The extension of the experimentation of medical cannabis, although it is wanted by the Ministry of Health, is now being played out within the framework of the Social Security Financing Bill.
Several amendments were tabled by the various parliamentary groups making up the committee.
In a synthetic way:
- EELV has proposed in 4 separate amendments the legalization of recreational cannabis, an experiment in the legalization of recreational cannabis, the generalization of medical cannabis or the extension of the experiment for one year. The first three were deemed inadmissible, the last was rejected.
- a cross-partisan group led by Caroline Janvier proposed the extension of the experimentation of medical cannabis for one year with the obligation for the Ministry of Health to work on “the conditions of production and distribution of medical cannabis as well as on the advisability of its reimbursement. The amendment was rejected.
- Horizons proposed extending the experiment for 3 years. The amendment was adopted.
- Loiret MEP Stéphanie Rist, rapporteur for the Commission, tabled a sub-amendment proposing a one-year extension. The subamendment was carried.
The amendment which will be debated in the hemicycle will therefore propose extending the experiment for a year.
To our knowledge, no budget has been allocated for this extension. Nothing obliges either to generalize at the end of the possible extension. The ministry does not commit either to the construction of the conditions for the production and distribution of medical cannabis in France in the meantime or to the study of its reimbursement.
If the proposed amendment was not voted on during its study in the Assembly, from our understanding, the experimentation would stop without generalization.
The statement of the adopted sub-amendment explains that the experiment “has not yet been able to produce sufficient clinical results for us to be able to decide on its generalization. »
Let us remember all the same on a factual basis that the experimentation of therapeutic cannabis was not intended to produce clinical results but “to evaluate, in a real situation, the recommendations of the Committee in terms of prescribing and dispensing conditions and the adherence of health professionals and patients to these conditions” according to the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines (ANSM).
