Cannabis legalisation in France, a hot topic throughout 2019

Cannabis legalisation has been making the headlines in France since early summer. To name just a few examples, François Michel-Lambert, MP of the green party UDE, has submitted a bill to the National Assembly proposing to legalise cannabis through a production, sale and consumption framework controlled by a new organism which would be named SECA (Société d'exploitation du cannabis); the French Agency for the Safety of Health Products (ANSM) has announced plans to implement a pilot plan for the introduction of medical cannabis in collaboration with the Department of Health, and outstanding figures from the world of politics, economics and healthcare, who form the Council of Economic Analysis (CAE) of the Prime Minister, have signed a manifesto – published in the weekly L'Obs – calling for the legalisation of the plant. 

Fact 1 – Sole binding move: Yes to medical cannabis in France, but on an experimental basis

Last September, the French Agency for the Safety of Health Products (ANSM) appointed a temporary expert committee (CSST) charged with examining the therapeutic value of cannabis, as well as with assessing the need, or otherwise, to legalise its medical use. Almost a year later, the ANSM has resolved to follow the CSST's recommendation to facilitate access to medical cannabis to certain patients, undertaking to collaborate with relevant bodies in the establishment of an experimental framework allowing its distribution in the country.

The CSST, created to advise the ANSM on medical cannabis, has reviewed the pros and cons of treating specific patient groups with cannabis several times, reporting the conclusions to the ANSM on three occasions. During their meetings, professionals from the world of pharmacology, neurology, oncology and pain management, amongst others, laid out the pros and cons of using cannabinoids in certain treatments, which were then translated into a report for presentation to the ANSM, always with favourable conclusions. Until this July, the ANSM had limited itself to take notice of the recommendations, without any changes to the scenario. Now, however, it seems determined to implement a pilot framework for the introduction of medical cannabis in France. 

The CSST had already recommended the use of cannabis in special clinical cases in December 2018, together with the implementation of a patient follow-up system and a national registry for assessing the risk/benefit ratio of cannabis-based treatments. The CSST identified the following conditions as likely to benefit from a cannabis treatment:

1. Refractory pain
2. Some forms of severe epilepsy
3. Diseases in the palliative phase
4. Multiple sclerosis-associated spasticity

The first stage of implementation of medical cannabis will take the shape of a pilot plan, which will aim at assessing real life situations in a controlled prescription and dispensing environment, as well as at measuring adherence of healthcare professionals and patients to the new framework. The project will also be the first in the country to gather data on the safety and efficiency of medical cannabis. To this end, the ANSM has recommended the appointment of a multidisciplinary scientific committee comprised of patients' and healthcare professionals' representatives that reports on the progress of the initiative. While the go-live date has not yet been revealed, according to the statement published on the ANSM website in June, the agency is committed to "work with relevant state services on the technical arrangements necessary for the implementation of the pilot plan."

Fact 2 – Influential voices take sides: 70 personalities from the world of politics, economics and healthcare call for the legalisation of cannabis in L'Obs

Under the title "This is why we want to legalise cannabis", a total of 70 professionals from politics, economics and healthcare signed an article, published in the weekly L'Obs on 19 June, calling for the legalisation of the plant. The front-page headline was as blunt as "Cannabis, legalise it now", and reflected the view of the members of the Council of Economic Analysis of the Prime Minister, Edouard Philippe, who far from being nobodies, have quite a say in public affairs.

The online version of the magazine published an extract of the article with the main arguments put forward by its authors in favour of the legalisation of cannabis. Conceding that the new legal framework should place protection of minors and public health and safety before any other interest, the group of experts says the repressive law of 1970 has failed to deter consumption, and recalls that France has the highest rate of cannabis use in the UE. They add that if use begins as an adult, when the brain is fully formed, cannabis is less harmful than alcohol. Also, drawing on data from US states where cannabis is allowed, the group is confident that legalisation would see crime drop.

Fact 3 – Discussing where it matters: A cannabis legalisation bill reaches the National Assembly

On 20 July – the day after the publication of the L'OBS article – François Michel-Lambert, PM of the green party UDE, tabled a bill in the National Assembly calling for the legalisation of cannabis. Backed by only 14 – from four different political parties – of the 577 members that make up the French House of Representatives, the draft text proposed a monopolistic, state-owned production and distribution model. On grounds that France's prohibitionist policy on cannabis is an abject failure, it also proposes the creation of a national body – the SECA (Société d'exploitation du cannabis) – entrusted with controlling the French cannabis market. 

While the Assembly has not discussed the proposal yet, its president, Richard Ferrand, said it's on the agenda, although he recalled that right now the government is not open to legislating on cannabis. 

Fact 4 – A little talked about issue: Paris to be pilot city for legal recreational cannabis?

While the Agency for the Safety of Health Products announced its medical cannabis pilot project, the Council of Paris debated the other dimension of cannabis – i.e. recreational use for adults – at the suggestion of the party Radicaux de Gauche Centre et Indépendants (RGCI). As reported by the daily paper Le Parisien, the members of the Council of Paris had agreed to vote on the possibility to submit a proposal to the Government for Paris to become a pilot city for legal recreational cannabis for adults. However, while the vote was scheduled to take place by 11 July, the Council has so far made no announcement regarding the conclusions reached.

Fact 5 – The power of entertainment: The Netflix series Family Business tells the story of a family that turns its butcher shop into a marijuana café after learning France has legalised cannabis

While the legalisation of cannabis is far from close in real-world France, in French fiction it is already a reality. Based around the business opportunities offered by the regularisation of the plant in France, the new Netflix French original series, Family Business, follows a family who runs a loss-making butcher shop and sees its economic problems solved by replacing meet with weed. 

Drawing inspiration from the business model of Dutch coffee shops, which the eldest son has got to know during a trip to Amsterdam, the family changes business and starts growing weed. Ironically, the idea hits the protagonist when, walking down the street, he comes across a copy of L'Obs informing that France has legalised cannabis.