How do I get a prescription for medical cannabis in France?
Last article update: February 02, 2022
Since the decree of June 5, 2013, and cannabinoids are theoretically no longer prohibited in France. For a drug to be marketed in France, it must receive an Autorisation de Mise sur le Marché (AMM).
However, with the Sativex the reality is more complex: this natural THC and CBD drug, which has marketing authorization and treats, among other things, spasticity in multiple sclerosis, is still not available. Whether the price is too high or the efficacy is relative, the blockage is real, to the detriment of patients for whom other treatments are ineffective.
French patients can be prescribed marinol (synthetic THC) under an Autorisation Temporaire d'Utilisation (ATU), which has to be renewed each time it is prescribed. Because of the complexity of the prescription, only 90 people (out of 300) have benefited, to relieve chemotherapy-related nausea, treat glaucoma or stimulate appetite. Visit marinol, is considered an analgesic by the French National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM).
Is it then possible to be prescribed cannabis in dried flower form in France? The answer is yes, with a few twists and turns.
Prescription of medical cannabis in France
A French doctor is perfectly entitled to prescribe medical cannabis in the form of dried flowers, such as Bedrocan, in accordance with the Hippocratic oath, which states «I will do everything to relieve suffering». On the other hand :
- Bedrocan has no marketing authorization in France, so under French law, doctors are liable to prosecution if they administer Bedrocan to a patient. medical marijuana causes harmful side effects. The absence of AMM makes it impossible for French patients to apply for ATU. The patient is also illegally on French soil if he or she is carrying Bedrocan products.
- Bedrocan is licensed for sale in the Netherlands, but the doctor is covered by European law
French patients have two choices when it comes to choosing a doctor, even if a single French prescription is sufficient:
- go to a French doctor for your prescription, then go to a foreign doctor in a country where Bedrocan can be legally prescribed to be put in touch with a pharmacy that dispenses medical cannabis.
- Or go directly to a foreign doctor.
The second choice proves more complex, due to more extensive administrative procedures, notably to manage reimbursements of a European prescription by the French Social Security system, and non-agreements between certain countries (e.g. France and Germany).
A French patient with a prescription for cannabis will have to find his own way to pick up his medicine (no delivery in France). To transport his Bedrocan cannabis in Europe, he will need a Shengen transport or circulation permit. If the drug is intercepted in France, it is likely to be confiscated. The public prosecutor's office can lodge a complaint, even though there is case law in France. In most cases, the patient is sentenced without penalty, with confiscation of all the therapeutic cannabis and the opening of an empty criminal record for 3 months if there are no new offences.
A French doctor could use renewable narcotic prescriptions with a secure prescription, but these are limited to a 28-day course of treatment, which complicates medical cannabis treatments from the outset.
Not easy, but not impossible. There is no ready-made list of French doctors who prescribe medical cannabis, but our contacts with associations confirm that they do exist, even if few are ready to take the plunge.
Has the situation changed with the trial of therapeutic cannabis in France?
From early 2021, an experiment is taking place in France to test the delivery of medical cannabis to a restricted group of patients. These are the only people in France authorized to carry medical cannabis.
So for the vast majority of patients, the situation hasn't changed. If all goes well, they'll have to wait for the widespread introduction of therapeutic cannabis at the end of the experiment!
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Cémoi Quevla
May 5, 2017 at 2 h 10 min
Hello, I'm very interested and would like to know more! Is it possible for any doctor to do this? If there's no delivery possible in France, would it mean going abroad for the patient? Is it at the patient's expense? because all the doctors I've seen so far tell me to smoke pure canabis and to stop smoking and the meds that make me even sicker, but not one of them has written me a paper to explain it, all of them have done it orally, telling me not to give names! the last one even advised me to grow it at home!
NewsWeed
May 5, 2017 at 1:04 p.m.
Yes, any doctor is entitled to do so.
This means traveling abroad, which is impossible for many patients. And everything is at the patient's expense.
Cémoi Quevla
May 7, 2017 at 13 h 59 min
thank you for the answers! it's still a nightmare for people who can't work and who therefore have no income! in addition to the physical handicap, you become an outcast from one day to the next and you have no recourse against that! long live french laws and long live the dough! human beings are just another resource to be exploited!
duchmooul
August 6, 2017 at 0 h 14 min
if you can't work you're disabled and receive AH
si t'es pas reconnu handicapé et bien te plainnant pas et va travailler en plus les gens sans revenu en france!! une blague entre chomage ass rmi caf et j'en passe ..... allez voir au usa comment cela se passe pour les branleurs qui veulent jamais travailler et profiter des alloc: y a rien c'est le caniveau
I'm sorry, but I can't stand people complaining and living on benefits, unemployment benefit, etc. ..... I work, I employ people who work, and when you're a boss, Sunday is the only day you can rest .....
cemoi quevla ..... cemoi que je profite oui!
Julius
August 10, 2017 at 2:02 p.m.
To get the aah you have to be disabled at 80%, I think...
You're the boss, I'm applying for a job, but I've had stable epilepsy for 2 years. Will you hire me?
The RSA is 470 euros a month, so if you have to go to the Netherlands every month, what do you do, hitchhike?
I know that when you become the boss of a small business, you think, I'm going to work for myself, I'm going to make money by making other people work, but no, that's often the great disillusionment, isn't it? Sometimes you can't even manage to pay yourself a salary while working 70 hours a weekm....and then the charges come in, so you think, I've got to pay for all those who don't work, and it's all those lazy people's fault. You take your frustration out on them, saying to yourself it would be like in the USA, I wouldn't have to pay for welfare recipients....
I wish you good health for as long as possible.....
Etienne Le Roy
August 21, 2017 at 11 h 15 min
You can't be a small business owner and think such nonsense. Setting up a business means 2 years of work without pay, and when you have a business that's working hard enough to take on people, you don't think you're going to make money on the backs of your employees, you think that one more salary will go to a family with paid vacations, etc. Don't confuse small businesses with CAC 40 companies. Where I agree with you is when you wish this gentleman not to fall ill - you're quite right, because there's a 3-month waiting period for self-employed workers! Yet most of them carry on working, and if it were for the sake of profit, as you seem to think, they'd stop as soon as the 1st month of unpaid work. As for the poor scapegoat who only gets 470 euros a month in RSA, you should know that he doesn't give 46% of his work to the state, 15 days a month! The privileged are never who you think they are, and pitting galley dwellers against galley dwellers? What's the point? Those who are expensive are not the people who benefit from social benefits (30% of which are never claimed by those entitled to them), they're not the SMEs who work at 46% for the state, they're the tax evaders who own the entire French debt in counters on the Isle of Man...
valdesbois66
March 28, 2019 at 7 h 45 min
In the United States, Mr. Duchmoul, the degree of suffering of the totally destitute is unimaginable. People die with their mouths open, selling their blood, selling everything they can to survive, ... there's also India, which does better in this genre! lepers dying on the asphalt, and then there are the favelas and the violence that reigns there... is that what you want for France?... misery Mr Duchmoul creates misery and not the other way round, if Europe is a dignified continent it's precisely because there's social protection, and people aren't left to die. Not everyone has the money to set up their own business, and not everyone has good health either. You're lucky, Mr Duchmoul, to have been able to set up your own business, so don't come and complain about your overtime, and don't come and spit in the faces of those who can't take it anymore because - just in case you haven't heard - there's not enough work for everyone. yes, that's the real question, why is there no more work ... and yet there is work ... not enough teachers, not enough nurses ... and so on ... why ah ah!! go and ask the politicians and multinationals who own everything why ... it's about time Mr Duchmoul asked you the right questions ...
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