France has granted a five-year “temporary status” to therapeutic cannabis, pending a marketing authorization decision by the European authorities. This status is provided for by an amendment to the Social Security budget for 2024. Cannabis-based medicines may be authorized under this temporary, renewable status, and their use will be restricted to certain cases.
The experimentation with medical cannabis in France, launched in 2021, was judged “overall positive” by the government. No diversion was identified and 2761 patients were included in the experiment for five indications of use.
Despite this, the French government is moving cautiously on the issue, because medical consensus is not complete. The Academy of Pharmacy and the Academy of Medicine have criticized the experimentation with medical cannabis. Parliamentarians have called for no longer postponing the generalization of the use of medical cannabis for patients in “therapeutic impasse”.
 Sophie de Duiéry
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01/11/2023 | 
