Cannabis therapy in France: the status quo has changed

By Pierre-Yves Galléty - Political Advisor at Volteface in the UK, and Co-Founder of Volteface France

In an interview on France Inter last week, Health Minister Agnès Buzyn said that the therapeutic cannabis could arrive in France. This declaration is welcome news that cannabis is no longer a taboo subject: we now have the space to have a real conversation about therapeutic cannabis in Europe's 2nd most populous country.

The announcement was unexpected and caused quite a stir in the country. Nevertheless, this declaration is by no means synonymous with imminent regulation. Agnès Buzyn was parsimonious in terms of specifics and details, but she was able to acknowledge that France is lagging behind and that patients“ needs are not being met: ”it's a delay that France has taken in terms of research and development of medical cannabis, other countries have done it."

Activists and militants, historic and of the new generation, are to be thanked for this change of governmental viewpoint. The skilful work of civil society players such as ECHO and NORML, as well as the lobbying of political players such as Eric Correia - President of the Greater Guéret Agglomeration, which aims to make the Creuse the pilot department for therapeutic cannabis production in France - have played a significant role.

«I'm delighted with Agnès Buzyn's announcement on France Inter, and I'd like to thank her. It shows that the mobilization we've been doing is beginning to bear fruit, and that the interests of patients for whom the Cannabis Médical is a necessity, is taken into account. A stone has been laid. But let's not let up in our mobilization. We're only at the beginning of a journey that still has a few pitfalls ahead, but our eyes are filled with hope,» declared Eric Correia.

The status quo has changed

Agnès Buzyn's announcement came just after the Cannabis Europa conference held in London on May 22 on the subject of therapeutics. At the conference, you could sense a great deal of interest in the therapeutic cannabis industry in Europe on the part of the speakers. Panels and conversations often focused on the UK, Germany, Italy and Greece. Very few participants mentioned France as a short- or medium-term target country. It seemed only natural to ignore a country that showed no sign of wanting to reform.

Stephen Murphy, Partner at Prohibition Partners, describes the French position up to that point:

“The France is emblematic of hypocritical cannabis policies in Western Europe. The French government maintains a very conservative stance on both the medical and recreational cannabis, despite the fact that France is one of the world's biggest cannabis consumers and hemp producers.

Surprisingly, while Sativex was granted marketing authorization in 2014, four years later the cannabis-based spray used to calm spasticity due to multiple sclerosis is still unavailable due to a dispute over price, and therefore reimbursement, between the drug's producers and the French health authorities.

Nevertheless, France is a market with enormous potential, with over 5 million consumers and 300,000 unofficial producers. The growth of legal industries in neighbouring countries such as Germany and Spain is likely to put further pressure on the archaic prohibitionist laws engraved in French legislation.”

Today, however, the status quo has changed and the frontier of debate has shifted. The will for political reform is now leading the charge in what is probably Europe's second-largest market for medical cannabis, if we consider that the size of the market is proportional to the country's population. Prohibition Partners estimates it at €7.2 billion for therapeutic cannabis alone.

France is becoming a highly promising market and a major political lever across Europe.

Beyond market size, it's important to take into account that France remains, along with Germany, one of the pillars of European policymaking. A historic situation that the Brexit has only strengthened. As the negotiations on medical cannabis progress, French negotiators will have a significant influence on the establishment of a Europe-wide system of regulation of medical cannabis.

The question is no longer whether to regulate medical cannabis, but when and how. Will patients have access to all forms of administration made possible by this plant, such as dried flower, or will only processed products and the use of cannabis be permitted? produced by pharmaceutical laboratories (sprays, oils, pills, etc.) be available? Will imports be authorized? Visit will therapeutic cannabis be reimbursed by social security? ? If so, to what extent and for which pathologies? These are just some of the questions that French regulators need to ask themselves. It is now urgent to promote debate on these issues, giving a voice to producers, doctors, patients, pharmacists and any other players who will be present in the French supply chain.

Still a long way to go

But Eric Correia is right. France still has a long way to go to go before therapeutic cannabis be regulated. On the eve of the first international academic conference on therapeutic cannabis to take place in Paris, Agnès Buzyn was cautious in her statement, saying: “I can't tell you how quickly we're going to develop [therapeutic cannabis], but in any case I'm opening this debate with the institutions responsible for this development. Are we talking months? Years? Nobody really knows. We have to bear in mind that this type of reform is complex; and we can trust the French administration to take all the time it needs to implement it.

The only thing we know today is that it's going to take time. A Cannabis Europa, We had the opportunity to talk to the few French people present, as well as to some Canadians who, thanks in part to our cultural ties, are keen to see developments take place in France. If the Minister's statement had been made 24 hours earlier, France would have had a greater presence in the discussions at the conference.

Volteface France

As things are officially moving forward, we'd like to take this opportunity to announce the launch of Volteface France.

For more than two years, Volteface in the UK has been dedicated to creating a new space of expression for people wishing to engage in a drug policy reform, based on scientific fact, and which protects rather than punishes. In the course of this mission, Volteface UK has been actively involved in efforts to reform therapeutic cannabis. This investment has taken the form of cooperating with patient groups such as the United Patients Alliance, and with cross-party political coalitions in favor of reform, as well as setting up a research project commission to propose public policies backed by scientific evidence.

This model can be exported to any country with similar problems and challenges. Volteface France was created in partnership with ECHO, a “citizen's and participatory lobby”, led by civil society, which amplifies the actions and ideas of the players involved by facilitating collective work on a number of themes, including drugs.

“The cannabis issue We welcome the Minister's openness on the subject. This subject, among many others, will have the opportunity, thanks to Volteface France, to gain greater visibility through the quality work that will be produced by the scientific articles and reports that the think tank will finally publish, in the French language.” - Benjamin Jeanroy, Director of the Public Policies on Drugs theme at ECHO.

Together, we aim to create a space that facilitates debate in parallel with political negotiations aimed at regulating medical cannabis in France. Our aim is to set up a concrete exchange that allows every player to be heard in the regulatory process: patients, scientists, regulators and economic players all have a stake in moving this reform forward, so that it is carried out correctly.

We are now in the final stages of setting up Volteface France. We are therefore launching an appeal to transparent organizations willing to support us financially to bring about responsible legislative change.