France is currently working toward the eventual launch of its official medical cannabis program, and a new update from the French National Medicines Safety Agency (ANSM) recently announced that access to cannabis flower is not currently included.

France’s medical cannabis experiment began in August 2021, and 2024 is set to be the last year of the experiment, while patients will only be accepted if they applied prior to March 26, 2024. The official launch of the country’s medical cannabis program is set to occur sometime in 2025.

ANSM published an update on Feb. 20, explaining that with an end date for patient applications, there will be an end to access of cannabis flower as well. “Medicines in the form of flowers (flowering tops to be inhaled) will cease to be made available in the coming weeks,” ANSM stated. “Prescribing doctors must therefore gradually stop flower treatment for their patients and not initiate new treatments with this form. Guidelines have been distributed to healthcare professionals.”

After March 26, the program will enter a transition period until the official launch of the French medical cannabis program occurs in 2025.

For now, ANSM is recommending that healthcare professionals “implement the gradual cessation of flower treatments” for their patients, and not “initiate new flower treatments.” Likewise, ANSM is recommending that patients who utilize cannabis flower to seek out assistance from their medical practitioners to adjust their treatment accordingly.

ANSM stated that over the course of the last three years, a total of 3,035 people have participated in the experiment, and 1,842 participants are currently being treated. “The data collected during the first two years of the experiment were evaluated by various studies,” ANSM explained. “They show the effectiveness of medical cannabis in all indications of the experiment, maintained over several months in certain patients, as well as a secure and operational prescription and delivery circuit.”

Aurora Cannabis is the only company approved by ANSM to supply cannabis flower for the program, which first began in August 2021. “The first prescriptions of dried medical cannabis as part of the French pilot program are a significant step toward providing access to patients and will support the destigmatization of medical cannabis in France,” Aurora Cannabis CEO Miguel Marin said at the time. Aurora supplied three different types of flower: one high-THC flower, one balanced THC/CBD flower, and one high-CBD flower.

On December 26, 2023, the French social security financing law was passed. It established that ANSM would authorize medical cannabis use for five years, meaning that patients will be allowed to continue their medical cannabis prescriptions going forward (minus the access to flower).

The decision to end supply of medical cannabis has been met with opposition. According to Business of Cannabis, Dr. Nicholas Authier was involved with the medical cannabis experiment program, and condemns the sudden change. “What surprises us as doctors is the brutality of the decision,” Authier said. “We thought we would have time to gradually stop therapy. Stopping a treatment taken for several years cannot be done over two weeks, but over several months. This could have a significant impact on the pain felt by patients.”

Currently, it is unclear if medical cannabis flower will be brought back after the program officially launches in 2025. According to the French government, it “is explained by the wish of the manufacturer [Aurora Cannabis] not to continue the supply of products.” All flower provided by Aurora Cannabis during the pilot program was free, so it makes sense that the company would want to cease providing free flower now that the experiment is ending.

While France continues to work out its anticipated medical cannabis program, the German parliament recently legalized adult-use cannabis. As of April 1, the law allows anyone over 18 to possess cannabis in public up to 25 grams, or up to 50 grams at home.

After July 1, cannabis social clubs will be available only to German consumers, and each club can serve up to 500 members. The clubs will be allowed to grow and distribute cannabis to its members, but currently the clubs are the only source of access for consumers. There are not licensed shops or pharmacies that consumers will be able to purchase cannabis from. However, adults are permitted to grow up to three cannabis plants per household.

Germany is now the third European country to legalize adult-use cannabis. The first was Malta, which legalized both use and possession in December 2021, followed by Luxembourg in June 2023.

Cannabis brands in the U.S. have invested interest in expanding into Europe as cannabis becomes legalized. Recently, U.S.-based edibles company, Wana Brands announced a partnership with Alpen Group, which is a vertically integrated company based in Switzerland. “Since Wana Brands was established in Colorado’s budding market in 2010, our mission has been to pioneer our presence in emerging markets. This vision has now taken us across the Atlantic to Switzerland, marking 14 years of expansive growth. Our collaboration with Alpen Group, a company that mirrors our commitment to quality, positions us to become the pioneering American cannabis edibles brand in the European Union’s adult-use market,” said co-founder and CEO of Wana Brands, Nancy Whiteman.

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For Americans, European—especially French—politics are generally a bit strange. Of course, the same could be said in reverse.

Regardless, France, one of the largest and most influential countries in Europe, is headed back to the polls on April 24 to elect a new president. Whomever wins will certainly have an impact on cannabis reform in both France, and beyond that, the EU. However, given the candidates’ track record on the issue so far, whoever wins will not take bold steps forward on the issue. 

At best, it will be more of the status quo. At worst, it could herald a new Drug War.

The rivals for the top spot are the sitting president, Emmanuel Macron, a former banker and political centrist who has played it safe on this issue since he was first elected in 2017 and Marine Le Pen, a female version of Donald Trump if there ever was one, starting with being the national president of the far-right National Front (which changed its name to the National Rally) from 2011-2021.

The two went head-to-head in the first round of the French election for president and emerged as the two politicians with the highest votes in April.

How will the situation change after the second runoff, in a country with some of the harshest laws against cannabis in Europe still on the books, but now in its second year of a national medical trial?

Macron and Cannabis

Rather ironically, if not tragically, as the child of both a physician and a professor of neurology, Macron has largely been absent on the discussion of cannabis reform in France. However, more telling is his distinguished career at the nosebleed level of French politics ever since he entered as Deputy Secretary-General of the Elysée, a senior role on then-President Francois Hollande’s staff. 

He generally sits on the cutting edge of “done and dusted” when it comes to cannabis reform—and that has shown up in the slow pace of change he has advocated so far, starting with the implementation of the national medical trial which kicked off in 2021 (delayed for a full year, in part thanks to political intransigence as much as COVID).

He has, however, specifically ruled out legalizing the recreational use of cannabis while he is in office.

Marine Le Pen and Cannabis

As most right-wingers are, Le Pen is vehemently opposed to the legalization of cannabis. According to her, this route is “obviously not the solution.” She has also said things like “those who believe that by legalizing cannabis, dealers will become melon producers… are at best naive, at worst worrying.” She obviously does not understand the business, nor has she made any attempt to. To her, legalization, like immigration, is dangerous to the identity and soul of the French people.

If she is elected, expect another Drug War. She has already called for the same.

Why is France So Important in European Cannabis Reform?

France sits in an interesting place when it comes to the legalization discussion. The country may be the largest hemp producer in Europe, but it has been decidedly late to the party when it comes to even accepting the medical efficacy of cannabis. This is despite the fact that cannabis is one of the most popular “illegal drugs” in the country—and has been for a long time. Indeed, during Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt in 1798, French troops resorted to the use of hash because alcohol was not widely available, and ignored the national ban implemented in October 1800.

During the mid-1800s, hash became a popular drug for the cafe and intellectual set and has never really gone out of style, despite its modern criminalization in 1970. The country also banned the use of cannabis for medical purposes specifically in 1953. 

As of late 2018, a national poll found that nine out of 10 French people were in favor of legalizing medical use, and 51% of the population supported recreational reform.

What is Likely to Happen with French Cannabis

While it is impossible to accurately predict the outcome of the election, according to the most recent data, Macron looks likely to win a second term and by a fairly comfortable margin. Le Pen’s strident background, anti-EU record, as well as the revelation that she is being accused of embezzlement of about $700,000 by the EU anti-fraud office, is not helping matters.

If Macron, as expected, does win a second term, however, do not expect him (or France) to play a leading role in the legalization debate in Europe at least by positive steps taken by national leaders. This is a shame. However, given the movement on reform in Europe, not to mention the regional impact of the KanaVape case which ended up establishing the legality of cross border trade of CBD, this does not mean France will end up sitting this one out entirely.

Macron usually is a political animal in all that he does. And the rising tide of voices pushing for cannabis reform, both in France and beyond that, the EU, will not be something he will actively fight. He may not lead the calls for either greater medical reform, much less recreational cannabis legalization, but he will certainly follow the herd.

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As with many things in the cannabis revolution, there are moments when achieved reform or market creation feels bittersweet. Certainly, most within this industry, having attained a hard fought and well-deserved, even litigated, or legislative victory have also had the experience of realizing that such a development is both a step forward but also two back. 

Thus is the case in France right now.

On one hand, the order by the French Ministry of Solidarity and Health, issued on December 30, 2021, implementing Article R.5132-86 of the Public Health Code is a victory for the industry. In direct response to the KanaVape case, where the European Court of Justice decreed that imported CBD sold in France (and produced elsewhere in the European Union (EU)) was legal and by extension that the cannabinoid was not a narcotic, the French government has essentially enshrined an EU decision into French law.

Namely, that CBD can be sold and further that it is clearly not a narcotic.

However, it is what forms that cannabis could be available to consumers that are creating consternation if not a direct rebellion from some in the industry.

The Basics

Here is what the new order does. It legalizes the CBD industry and products. Here is the bad news. It specifically bans the retail sale of cannabis flower. This includes the smokable and tea varieties.

The positives? This development means that the purveyors of any CBD containing product that has been certified in the required regulatory pathways are finally in a position where there is a legal market for their products. 

No French police raids on grocery stores for CBD cookies loom in the horizon as a result. 

Merci beaucoup.

On the other hand, here is the merde a la mode.

The order is devastating to hemp producers and small stores who sell flower and products that contain the same (like hemp tea). While the legal limit for THC in hemp was also raised (from 0.02 percent to 0.03 percent), this means that cultivators must rely only on B2B sales to those who will further transform (usually extract) the CBD for use in other products (from cosmetics to food).

The new order also does not move CBD out of the Novel Food category. This could also be a ripe territory for legal challenges, particularly for CBD cultivated in France itself. However, given the blow just directed in the direction of the French cultivation industry, a by-product of this decision could very well move cultivation of even hemp outside the country’s borders.

A Whimper Rather than a Bang

The bottom line is that this development is hardly a French Revolution on CBD. Further it may well be a cynical move by French President Emmanuel Macron, who as of January 1 took over the next six month tenure as the President of the EU on his way to facing national voters in the near future. Namely, inch a conversation which is much despised at the nosebleed level of European politics only as far forward as absolutely necessary.

Indeed, this kind of unfortunate mindset is still much in keeping with the general attitude about cannabis cultivation, even of the medical kind, in Europe. Politicians in Germany were so opposed to legalizing home grow that they banned even registered German pharmaceutical firms from participating in the country’s first cultivation bid for the regulated pharmaceutical market. Beyond that, there are still many questions still open on the hemp side of the conversation.

It is trickle down reform and of course, as a result, will be fought, again, in court.

The Industry Strikes Back?

On January 3, industry groups including the hemp union and the trade association of CBD sellers, the Union des Professionals du CBD, for whom flower sales can represent as much as 80 percent of their business, issued a challenge to the new order. They are asking the government to suspend the same because at an EU level, there is no distinction between flower and extract. The application was submitted to the highest administrative court in France—the Council of State. It has so far not been rejected (meaning that the court could side with the industry).

Indeed, many on the ground feel that this is just another way of setting back the industry if not reform itself—and further apparently fairly similarly at the nosebleed level of European politics. For example, the discussion about the sales of both flower and CBD containing products has also been contentious in places like Germany (which has seen both police and court action against firms selling either or). In the UK, the sale of the same is explicitly banned. 

Yet this is not the trend in Europe. In most places, although not explicitly stated as such as in Belgium and Luxembourg, CBD flower is more or less treated like tobacco. In both Malta and Italy, home grow is also now explicitly allowed—even if just of the hemp variety. Indeed, that is one of the more intriguing aspects still outstanding of the KanaVape case (namely that the imported extract at the centre of all the hullabaloo was for inhalation). 

Obviously, since 2017 in Germany, there are very clearly medical flower sales that are smoked by patients and nobody is talking (yet) about removing flower from the high THC, adult-use market, coming hopefully now sooner than later aus Deutschland. There is also no guarantee that those patients now participating in French trials are only consuming their dispensed flower by approved medical vape.

Regardless, no matter the hypocrisies and inconsistencies, on both the smoking argument, and of course the perennial pushback from the police (on issues from not being able to tell the difference on the street, to driving issues), these are the issues much in the room across the European discussion right now. This newest development in France is no exception.

Further, the underlying assumption being made about even CBD flower is also highly significant. Not only does it rule out the opportunity of consumers and patients to make their own products using extraction methods, but it also continues to categorize all cannabis flowers in a highly harmful category.

This is concerning for two reasons. The first, obviously, is that this is potentially a major blow to the hemp industry in France, an industry with about $180 million in sales last year. More worryingly, it may also have an impact far beyond French borders. European countries are looking to each other to figure out a pathway to legalization that can be both accepted and implemented given the current state of international regulations on cannabis. Namely the still unchanged classification of cannabis and cannabinoids by the UN as a Schedule I drug.

Indeed, the many wrinkles in the path towards even CBD legalization seen in France, among other EU countries, are just a small precursor to the now looming fight over THC.

It is for all these reasons that the hemp industry at both the French and increasingly European level is watching this case actively, if not preparing strategies on how to fight back not only on the ground in France, but use similar tactics unleashed locally in every sovereign nation in Europe.

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