French government urged to speed up medical cannabis trials

By France 24

French deputies on Wednesday urged President Emmanuel Macron's government to stop dragging its feet over testing cannabis for medical use, saying its tardiness compared to other European countries was "worrying".

Presenting its interim report on the controversial question of legalising the therapeutic use of cannabis, a parliamentary committee said France should consider state-controlled production of the plant, which is currently banned in France.

"It's time that France emerged from the dark ages concerning cannabis, which is a drug but can also be a medicine," said Jean-Baptiste Moreau, the chief author of the report.

"For patients today, it is unbearable to have to wait a little longer," he said.

The government had failed "to act in a sufficiently pro-active way", the committee's president, Robin Reda, added at a news conference.