France Submits the Long-Awaited Decree on the Reimbursement of Medical Cannabis to the Council of State

After years of delays, France has taken another step toward establishing a permanent framework for the medical marijuana. The long-awaited decree setting forth the rules for reimbursement of cannabis-based medications has now been finalized and officially submitted to the French Council of State.

This announcement, reported by the’Union of Manufacturers for the Utilization of Hemp Extracts (UIVEC) follows several weeks of positive signs from the French government and could finally get a process moving again that had been at a standstill since the end of the national pilot program on medical cannabis.

A decree ready for review by the Council of State

On June 30, Laurent Panifous, Minister Delegate for Relations with Parliament, confirmed to the Senate that the decree had been approved by the Ministry of the Economy, Finance, and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty.

According to the government, the bill was submitted to the Council of State on July 2. The legal review is expected to take place after the summer recess, with publication scheduled for the start of the next parliamentary session.

This confirmation follows a question from Senator Marion Canales, who highlighted the difficult situation that patients have been facing since 2024. While patients already enrolled in the French pilot program continue to receive treatment, no new patients have been able to join the program because the regulatory framework has not yet been finalized.

For thousands of patients suffering from conditions that are resistant to treatment, access to medical cannabis has therefore effectively remained frozen.

A five-year wait

France has launched its pilot project on medical cannabis in 2021 as a two-year program intended to pave the way for nationwide access. Political instability and repeated delays by the government have prevented the adoption of the necessary implementing regulations.

The impact was significant. At its peak, the pilot project included approximately 3,000 patients. Today, Fewer than 700 are still enrolled, as the program has been extended several times without opening enrollment to new patients.

The 2024 Social Security Financing Act established the nationwide rollout of medical cannabis as a legal objective, but several regulatory measures were still needed before the products could be included in the French reimbursement system.

An important clarification also emerged during the review of this latest development. Although the decree governing reimbursement has not yet been published, Newsweed has learned that the decree on the widespread adoption of medical cannabis was in fact approved last year. The remaining text, currently under review by the Council of State, concerns the practical implementation of reimbursement procedures—a final, crucial step before the products can be evaluated and prescribed under the permanent framework.

Scientific evidence continues to mount

These latest policy developments come shortly after the publication from the U.CANNABIS study.

Commissioned by the French National Agency for Medicines and Health Products Safety (ANSM) and conducted independently by researchers from Inserm and the University of Bordeaux, this study analyzed healthcare reimbursement data from nearly 2,000 patients participating in the national trial.

Unlike many observational studies that rely on patient-completed questionnaires, the researchers used the French health insurance database to compare healthcare utilization before and after the start of medical cannabis treatment.

The results showed a decrease in the use of several conventional treatments—including strong opioids, gabapentinoids, benzodiazepines, and non-opioid analgesics—among patients being treated for neuropathic pain. The study also revealed a decrease in the number of visits to specialized pain clinics after the start of medical cannabis treatment.

These results are particularly relevant because the The French National Health Authority (HAS) will evaluate whether cannabis-based medications offer sufficient medical benefit and economic value to justify their coverage.

The safety data provided by the ANSM also remained reassuring throughout the study, with no cases of dependence or abuse reported despite ongoing pharmacovigilance monitoring.

Patients Still Waiting

The UIVEC welcomed the government's confirmation while emphasizing that the work was not yet complete.

«The decree on the coverage of cannabis-based medications has finally been finalized and submitted to the Council of State,» the organization said in a statement, thanking lawmakers, patient advocacy groups, and healthcare professionals for keeping up the pressure on the government.

Even after the decree is published, several regulatory steps must still be completed before patients can finally access medical cannabis outside of the experimental framework. The HAS must issue its coverage recommendation, manufacturers must complete the registration process with the ANSM, and the products must then undergo pricing negotiations before prescriptions can begin.

If the current schedule is followed, France could finally see the first prescriptions reimbursed under its permanent system of medical marijuana in 2027, nearly six years after the launch of what was originally intended to be a two-year pilot program.