No reason to oppose it, according to the Ethics and Cancer Committee

There is no reason to oppose the use of therapeutic cannabis for very sick adults who claim to benefit from it, even if this benefit has not been scientifically proven. This is the conclusion of the "Ethics and Cancer" committee, an advisory body created in 2008 by the Minister of Health Roselyne Bachelot.

A woman with cancer, who says that cannabis relieves her pain and nausea, had referred the matter to the committee. She wanted to know if the prohibition of cannabis in a therapeutic context, which she compared to a "refusal of care", was ethical or not.

A practice framed by the public services?

Despite insufficient data on the positive effects of cannabis, the committee was "unable to identify any adverse effects that were serious enough to counter such a practice". The body still recommends not smoking it and favoring other forms of consumption.

Thus, access to cannabis (or its active substances) should be "supervised by the health authorities, in order to provide patients with the necessary guarantees as to the quality, the concentrations and the optimal use conditions. Substances. This would prevent sick people from using parallel circuits, thus risking criminal prosecution.

A committee of experts from the French Medicines Agency (ANSM) will submit by the end of the year its first conclusions on the importance of setting up in France access to therapeutic cannabis.