The long wait for therapeutic cannabis in Polynesia

While mainland France has implemented a experimentation with therapeutic cannabis, Polynesia was deprived of it. The Economic, Social, and Cultural Council of French Polynesia has in fact issued a negative advisory opinion as it expanded throughout the archipelago, and the Polynesian Assembly did not take the lead on the issue.

Local lawmakers have, however, reiterated the need to legalize medical cannabis for patients in French Polynesia. But nothing can be done without the central government’s approval, including scientific research on the plant, which remains prohibited.

Nicole Sanquer, president of the Green and White Party, had introduced a bill last year regarding a pilot program for medical cannabis. «It’s still on the table in the Assembly. It was reviewed by the committee once, but the review was postponed.» The bill was deemed incomplete by the majority, which had announced its own bill on the subject.

«We haven’t seen the government’s draft national bill for the end of the first quarter of 2022,» Nicole Sanquer notes, however.

While the solution is simple—removing cannabis from the list of controlled substances and amending the 2014 decree to authorize its use for therapeutic purposes—the obstacle is political. The elected official asked the chair of the Health Committee, John Toromona, to establish a fact-finding mission on the subject, similar to the one that had taken place in mainland France, in order to «contribute to the government’s deliberations.».

Philippe Cathelain, president of the Polynesian Hemp Union (SPC), notes Tahiti Infos that the politician has everything in his hands.

“They have everything—the health minister, the president of the country. But why isn’t anything getting done?” he asks.

Karl Anihia, president of the association Tahiti Herb Culture (THC) assures him that “it’s simply a lack of political will.”.

They both point out that civil society, through THC or the SPC, is ready to lend them a helping hand. “We need to depoliticize” this debate, says Philippe Cathelain.

And, in their view, the establishment of this fact-finding mission through the Health Committee could contribute to that.

“We should have done it last year with Virginie Bruant. In fact, we wasted a year for nothing, and now we’re back with the new chair (John Toromona, the new chair of the Health Committee, Ed.) and we hope he’ll have enough courage to follow through on the promises made—namely, that he’s ready to take up this issue and move it forward.”.

Pending the legalization of cannabis for medical or recreational use, one in five households in French Polynesia reportedly grows cannabis, representing 60,000 users according to the only existing study.