Новости/Аналитика

French growers are actively working to ensure that government officials prepare an appropriate regulatory framework that creates favorable conditions for national companies to operate in a high-margin market that exploits the therapeutic properties of the hemp plant.

The editors of the specialized electronic edition of national cannabis growers have more than once focused the attention of our respected readers and listeners on the fact that in economically developed countries of the world, issues related to amendments to legislation aimed at regulating the possibility of the widespread use of medical cannabis are considered based on the results of data obtained during the specialized pilot programs. We have already focused on the fact that "Denmark is extending the pilot program aimed at studying the need for the use of therapeutic properties of cannabis", described "Features of the" launch "of the cultivation of medical cannabis in France." Considering the success of the national cannabis industry in the field of application of the therapeutic properties of the hemp plant, as well as in search of the arguments put forward by our foreign colleagues to the officials of their countries for the preparation of a legal framework regulating the possibility of treatment / rehabilitation with the leaves and inflorescences of hemp rattany, the most informative are the arguments put forward by representatives of the profile association participating in a French pilot program to explore the therapeutic possibilities of medical cannabis.

A policy brief sent to the French Parliament by the association Santé France Cannabis (SFC) recommends "planning for a delay" in regulating the use of medical cannabis in the country for one year. The document prepared by the SFC was presented in the French Parliament on September 26 in order to initiate a discussion on this issue, including in order to demonstrate the shortcomings identified during the pilot project.

The paper prepared by the SFC proposes to postpone the scaling up from the local to the national level of the ongoing pilot project for one year in order to give the country's cannabis sector the time it needs to prepare for changes to the current legislation. There are concerns that "the widespread use of foreign hemp raw materials rich in therapeutically active elements or the expansion of the halo of conducting experiments in the current conditions will be favorable primarily for foreign companies to the detriment of French hemp growing." SFC specialists emphasize that the expansion of the halo and the number of participants in the pilot program will lead to the fact that they will no longer receive therapeutically active hemp raw materials for free.

According to the SFC, in the event that the use of medical cannabis is regulated after the end of the pilot project, from April 2023, the supply of consumers and patients will be mainly based on imported raw materials. Despite the fact that several national companies (for example, Alkion BioInnovations) are already operating in this segment of modern cannabis production in France, they will not yet be able to create serious competition for products that will be imported into the country, preventing the development of this segment of French cannabis production.

Commentary of the specialists of the “Ukrainian Industrial Hemp Association”

“Santé France Cannabis” is an association that brings together representatives of the emerging sector of medical cannabis consumers in France. The SFC is supporting a pilot program to explore the possibilities of using medical cannabis.

A pilot project to use the therapeutic properties of the hemp plant in France is due to end in March 2023. As a result of its implementation, one of the following decisions should be made:

- regulation of the legal use of medical cannabis;

- initiation of the second pilot project;

- refusal to regulate the possibility of widespread use of medical cannabis.

In France, the cultivation, import, export, and industrial and commercial use of technical cannabis for therapeutic purposes is now possible. That is why French growers are actively working to ensure that government officials prepare an appropriate regulatory framework that creates favorable conditions for national companies to operate in a high-margin market that exploits the therapeutic properties of the hemp plant. One of the manifestations of this kind of patriotism or pragmatism is the SFC initiative.