Tag: France

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The French CBD Market

Written by Marguerite Arnold on February 10, 2022. Posted in Business.

Highest French Court Freezes Ban on CBD flowers and leaves. Does this mean an ooh la la moment for the French CBD Biz? If not the European one beyond that?

The French have carved out a unique place in the European cannabis discussion, and further one that may well be emulated elsewhere. What is remarkable about such developments, however, is that while the French have some of the strictest laws in Europe about the plant, it is here that the CBD discussion is being moved forward in codified, legal decisions.

The Kanavape case, in other words, has only been the beginning of a dramatic about turn in French domestic policy about CBD. As a result of the same, the French government released new regulation on December 31, 2021. However, it was met with howls of discontent if not speedy legal action in response by the industry when it emerged that the marketing and sales of flowers and leaves would still be expressly interdit (forbidden). On January 24, the Conseil d’Etat, the highest administrative court in the country), agreed with the industry and froze the proposed ban.

This means that the French finally have a regulated CBD market for both flowers and products. It also, as a result, creates the first time that a European country (beyond Switzerland) has codified its hemp industry so concretely. To put this in the perspective this deserves – Germany, with the continent’s largest medical market, has still not figured out how to formally define CBD outside of the Narcotics Act.

To the extent that this discussion is likely to get a carveout in the upcoming drug reform conversation now afoot at the federal level politically, it is likely that the Germans will follow the French. To date, the issue of flower and leaf sales has been controversial here as well. The last German legal decision on hemp tea was in fact, indecisive.

The French movement on the same, in other words, is highly likely to influence not only the other largest economy in the region, but every other country as well. It may well also move the formal acceptance and clarification of at least CBD on a European level.

And that is a revolution that is way, way overdue.

Be sure to book tickets to the International Cannabis Business Conference when it returns to Barcelona this March!

How Long Will The Cannabis Fight Take In France?

Written by Marguerite Arnold on January 19, 2022. Posted in Politics.

The left-wing France Unbowed party is taking the fight to a still resistant government as recent polls show public opinion shifting towards cannabis legalization

Last week, French legislators discussed a bill to legalize cannabis. Put forward by the France Unbowed party or LFI, it is widely seen to be a legislative attempt to put the conversation in the national air rather than pass anything even though there was clear support for reform from five parliamentary groups including even the ruling party (LREM). The government so far has been widely resistant to full cannabis reform, implementing both a much-delayed medical trial only last year as well as finally regulating the CBD business which, as of January 7, will include the sale of flowers. This is a major victory over the government in the first week of the year as the country’s Supreme Court also just overturned the ban on cannabis flowers put forward by the government on December 30 in the plan to regulate the CBD industry.

The last such attempt put forward in 2014 was also rejected by the government. But times they are obviously a’changin’. Beyond the victory on CBD recently, as of June 2021, an Ifop survey showed that 51% of the French public was in favour of at least decriminalization – the highest number since the issue has been tracked (1970).

Things are certainly getting interesting in the French conversation. The question is, with the CBD conversation now formalized in France and a medical trial underway on a national level, how fast can cannabis reform happen on a national level here?

The Need for A Trigger…

It is not just France that is now on the edge of further reform. Germany has yet to even formalize its CBD industry, even though the new coalition here has made cannabis reform an issue for its plank of projects to get accomplished. These two countries, along with Italy, now also poised for a legislative mandate on the topic this year, are far more than say Malta or Spain, are absolutely the bellwether countries for cannabis reform in Europe, simply because they have the most economic clout.

That said, the inevitable is clearly in the air. Full and final cannabis reform is no longer an outlandish but rather a mainstream topic in every European country.

The question is what will be the exact trigger to force the widespread legalization of the plant. It could be Switzerland’s market, due to kick off this year. It could be that legalizing formal industries in places like Portugal and the seed market in Luxembourg will also pave a path.

But no matter what “it” is, at least talk of full and final reform will be abloom in every European political capital this spring.

Be sure to book your tickets to the International Cannabis Business Conference when it returns to Europe, starting with Barcelona in March!

France Formalizes Its CBD Rules – But The Fight Is Just Beginning

Written by Marguerite Arnold on January 12, 2022. Posted in Business.

The country issued new guidelines right before the new year – but while it spells good news for manufactured products, cultivators are up in arms.

In a significant move for not only France but a wider European conversation beyond that, the French authorities moved to formalize rules on CBD at a national level at the end of 2021. That they did so at the very end of the year, on December 30, has not quelled the already bubbling controversy.

Here is why. Broadly, the French Ministry of Solidarity and Health issued an order to implement Article R. 5132-86 of the Public Health code which now authorizes the CBD market. There are some winners in this – namely every producer who does not sell flowers directly (which includes herbal teas). The losers? Every cultivator and product producer who sells the leaves directly to the public, even though the regulation also allows the increase of THC in hemp cultivation from .02 to .03% as well.

That is a huge segment of the market – not only from a cultivator but also retail sales perspective. The professional organization of CBD Purveyors, the Union des Professionals du CBD, has stated that flower sales are currently 70% of their market, and of course is leading the charge against the new flower sale ban.

Importance In the Discussion

This is not the first time the strange path to legalization in France has sparked attention. The country has been moving achingly slowly forward to recognize medical use. In the meantime, CBD is being lumped, as it is in places like Germany, in an odd place where the raw flower is frequently also banned, outright. In Deutschland, hemp tea has also been on the front end of legal fights over the last few years that are still unresolved, even in the face of recreational reform simply because cannabis remains in the German Narcotics Act.

That said, the fact that now France (and Switzerland) have clearly amended their Narcotics Acts to allow the sale of both CBD and in Switzerland’s case THC, also spells an end to futile arguments on the German side of the border about how difficult dealing with this issue is. Namely, all that must be done is to do it, and further in a way that now three European countries have now done. See Malta.

It was also France where the Kannavape case (which this is also the direct result of) created a European precedent on the cross-border sale of CBD (and further for smoking).

It is in other words, no matter how strangely piecemeal, France, where the CBD market for Europe may first be nationally defined, despite all the kicking and screaming.

Be sure to book your tickets to the International Cannabis Business Conference as it returns to Barcelona, Berlin and Zurich in 2022!

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Former President Of France Francois Hollande Supports Adult Use Cannabis

Written by Marguerite Arnold on December 16, 2021. Posted in Politics.

While not willing to say he is “in favour” of consumption, he does believe that better control of the drug can be handled by legalization

In a sign that things are changing on the cannabis conversation even in France, which just this year reluctantly moved forward on a highly limited medical trial, Francois Hollande, who led the country between 2012 and 2017, came out with a statement in favour of the establishment of an adult-use market in the country.

Citing less his support for the industry and more as a common-sense one, designed to regulate the industry, prevent it from getting into the wrong hands, and making a dent on the black market.

The German Example

Citing the decision of Germany’s new “Traffic Light” Coalition to move forward with a recreational use plan, Hollande stressed that cannabis reform could not just be limited to a national discussion but rather tackled on a European level.

Hollande also believes that just decriminalizing the drug without providing for a regulated, legal market makes no sense. As he said in an interview with a European news organization, “As soon as it is legalized, there is no longer any reason to penalize, except those who could drive while having smoked or those who harm their health and the health of others by overconsuming.”

How Fast Will Reform Move in France?

France is one of the slowest moving European countries on the issue of formal reform – or at least it has been so far. Current President, Emanual Macron proposed earlier this year to launch a national debate on the issue. Perhaps the German decision to move forward will also speed this up now too.

Regardless, for a prominent former politician to take a stand on cannabis reform is a significant step, particularly given the fact that he pinned his logic on the German example.

The Great Teutonic Tipping Point for Cannabis?

It is very clear, regardless of how fast reform actually moves in France, or anywhere else in Europe for that matter, that recreational reform has now entered the mainstream debate. The German market will continue to drive the discussion forward – both on the medical and now on the recreational front.

And even if it is not next year, or the next several after that, the writing is on the wall. France will follow suit.

Make sure to stay on top of European developments in the fast-paced and changing cannabis industry by attending the International Cannabis Business Conference when it returns to Barcelona, Berlin and Zurich next year.

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French Medical Cannabis Trial Registers Its 1000th Patient

Written by Marguerite Arnold on December 1, 2021. Posted in Medical.

Seven months after the official debut of France’s medical program, the government has reached 1/3rd of its planned patient count. What next?

France has managed to keep a relatively low profile in the entire cannabis discussion, generally, despite all the furor now afoot in almost every country that surrounds it. It is not to say the French are inconsequential to the entire conversation. Indeed, a CBD vape case decided here is responsible for creating the first case law on the cross-continental transport and subsequent sale of legally produced product.

However, beyond this, and sadly, even on the medical side, the French have been missing from the discussion, and in a big way. Namely, seven months into the experiment, only 1/3rd of the total paltry study number to begin with have even been accepted in the now ongoing (and much delayed) trial. In contrast, Germany, which had about 800 patients at the time the law changed in 2017, had at least 8,000 patients of a first year’s total of between 12,000 and 20,000 incorporated into the formal program by the same period. Given the huge hurdles that still exist in Germany four years later and as the patient count tops six figures, this says a great deal about the hurdles now faced by the French.

Patient counts will continue to increase until September 2022 – which means that the government has just over 10 months to register the remaining 2/3rds of patients.

Covid is undoubtedly responsible – but beyond this, as every legalizing state and country knows, this is far from a fast process when done “officially,” and even more particularly for the first time.

That said, there is a bit of a silver lining. The quotas by patient indication and by doctor have been lifted. The criteria for access for those in palliative care and oncology have also been expanded.

There are only 48 general practitioners and 212 pharmacists who are now trained to prescribe and administer cannabis and a total of 1035 health professionals overall.

So far, 22% of patients have left the experiment due to adverse effects or inefficacy. There are, as a result, currently 779 active patients in the national trial.

One thing is for sure. The fact that the trial is already changing its official guidelines is a good sign. It means that the French, like the rest of the medically liberalizing planet, are realizing that preconceived notions about the drug, those who use it, and for what, are usually wrong, along with the “conventional wisdom.”

However, if one of the most cannabis-conservative countries in Europe so far can admit this, and adapt accordingly, it is also another sign that cannabis reform, and of all kinds, has landed in Europe, and will not be slowed.

Why not sponsor (and speak) at the International Cannabis Business Conference in Europe next year? Opportunities exist in Barcelona, Berlin and Zurich.

French Move Forward On CBD Cultivation

Written by Marguerite Arnold on June 2, 2021. Posted in Medical.

Could hemp become as French as frogs’ legs and brie?

It may be a bit too early to break out the champagne, but things are certainly appearing to move on the hemp front in France.

According to Le Figaro, the government is coming to an end of its six month plan to reverse the ban on hemp production. This comes after last November’s decisions that CBD is not a narcotic and further that the French-specific ban on so-called “Cannabis-Lite” – namely containing less than 0.2% THC could not be upheld.

The new regulations will authorize the industrial and commercial cultivation of hemp as well as the import and export of the plant. Significantly, the French legislation stretches to all parts of the hemp plant – provided that the THC is at the European level of tolerance for the same.

However, it is not all smooth sailing. Specifically, the sale and marketing of raw flowers for use in smoking or making tea will be specifically prohibited. This is being justified on the basis of “protecting public health.”

According to authorities, raw flowers are too often smoked – and further authorizing their consumption for any purpose would make it harder for the police to determine whether cannabis they come across is legitimate (hemp) or not.

The drafting of the new order is due to be finalized soon, according to the French media, whereupon it must be sent to the European Commission. The other European States will then have a six-month comment period before the new framework becomes legal.

What Does This Mean for Cannabis France as well as CBD Europe?

Clearly, the advance of the industrial hemp industry in France is a victory. That it is coming so soon after the initiation of the country’s first comprehensive medical trial kick-off is also encouraging.

However, the ban on raw flowers is a disturbing trend.

Many patients (for example) use raw flower for many purposes (including home extraction of cannabinoids in either tea or oil).

In France, unlike Germany, flower is certainly being put to the test. However, it is also clear that the French are taking cues from other countries in an effort to contain the entire conversation as one of a manufacturing or medical one.

How successful they will ultimately be, particularly given Luxembourg’s initiation of a recreational market by the end of the year remains to be seen.

One thing is clear. If France has been forced to move on CBD and medical use of cannabis, Europe is beginning to have its own watershed conversation about the plant uniformly and not just one country at a time.

Be sure to catch up on the latest moving developments in cannabis legalization when the International Cannabis Business Conference returns to Berlin this August!

French Multi-Party Parliamentary Report Calls For Cannabis Legalization

Written by Johnny Green on May 12, 2021. Posted in Politics.

France is home to the greatest cannabis consumption rate out of any of the countries on the European continent according to the World Health Organization. In fact, consumption rates in France are more than double the European average.

Historically, France was home to one of the harshest cannabis policies in Europe, although cannabis is now decriminalized for personal possession. People caught with a personal amount of cannabis in France are now subjected to a 200 euro fine.

For many in France, decriminalization is not good enough, and they are demanding that France legalize cannabis for adult use. One of those people is French lawmaker François-Michel Lambert, who recently used a cannabis joint as a visual aid to hammer home his point as first reported by Marijuana Moment:

A French lawmaker caused a stir on Tuesday when he brandished a marijuana joint on the floor of the National Assembly, denouncing the criminalization of cannabis and calling for a policy change.

Deputy François-Michel Lambert said prohibition “is a total failure” and that “legalization would make it possible to dry up trafficking, create tax revenues and create jobs” before showcasing a cup with a cannabis leaf on it and then pulling a joint from it.

“Other countries have chosen to face the problem rather than the ostrich policy” of France, the deputy said.

Per Marijuana Moment’s reporting, the move by François-Michel Lambert came a day before a report from the National Assembly called for adult-use legalization.

“For fifty years, prohibition has adopted an unattainable objective, without ever having the means to achieve its ambitions. Regulated legalization is the best way to regain control and protect the French.” the report stated.

Hopefully lawmakers head the advice from the report because cannabis prohibition is an epic public policy failure that has ruined way too many lives.

French Medical Cannabis Public Policy Experiment Is Underway

Written by Johnny Green on April 7, 2021. Posted in Medical.

At one point France had one of the worst cannabis policies in Europe, with personal possession carrying a penalty of jail time and thousands of dollars in fines.

Fortunately, that changed recently and now cannabis possession is decriminalized and carries a much lower fine. It’s obviously not as good as outright legalization, but it’s certainly an improvement compared to the previous policy.

The nation-wide decriminalization policy change came after a public policy experiment in which certain parts of France instituted a temporary decriminalization policy, and after that proved to be successful, the policy was enacted across France.

Another cannabis-related public policy experiment is underway in France, this time focusing on medical cannabis. Per ABC:

France’s government launched a two-year nationwide experiment with medical marijuana Friday with a view to its eventual legalization.

Some 3,000 patients around the country will be given medical cannabis treatments and their health will be monitored by the national medicines watchdog, the Health Ministry said in a statement. The first prescription was issued Friday at the Clermont-Ferrand University Hospital in southern France.

The goal is to gather data about the effectiveness and safety of therapeutic marijuana, and to prepare eventual logistical circuits for future distribution, the ministry said.

If lawmakers and regulators in France take a truly objective approach to this experiment, it’s virtually guaranteed that the experiment will prove to be successful.

After all, a number of countries have already legalized cannabis for medical use, including and especially in Europe. If medical cannabis can work in those countries, then so too can it work in France.

The suffering patients in France deserve to have safe, legal access to a proven medicine, and to be governed by cannabis policies that are based on science, logic, and compassion.

A French Lawmaker Suggests Cannabis Legalization Via Referendum

Written by Johnny Green on March 3, 2021. Posted in Politics.

Momentum for adult-use cannabis legalization is building, with many countries on the European continent exploring the idea of reforming their cannabis policies to permit adult-use cannabis.

One country that seems to be moving in the right direction is France, which fairly recently updated its cannabis policy to issue fines instead of jail time for personal cannabis possession.

Personal cannabis possession now results in a 200 euro fine instead of the previous penalty of up to a year in jail and a 3,750 euro fine.

Adult-use cannabis legalization faces an uphill battle in France, however, a freshly proposed idea could gain traction. Per LCI:

Will the French be led to decide one day, by referendum, the burning question of recreational cannabis? In any case, this is a hypothesis formulated on Sunday February 28 by the deputy LaREM of the Creuse Jean-Baptiste Moreau, rapporteur for an information mission on the subject.

“We will have to launch a real popular consultation and why not a referendum,” said the latter, this Sunday on France Info. Supporter of legalization to regulate the consumption of cannabis, especially among young people, the deputy believes “that we really need a debate to enlighten citizens on this topic” . “Today, we are facing a ban, but a record consumption. So the situation is not sustainable.”

As alluded to by the lawmaker that proposed the referendum approach, France is experiencing record-levels for cannabis consumption. Consumptions levels in France are greater than in any other European nation.

Cannabis decriminalization is obviously better than locking people up for cannabis, however, it’s not nearly enough. France needs to get on the right side of history and legalize cannabis for adult-use and let the legal cannabis industry reach its full potential.

Letting voters decide would all but guarantee that France approves cannabis legalization depending on the specific provisions of the measure being proposed. Hopefully voters get that chance.