Hallucinating! A lawyer has just discovered a flaw in the Health Code: tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive component of cannabis, is authorized since 2007, without anyone having realized until now. Contradicting the government's repressive policy.
THC PERMITTED IN ITS "PURE" FORM?
Pretty dumpling in the regulation on cannabis. While the French government maintains the prohibition of this plant, the use of its main psychoactive molecule, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), «was partly legalized many years ago in the greatest secrecy».
He is a lawyer, Renaud Colson, lecturer at the University of Nantes and researcher at the University Institute on Addictions in Montreal, Canada, who discovered the flaw in the code of public health. He exposed "This surprising finding" Friday, in a collection article Dalloz, the most well-known French legal publication to which Libération had access.
If cannabis (seeds, stems, flowers and leaves) and its resin (hashish) remain prohibited, certain active ingredients of the plant are however authorized. This is particularly the case with cannabidiol (CBD), provided that it is extracted from hemp plants with a THC content of less than 0,2%. This is why CBD-based products have proliferated on the French market for several months: capsules, herbal teas, liquid for electronic cigarettes, cosmetic balms, sweets ... According to several studies, cannabidiol, with calming effects, is effective in relieving various pathologies, including multiple sclerosis.
The novelty is that THC also seems to be authorized by law. On condition of being in a chemically pure form, that is to say not associated with other 
molecules normally found in cannabis. Soon e-liquid or pills that would contain this substance, deemed to make its users "stones"?
In theory, it's possible, explains Renaud Colson. The researcher points out that Article R. 5132-86 of the Public Health Code first authorized the «delta-9-synthetic tetrahydrocannabinol», in 2004, probably to allow the importation of certain drugs. In particular, Marinol, legal in the United States since 1986, which helps AIDS and cancer patients to better endure their treatments. However, an update of the text in 2007 removed the mention «of synthesis», paving the way for the authorization of THC in its natural form.
The academic asks himself: this "grooming» does it correspond to a «concern for linguistic economy » or "Perspective of the introduction of drugs containing delta-9-THC» ? As a reminder, despite this legal possibility, no cannabis treatment is put into circulation on the French market, with the exception of Sativex, which can theoretically be prescribed by doctors but is not available in pharmacies.
Contacted by Libération, Renaud Colson explains what kind of creation we could find on the shelves thanks to the formulation of the health code: «Products combining natural THC and CBD, that is to say reconstituted cannabis that would present the various characteristics of the product without appearing to be.» The researcher specifies, however, that there is «business ventures are unlikely to enter the industry, except perhaps for adventurers ready to engage in a judicial fight with uncertain outcomes». Following the revelation of this error of the legislator more than ten years old, the administration should react and «a rectifying regulation will probably be published shortly».
A QUALITY PIETRE OF THE LAW OF DRUGS IN FRANCE!
«This regulatory inconsistency may make you smile, but it illustrates the poor technical quality of drug law and the apparent inability of the authorities to keep up with the technical developments that characterize the cannabis market.», adds the lawyer, who says he is in favor of rigorous regulation of narcotics, like many associations including those representing patients awaiting therapeutic cannabis: «Drugs are dangerous but prohibition makes them even more dangerous. "
Since coming to power in May 2017 and in the continuity of his predecessors, the government of Edouard Philippe has not shown any sign of openness on the subject, maintaining the ban on the production, sale and consumption of cannabis and its resin. The only novelty in the repressive arsenal envisaged by a parliamentary report issued in January, which will be discussed by parliament this spring: hemp users could be subject to a fine of 300 euros if they agree to give up going past a judge. Far from being "decriminalized", the use of cannabis remains a crime punishable by one year in prison.
Source : Liberation.fr/
