Cannabis médical en France: vers l'usage de la plante ou de molécules?

Edito. Edouard Philippe, on a visit to Creuse last week to validate the Plan Particulier pour la Creuse aimed at revitalizing the department, opened up in the media on the subject of therapeutic cannabis. In his words, it would be «absurd not to ask the question, and it's in this spirit that we want to work with the people behind the project».

If it's absurd to ask whether we should still be treating patients, Edouard Philippe is cleverly hiding behind the ANSM's future decisions, which will follow the conclusions of the Temporary Specialized Scientific Committee (CSST). who has been working on the subject since last October You can imagine that the opinion of the highest authorities overseeing the use of drugs is indispensable.«

While the Prime Minister's statement was greeted with great hope from the outside, the disillusionment is no less strong for the stakeholders in the Creuse project, who were expecting an exception for cultivation in the department until it is rolled out across the whole country. As for patients who are already taking treatment or see cannabis as a potential solution, their fate has been consigned to the Greek calendar, or to the courts as is still the case, or even to the cemetery for those for whom it is too late.

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But perhaps more intriguing is the semantic shift that is taking place before our very eyes. While the initial conclusions of the CSST clearly spoke of the use of the plant («This refers to the cannabis plant, excluding pharmaceutical specialties with a marketing authorization (AMM) or a temporary use authorization (ATU)»), the ANSM had not bothered to specify this. in its validation of the CSST's conclusions on the appropriateness of using cannabis for therapeutic purposes. More broadly, it included Cannabis or cannabinoid-based specialties available».

Edouard Philippe went even further last week: «What the people behind this project said was that we shouldn't rule out the possibility of using it for therapeutic purposes". molecules contained in this plant« . There's no room for the plant here, only its molecules.

If we already knew that’Agnès Buzyn, doctor and Minister of Health, has trouble differentiating between THC and CBD, Did Edouard Philippe get the language right? He's not the only one to use the term «molecule», since Eric Correia, more familiar with the subject, also uses the term in an interview with France Info. What has happened in the meantime? Is France moving towards the use of medical cannabis in the form of plants and pharmaceutical specialties, or just molecules?

RTL points us in the right direction perhaps in our questioning: «Matignon specified that it was indeed a question of «studying the use of molecules derived from cannabis, within a therapeutic framework, i.e. to manufacture medicines». Anyone who imagined receiving cannabis in pharmacies would clearly be better off learning to garden.

Without any report, the CSST was due to meet last March for the second study phase of the project to «experiment» with therapeutic cannabis in France. This meeting did not take place, without anyone having any official reason to give us.

Modifications: we had previously indicated that the CSST «was due to meet on January 30 for the first phase of the study» and had not done so. This was in fact the March meeting for the second study phase. The article has been amended accordingly.