there is no reason to oppose it for the Ethics and Cancer Committee

An advisory body did not find any reason to oppose the use of the cannabis adults with serious illness who claim to benefit, even if the latter is not rigorously demonstrated. Attainment of a Cancer, a patient says that the consumption of this product relieves her pain intense and chronic and its nausea; she had questioned the Committee about the ethical nature or otherwise of the prohibition of cannabis in a therapeutic context. It compares the current ban to " refusal of care Said Tuesday the Committee chaired by Professor Axel Kahn, geneticist and honorary president of the University Paris-Descartes.

Despite the " still insufficient data On the therapeutic effects of cannabis, the Committee focused on whether there are ethical reasons to oppose the use of cannabis by patients who say they are relieved. " None of the arguments possibly against such consumption appeared to him to be able to continue to ban it. "He says. " In particular, he was unable to identify any adverse effects that were serious enough to counteract such practice by adults with serious, life-threatening illnesses who claim to benefit from it. ". However, he recommends not to smoke it and to favor other forms of consumption.

Framing access to therapeutic cannabis

According to the Committee, whose opinion is available online (ethique-cancer.fr), access to cannabis or its active substances should be may 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 of cannabis or its active substances ".

This " supervision would also allow sick people to dispense with the use of parallel circuits To get them and " would also avoid the risk of criminal prosecution for their consumption ". The League against Cancer is the origin of the creation of the Ethics and Cancer Committee, established in 2008 by Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin, then Minister of Health. A committee of experts from the French Medicines Agency (ANSM) will give its first conclusions by the end of the year on the interest of setting up access to therapeutic cannabis in France.

Therapeutic cannabis: France still reluctant

AFP article, released on 13/03/2013

Cannabis has therapeutic properties for certain diseases such as multiple sclerosis, theepilepsy or cancer. However, in France, the debate on "recreational" cannabis blurs the tracks and limits its use: only one drug is available, Marinol (the commercial name of dronabinol), which is not prescribed by doctors. Will France catch up with its European partners?

Interest in the cannabis, Or Indian hemp, used as medicinal plant since ancient Egypt, was revived in the 1990s by the discovery of an badogue made by the body. Indeed, the cannabinoid endogenous is present in the brain Men as animals.

Since then, dozens of studies have confirmed the benefit of the therapeutic cannabis in several cases: muscle spasms in multiple sclerosis and epilepsy, chronic pain in certain pathologies neurological, stimulation of the appetite or prevention nausea and vomiting in people with cancer. In addition, cannabis may be useful in the treatment ofanorexia, and even have a positive effect on theinflammation or on the arterial pressure. Research is continuing to confirm its therapeutic interest.

Therapeutic cannabis, a subject still taboo in France

Yet, although the medicinal virtues of cannabis are increasingly recognized by the scientific community, its use in France remains a largely taboo subject. "The problem is the representation of the general public about the dangers of cannabis"explains Professor Michel Reynaud, head of the addictology department of the Paul Brousse Hospital in Villejuif, while regretting that the latest scientific data are not sufficiently taken into account in France.

Indeed, while the medical use of cannabis is already a reality in several European countries including Germany, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands or the United Kingdom, as well as Australia, Canada and several US states, France remains extremely reluctant. One derivative cannabinoid, the Marinol (trade name dronabinol), can currently be prescribed for the treatment of chronic pain. This can be done within the framework of a temporary authorization of use, a special procedure reserved for pathologies for which there is no appropriate treatment.

No other cannabinoid derivative on the French market in view

In addition, the vast controversy over the legalization of recreational cannabis further blurs the debate, and doctors are reluctant to prescribe dronabinol. "The positions are not rational", says Professor Reynaud, who recognizes that many doctors react like the general public on this issue. The Ministry of Health, however, took a small step last month by asking the drug agency (ANSM) to study the file of Sativex (Bayer), a spray based on cannabis derivatives. It is already available in most European countries to relieve patients with multiple sclerosis. But for an application file tomarketing authorization may be filed with the ANSM, it should first amend a decree prohibiting the use of cannabis derivatives for therapeutic purposes.

The use of cannabis in treatment in France has a bad reputation for the moment, and therefore remains difficult. France's delay in this area highlights the need and importance of diffusion scientific information to the general public.

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