In 2021, Nadine Attal was on the scientific committee that was putting in place France's first large-scale experiment with medical marijuana, recruiting patients, doctors and pharmacists to see how it could be prescribed and used in the health system. Three years later, when it was becoming clear that the experiment would end without a legalization of the use of medical marijuana, Attal had to break the news to her patients.
"I wanted them to receive the information from me because I did not want them to learn it through the media," she said.
"So we sent them letters, to inform them. And they are extremely unhappy. They're extremely emotional. They are going to pharmacies, weeping, crying. Some say: 'What are we going to do?' It was more successful among pharmacists than among primary care physicians in the Paris area, but on the whole, if you look at the general results, it was generally positive. And I think the ANSM is pleased about the results," said Attal.
Indeed, in 2023 after a green light from the agency, the health minister at the time wrote an extension of the experiment into the 2024 social security budget.
Most everyone involved in the experiment assumed that medical marijuana would be authorised by the end of 2024, but it has stalled, likely falling by the wayside in the wake of France's political instability – eight health ministers have been appointed since the start of the study in 2021.
Read more at RFI