The release of the criminal court of Avignon (Vaucluse) sounds like a small victory for the defenders of the medical cannabis. “It’s a start for all the other patients”, welcomes Marc, the man concerned by this court decision, in La Provence.
This judgment is sufficiently exceptional to be relayed in the media. “It’s a decision that will count, it’s the fourth in France of this type”, according to the main interested party, judged for having consumed cannabis to support his illness. However, nothing says that the authorization granted to Marc sets a precedent. His situation is an exceptional case, some will object. Marc is one of the 6,000 people affected by Horton’s disease, an inflammatory condition of the blood vessels.
The defendant obtained the green light to continue smoking cannabis in order to relieve the severe pain linked to his illness which has affected him for 15 years. If the court has retained the necessary nature of this consumption, the court decisions are not all so lenient. As proof, last July, the Court of Appeal of Besançon (Doubs) sentenced a patient with myopathy to a suspended fine of 50 euros.
Supervised use of cannabis-based medicines
These divergent court decisions are a sign that the debate on the authorization of therapeutic cannabis in France continues to divide. In the pros, some researchers and health professionals are convinced of the virtues of cannabis to relieve the pain associated with certain diseases. In the camp of the against, those who fear that this authorization opens the way to a decriminalization of cannabis.
Officially, things are starting to move and lean towards the camp of the partisans. Since a decree published in the Official Journal on June 7, the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM) is empowered to issue marketing authorizations for products containing “cannabis or its derivatives”.
The use of cannabis-based drugs is therefore possible “for certain well-defined patients and according to very supervised methods”, specifies the Ministry of Health. the Sativex, a cannabis-based treatment intended for patients suffering from multiple sclerosis, could also be marketed in France from 2015.
From there to allowing patients to smoke cannabis at home, the margin is still wide.
