Therapeutic cannabis: the Ministry of Health extends the experiment by six additional months

L’ANSM contrôle l’expérimentation. Midi Libre – SYLVIE CAMBON

Launched in France on March 25, 2021, the therapeutic cannabis experimentation protocol, which includes 1,800 patients, was due to end on December 31, to the great dismay of patients. This Thursday, December 19, the Ministry of Health announced its extension for six months.

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Authorized on an experimental basis since March 25, 2021, the use of medical cannabis, which was due to end on December 31, will be extended for six months.

“Today we received official confirmation that the medical cannabis experiment in France will be extended by 6 months. This decision was announced during the Temporary Scientific Committee (CST) monitoring the experiment”, this Thursday, December 19, writes Univec, the industrial union for the valorization of hemp extracts.

The CST met in the morning, the decision was made by the resigning Minister of Health, Geneviève Darrieussecq, who found a way (a “cover letter”) to allow the 1,800 patients included in the experiment to continue receiving their treatment until July 1, 2025.

“Uncertainty major”

“The fate of patients remains suspended on a lasting political decision, and in particular on the next vote on the social security financing law for 2025, which must imperatively provide in the law once again for the extension of the experiment”, indicates Ludovic Rachou, president of Univec.

Because the decision of this December 19 leaves doubts hanging over the future: “It intervenes in fact in a “prospect of weaning or seeking alternatives” for patients, leaving major uncertainty hanging over their therapeutic future”, specifies the association.

The experiment is today reserved for patients suffering from serious pathologies: refractory neuropathic pain, severe epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, cancers, palliative care.