As Newsweed revealed last week, the Social Security Financing Bill (PLFSS) published this Wednesday does not include provisions relating to the generalization of medical cannabis. Companies in the sector and patients awaiting a therapeutic option are alarmed by this absence and are mobilizing to demand a generalization, still possible via amendments to the PLFSS that certain deputies could support.
“Experimentation must give way to legislation”
Seventeen patient associations, representing people suffering from diseases such as multiple sclerosis, cancer, epilepsy and others, are calling for a generalization of therapeutic cannabis in an article published in Le Parisien.
Concerned that medical cannabis, which currently helps 1,700 patients relieve intense pain, risks being abandoned or subject to restrictive use policies, these patients emphasize the urgent need to expand the access to medical cannabis, emphasizing its established practice in many Western countries as a means of relieving pain and suffering.
The group of associations wished to recall that the trial launched in March 2021 aimed to evaluate the circuit for making medical cannabis available to patients suffering from chronic and severe pain, in particular those suffering from multiple sclerosis, epilepsy , severe neuropathic pain, spasticity due to central nervous system disorders, cancer and palliative situations at the end of life.
For many patients, cannabis-based medications offer not only an alternative, but also “a glimmer of hope in the face of ineffective or poorly tolerated treatments. “. However, despite the trial’s promising results, recent developments are poised to leave nearly 300,000 patients in prolonged suffering.
The government’s commitment in 2022 to legalize medical cannabis and provide access to it now appears uncertain, plunging patients into distress. The associations are therefore concerned about the contradictory signals and the lack of action from the government, and urge the authorities to keep their promise to integrate medical cannabis into common law without hindering patient access.
“The French sector is ready”
In an article published on Capital.fr, Frantz Deschamps, president of Santé France Cannabis, the French association of players in cannabis for medical use, insists on the fact that the French cannabis industry is ready to excel in the medical cannabis sector. and to provide the first patients.
Over the past three years, French industry players have diligently prepared the ground, establishing a secure supply chain to guarantee the quality and safety of medical cannabis. Substantial investments have been made in research and development, cultivation, the development of innovative medicines and the creation of cutting-edge manufacturing processes. The industry has worked closely with public authorities to share data and ideas, with the aim of developing a legal framework that meets the needs of patients while respecting production site safety and medicine quality standards.
For Santé France Cannabis, decisions regarding the post-experimental period being imminent, a further extension would be detrimental and risk compromising the viability of a booming French cannabis industry. What’s more, the creation of this industry in France would be crucial for health sovereignty, a lesson underlined by the COVID-19 pandemic. France “has all the necessary assets to excel at all levels of the value chain, from research to production and distribution”.
Santé France Cannabis therefore calls for the integration of medical cannabis into common law, in order to guarantee real access to patients.
