Therapeutic cannabis may soon be legally available in France to hundreds of thousands of patients suffering from serious pain caused by illness. According to patient groups, somewhere between 300,000 and 1 million patients could be eligible to its use.
“There will be about two years of experimentation with therapeutic cannabis, beginning as soon as the health ministry gives the green light,” Professor Nicolas Authier, the head of pharmacology at Clermont-Ferrand University Hospital Centre’s pain clinic, told FRANCE 24. Authier heads the committee of experts charged by the National Agency for the Safety of Health Products of evaluating the practical arrangements for the distribution of medical marijuana. The committee’s report will be released on June 26.