Will the Legalization of Medical Cannabis in France be included in the annual budget for 2024?
Negotiations Underway to Include Medical Cannabis in France's Social Security Budget for 2024 Amidst Ongoing Obstacles.
With the PLFSS (Social Security Financing Bill) 2024 set to arrive before parliamentarians this autumn, negotiations are underway to determine which themes to include in next year’s Social Security budget, including medical cannabis.
The presence of a budget dedicated to the generalisation of medical cannabis in the PLFSS would ensure its continued existence. Its absence, while not signing its death warrant, would greatly complicate the arrival of medical cannabis in France.
More obstacles to overcome
From all the people we contacted, who wished to remain anonymous, the inclusion of medical cannabis is not self-evident, despite the very positive results of the various reports on the experiment.
Among the obstacles raised was the position of the Minister of the Interior, whose battle against drugs extends beyond the therapeutic and well-being considerations of cannabis- and hemp-based products.
To add to the complexity of the situation, the MILDECA (Interministerial Mission to Combat Drugs and Addictive Behavior), placed under the authority of the Office of the Prime Minister, is said to be playing spoilsport and is reluctant to the idea of legalising medical cannabis.
While the prospect of legalising medical cannabis is eagerly awaited by French patients, the various decision-makers are reportedly rather opposed to the generalisation of medical cannabis.
All we are told is that the French Ministry of Health would like to see a generalisation, the absence of which would be incomprehensible in view of the European panorama of medical cannabis, with over 20 countries having legalised some form of cannabis-based treatment.
And Germany, not content with being Europe’s leading country for medical cannabis, is currently embarking on its first phase of legalizing cannabis for adults.
End of experimentation: what next?
One of the questions nobody wants to answer is: what happens if medical cannabis isn’t made widely available?
What will happen to the patients currently included in the experiment, who have already had to cope with major product shortages? And, less vitally, what about the manufacturers who have already embarked on medical cannabis cultivation runs, for the time being limited to research, and whose flowers or flower extracts are now being destroyed while they await the right to supply them to patients?
According to our information, the inclusion or otherwise of medical cannabis in the PLFSS will be decided before September. For the rest, French patients will have to wait and see.
