France to authorize cannabis flowers for medical purposes, but only in secure cartridges

France has taken a giant step towards the widespread use of medical cannabis by notifying the European Commission its draft decrees and orders via the TRIS procedure.

3 texts were sent in:

• The decree on medical cannabis
• The decree setting out the technical conditions for the possession, cultivation, import, export, transport and storage of cannabis plants for medical purposes on national territory.
• The order issued in application of 4° of article L. 5121-1 of the Public Health Code, setting out the specifications of cannabis-based medicinal products and the therapeutic indications in which they are to be used.

If the government remains firmly opposed to raw dried flowers, The latest order authorizes the use of cannabis flowers in secure, tamper-proof single-dose cartridges. The idea is to provide patients with fast-acting relief while avoiding any overlap with recreational use.

The order submitted to the European Commission explicitly states:

«It should be pointed out that pharmaceutical forms such as dried flowers in their raw state are excluded in order to avoid any confusion between medical and recreational cannabis. However, authorization to use flowering tops in fast-acting forms, packaged in tamper-proof, secure, non-refillable single-dose cartridges, is permitted in order to guarantee patient access to fast-acting pharmaceutical forms.»

The French approach thus stands in stark contrast to Germany and the Netherlands, where the patients have access to dried flowers for vaporization or combustion, but goes further than countries such as France and Germany.’Spain, which took the flowers out of its project.

What does a safe vaporization system look like?

Various vaporization systems with secure capsules already exist on the market: the best-known is probably the Israeli Syqe, acquired by Philipp Morris in 2023.

Syqe spray

We crossed paths with the Canadians Ryah who presented a project with LaFleur to offer vaporization to trial patients.

Ryah vaporizer

Or Storz&Bickel with capsules - if they can be secured at all? - for the Mighty.

The Mighty vaporizer