Question 16387 — health

Summary

Mr. Gaël Le Bohec draws the attention of the Minister of Solidarity and Health to the experimentation of the therapeutic use of cannabis envisaged from the end of 2019. On December 13, 2018, a group of independent experts brought together by the National Medicines Safety Agency (ANSM), the Temporary Specialized Scientific Committee (CSST), considered "relevant to authorize the use of cannabis for therapeutic purposes [...] in certain clinical situations and in the event of insufficient relief or poor tolerance of therapies, whether medicinal or not. Affirming that it had “subscribed to the initial conclusions of the group of independent experts” in a press release released on December 27, 2018, the ANSM announced that it was considering the implementation of an experiment “aimed at establishing a global framework for this use for patients in France”. Thus, the ANSM declared itself favorable to the use of cannabis in therapeutic situations retained by the CSST, that is to say in cases of: pain refractory to therapy, certain forms of severe epilepsy, in the context of supportive care in oncology, in palliative situations, and in the case of pain linked to multiple sclerosis. The experimentation with therapeutic cannabis, as envisaged by the ANSM, will be very supervised. She doesn't will not concern smoked forms, the committee of experts having ruled it out because of the harmful effects on health that its combustion would cause. On the other hand, the CSST will have to define the dose and the method of administration (using a spray, by inhalation, by capsule, by drops or suppositories or even by oils or even through the application of a patch in particular). Furthermore, the CSST will require the keeping of a register in order to evaluate the benefits but also the risks associated with the use of therapeutic cannabis. It will define the qualified places for the distribution of the substance (either by general practitioners or by specialists). Finally, the experts will have to establish a price and under what conditions it can be reimbursed by social security. Currently, around thirty countries authorize medical cannabis. It was recently legalized in United Kingdom (in November 2018), is authorized in around twenty countries in Europe (Switzerland, Croatia, Norway, Israel, Turkey), in several American states and in Canada. Indeed, the cultivation of cannabis, although permitted in France, retains significant room for progress due to the fact that the therapeutic use of the substance is not legal. Authorizing this therapeutic use in France would thus make it possible to develop a real sector French. Furthermore, it should be noted that the French indicate that they are obliged to import this type of product to meet their medical needs. Also, he would like to know the deadline that the Government intends to grant to the ANSM to enable it to render its conclusions on a subject which is likely to provide a response to economic, but also health and societal, issues.

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