives from various political parties took the opportunity to express their views on the subject. The general trend seems to be towards gradual acceptance of therapeutic cannabis, or at least of the relevance of research and experimentation around its medical use.

An initiative by Esther Benbassa

Senator Esther Benbassa of the communist republican citizen and ecologist who introduced this debate. In particular, she had opposed to the proposed fixed fine for the offence of drug use, in the Senate's Law Commission last October. In her introductory speech, however, she insists that this debate concerns only the therapeutic and not the recreational use of cannabis. A distinction that some elected representatives still find difficult to make.

Esther Benbassa recalls that 300,000 to 1 million patients are potentially concerned by therapeutic cannabis and that - according to a survey conducted in July 2018 by Terra Nova and Echo Citoyen - 82% of French people are in favor of its use in a medical context. «There's no reason to exclude a molecule on the grounds that it's cannabis, even though it could be interesting,» she said. These words sound very much like to those of the Minister of Health, Agnès Buzyn, a year ago.

The content of the debate

The debate is transcribed in full on Public Sénat. Speakers included :

• Mrs Esther BENBASSA, for the group communist republican citizen and ecologist
• Mrs Chantal DESEYNE (Les Républicains)
• Ms Laurence COHEN (CRCE)
• Mrs Laurence ROSSIGNOL (Socialist and Republican Group)
• Mr Joël LABBÉ (Rassemblement démocratique et social européen Group)
• Ms Jocelyne GUIDEZ (Union Centriste)
• Mr Daniel CHASSEING (Les Indépendants)
• Mr Michel FORISSIER (Les Républicains)
• Mr Olivier CADIC (UC)
• Mrs Pascale GRUNY (Les Républicains)

Generally speaking, positions varied according to political affiliation, but overall, Senators were almost unanimously in favor of therapeutic cannabis. Most of them pointed out that cannabis is not harmless, and that the deleterious effects of its consumption have been documented. However, they also acknowledged that preliminary studies indicate that cannabis can be an effective treatment solution for certain pathologies, and highlighted the fact that many European countries have already authorized its use.

Some senators are clearly in favor of legalization. Communist Senator Laurence Cohen, for example, declared: «We need to put an end to a certain hypocrisy or cold-heartedness». She also raised the issue of social security reimbursement for cannabis. At the end of his speech, Senator Joël Labbé announced that he would be tabling amendments to legalize medical cannabis during the study of the bill on the organization and transformation of the healthcare system, due to begin next week.

On the Republican side, opinions were more moderate: Senator Pascale Gruny considers that «it is too early to assert that the potential benefits of cannabis outweigh the risks it poses to those who consume it». «However, she added: »It's time for more research to establish the facts. Senator Chantal Deseyne went so far as to consider therapeutic cannabis a «Trojan Horse» for total legalization. Such comments remained in the minority.

To close the debate, Adrien Taquet, Secretary of State to the Minister for Solidarity and Health, replied to the Senators and confirmed the an upcoming experiment. The SSTC is due to vote on the terms and conditions of this experiment on June 26.

Despite the persistence of certain concerns and misgivings, a debate without a vote and sparsely-filled benches, this debate had the merit of showing that the question of medical cannabis is on the minds of legislators, and that they are listening to patients' requests and society's evolutions. Although the experimentation project is in the hands of the government, legislators will have to support it if it is to be approved. This debate shows that more and more of them are ready to do so.