It is between joy and disappointment that the actors of medical cannabis and CBD met yesterday for a symposium organized at the National Assembly on the initiative of the deputy Ludovic Mendès. Joy because since the first colloquium 4 years ago, the two subjects of this colloquium have made progress. Disappointment because the administrative and political blockages are still numerous and still injure sick people and producers and consumers of hemp.
In introduction, Robin Reda, former president of the Mission of information on the uses of cannabis, recognized that there was still a long way to go on cannabis in general, which sometimes unites, sometimes divides. If the resistance is still very strong, he considers that it is not due to Parliament, unanimously in favor of taking charge of the pain and suffering of patients and their families. However, administrative obstacles persist on medical cannabis, with few elements of understanding on its side.
Round table on therapeutic cannabis
At Nicolas Authier, it was grimace soup. The president of the temporary Scientific Committee for the follow-up of the experimentation of cannabis for medical use, tried in vain to look for something positive and new to announce on the experiment, he drew a blank. He nevertheless wished to recall that the reports on the “experiment” have all been positive and that the issue now lies beyond the conditions of access to therapeutic cannabis or the establishment of a hospital prescription.
He calls with all his wishes to get out of the experimentation, the limits of which have been reached for general practitioners, with a cumbersome patient inclusion procedure, and for hospitals which cannot meet demand.
“I don’t see what could prevent that from happening,” he said. “We need extremely strong support, from patients and politicians” to convince the Ministry of Health to give a very strong impetus to its administration towards the generalization of medical cannabis.
“If we don’t have a return before the summer, it cannot be integrated into the PLFSS 2024, and we will go towards stopping the experimentation” he summed up.
Mado Gilanton, president of the Apaiser S&C association and who treats herself with cannabis, was there to bring the patient’s voice.
“5 years ago, we came here with high hopes. Today, I am angry”. The absence of interest and the blockages of the General Directorate of Health as well as its calamitous management of the supply of cannabis-based drug experimentation have dampened its usual enthusiasm.
Franz Deschamps, president of Santé France Cannabis, the grouping of medical cannabis manufacturers, looked at what remained to be done at the regulatory level to allow French production of medical cannabis. 2 decrees which will supplement the 2022 decree are thus being drafted and will focus on securing cultivation sites and the safety and stability of future cannabis-based medicines.
CBD Roundtables
Two round tables were organized around CBD and wellness hemp.
The first involved Ludovic Rachou, President of the Union of Industrialists for the Valorization of Hemp Extracts (UIVEC), who was there to defend an isolated view of CBD, namely the need to classify the cannabidiol molecule as a supplement food for inclusion in food products. Beyond greater ease of regulatory understanding, the interest would be a 5.5% tax on this type of product and the possibility of health claims.
The UIVEC representative also announced that he had supported with the DGCCRF and the DGAL CBD limits of 50mg/day and 20% per bottle of CBD oil, as well as a THC threshold of 1 microgram / kilo. body weights for future in-store checks.
Conversely, the European Industrial Hemp Association (EIHA), the Union of CBD Professionals (UPCBD), the French Association of Cannabinoid Producers (AFPC) and the Hemp Professional Union (SPC) defended on a second round table a vision full-spectrum hemp in order, in particular, to give every chance to a future quality French sector.
Joke to start – “This is my 4th intervention on the subject. I will soon have made more interventions than certain deputies during their mandate” – Jouany Chatoux, representative of the AFPC, drew the portrait of the hemp producers with French workers who today would be between 600 and 1000. For the most part , their production of active hemp provides a significant additional income, with 70% of members of the association in organic production. Their harvest aims more for quality and is sold in a short circuit.
This scheme would also be idyllic if the threat of Novel Food did not hang over them. For the PSAC, the passage of CBD as a food supplement aims to kill the organic sector and the agricultural sector of active hemp, even if it means promoting the import of CBD isolate from the United States or Eastern European countries. The manufacture of CBD isolate indeed requires solvents that are not compatible with a biological final product. France will also have great difficulty in being competitive in the face of the very low prices of isolated CBD internationally.
The only way of competitiveness for hemp with French active ingredient then lies in natural extractions and full-spectrum, with the need to increase THC levels in plants for cost effective and quality extractions. A position shared by the EIHA, which is working at European level on a secure framework for the whole hemp plant.
If Novel Food is a European threat, another very French threat lies in the increase in THC screenings during roadside checks. Far from making the road safer, it has the non-negligible objective, according to Charles Morel, representative of the UPCBD, of targeting CBD consumers. 651,000 drug tests on the road were thus carried out in 2021 compared to 425,000 in 2019.
Logically, in 2021, offenses for driving under narcotics were higher than those for alcohol, even though alcohol represents the greatest risk of accidents. The UPCBD also recalled that beyond the repressive nature of these screenings, no risk prevention is done behind. Number for number.
Conclusion
In conclusion of the colloquium, Ludovic Mendès wanted this to be the last colloquium to be organized on medical cannabis and well-being hemp.
According to him, the blockages that exist at MILDECA, the Interior or Health are not necessary, while responses are needed to secure access to patients to therapeutic cannabis, even if it means decriminalizing them. patients who self-treat, and to better regulate road safety with an acceptable THC threshold or appropriate screening / behavioral tests with regard to the legality of the consumption of CBD flowers which may contain up to 0.3% of THC.
A bill should be presented quickly to respond to these points.
