After his first 100 days as president, Moetai Brotherson announced this week that the plan to legalize CBD in Polynesia is ready.
The bill, known as Article LP3, establishes an innovative framework for the use and importation of hemp. Article LP3 authorizes the Polynesian population to “transport, import, export, hold, offer, sell, acquire, process and use products containing or derived from hemp seeds”. These products must be “devoid of narcotic properties”, that is to say that their THC content must for the moment be less than 0.3%.
In tropical Polynesian climates, however, Cannabis plants produce an explosion of phytocannabinoids, making it difficult for the local industry to maintain the 0.3% THC threshold set by French standards. The Polynesian Hemp Syndicate, under the impetus of its president, Philippe Cathelain, pleaded for this threshold to be raised to 1%, taking into account local conditions. This recommendation comes from an information mission of the French National Assembly, which insisted on the need for tolerance in the overseas territories, as is already the case for Reunion.
This new legislation has three essential components. In addition to the legalization of CBD, the Ministry of Agriculture has drawn up a second text relating to the cultivation and processing of hemp. But the most anticipated part is the third, which concerns medical cannabis. Beyond the anti-stress properties of CBD, medical professionals are especially interested in the pain-relieving potential of THC.
Philippe Dupire, pharmacist at the Center Hospitalier de Polynésie Française, points out to TNTV that THC can be valuable for treating stubborn pain and neurological diseases such as epilepsy. However, the text specifies that products containing hemp or cannabinoids can only be the subject of therapeutic claims if they obtain authorization as medicinal products. Currently, only three cannabis-based medicines are available in mainland France, and this new legislation will allow their importation into Polynesia.
The legislation provides exceptions for certain drugs, allowing their use “on an exceptional basis” when “the implementation of the treatment is likely to bring benefit to the patient” and that “the efficacy and safety of these drugs are strongly presumed in the state of scientific knowledge”. The Polynesian Council of Ministers will draw up a list of these exceptional drugs which will probably concern cannabis extracts and flowers.
The full bill is expected to be released to the public in “the next few days”.
