Is CBD reimbursed in France? 0%, 65% or 100%
No. A CBD oil, flower or resin bought in a shop is never reimbursed, since it is not a medicine. In France, two cannabinoid-based products are reimbursed. Epidyolex, a cannabidiol medicine, is covered at 65% when a neurologist or a paediatric neurologist prescribes it, and the medicines of the medical cannabis pilot programme are covered at 100%, for patients already enrolled only.
Key takeaways
- A product is reimbursed only if it is an authorised medicine and has then been listed as reimbursable; shop CBD meets neither condition.
- A CBD oil bought in a shop or a pharmacy stays unreimbursable even with a prescription.
- A 100 ml bottle of Epidyolex costs €832.71 and is reimbursed at 65%.
- No new patients have been admitted to medical cannabis since 27 March 2024.
- Your top-up health policy pays for shop CBD only if your contract states it in writing.
Why shop CBD is not reimbursed
Only a medicine can be reimbursed. The product first needs a marketing authorisation (AMM in French), granted once its quality, efficacy and safety have been assessed. It then has to be entered on the list of reimbursable medicines at a set rate. A CBD oil or flower sold as a consumer product passes neither stage.
French health insurance (Assurance Maladie) makes the same point on its page about non-medical CBD, updated on 19 December 2025: these products "may not, under penalty of criminal sanctions, claim therapeutic properties". The page adds that no scientific study really confirms the benefits attributed to them. You will not find the sentence "CBD is not reimbursed" there, because the answer comes from the general legal regime and needs no CBD-specific rule.
A prescription makes no difference. A doctor may write "CBD oil" on one, yet the product still lacks a marketing authorisation and a reimbursement rate. In a pharmacy it is the same consumer product, sold at a freely set price, as our article on CBD in pharmacies explains.
Epidyolex: the only reimbursed cannabidiol medicine
Epidyolex is an oral solution with 100 mg of cannabidiol per millilitre. The European Medicines Agency gave it an authorisation valid throughout the EU on 19 September 2019. Its indications are narrow, from the age of 2 and always alongside other antiepileptic medicines: seizures linked to Lennox-Gastaut syndrome or Dravet syndrome, in combination with clobazam, and seizures of tuberous sclerosis complex.
Its conditions in France are listed in the French public medicines database.
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Presentation | 100 ml bottle with an oral syringe |
| Price | €832.71, including a €1.02 dispensing fee |
| Reimbursement rate | 65% |
| Prescription | Restricted to neurologists and paediatric neurologists, list I |
| Declared on the market | 21 December 2022 |
Take a bottle at €832.71: health insurance pays 65%, about €541. The other €291 is the co-payment (ticket modérateur), which falls to the patient unless long-term condition status or a top-up policy covers it, as described below.
Calling Epidyolex a "stronger CBD" misses the point. It is a pharmaceutical product, manufactured and controlled as one, and prescribed at a dose calculated from body weight. Its authorisation tells you nothing about a shop oil. The trials that led to it are covered in our article on Epidyolex and epilepsy.
Sativex, which combines THC and CBD, obtained a French marketing authorisation in January 2014. In 2019 the Health Ministry told a member of parliament that it had still not reached the market because no agreement had been found on its price.
Medical cannabis: 100%, for patients already enrolled
France's medical cannabis pilot programme began in March 2021. The ANSM file on medical cannabis, updated on 20 April 2026, states that enrolment closed on 27 March 2024 and that the programme ended on 31 December 2024. Under an order of 27 March 2024, these medicines are billed at the price it sets and are covered at 100% by health insurance.
Patients still being treated keep the same cover by way of derogation. That transition ends three months after the French National Authority for Health (HAS) publishes its opinion. The HAS received the request on 17 March 2025, and in September 2026 its page on cannabis-based medicines still showed no published opinion.
The permanent framework was notified to the European Commission on 20 March 2025 in the form of three draft texts. It plans medicines authorised for five years, renewable, reserved for patients who have exhausted other treatments and prescribed in hospital. No one can join the scheme at present, and shop products fall outside it. Our article on medical cannabis in France follows the timetable.
Long-term condition status and top-up insurance: who pays the rest
Under long-term condition status (ALD), the co-payment is waived for the conditions on the list of long-term conditions, and severe epilepsy is one of them. Care related to the condition is then reimbursed up to the full health insurance tariff. A few costs remain payable by the patient, such as the medical deductible and the flat-rate contribution.
For top-up health insurance (mutuelle), Article R871-2 of the Social Security Code requires so-called responsible contracts to cover the patient's entire co-payment, apart from the exceptions it lists. Outside ALD status, the top-up insurer should therefore pay the co-payment on a medicine reimbursed at 65%.
Shop CBD is a different matter: no rule obliges a top-up insurer to pay for a product that health insurance does not reimburse. Some contracts offer "wellness" or "alternative medicine" allowances, and each insurer decides what they include. We found no official source showing that these allowances extend to CBD products. Read the general terms before buying, and ask your insurer to answer in writing.
What to tell your doctor
Reimbursed or not, CBD can interfere with a treatment. The ANSM issued a warning on 11 March 2025 titled "Mixing CBD and medicines is never trivial". French poison control centres recorded 58 cases of interaction between CBD and medicines from 2017 to 2023. The agency names anticoagulants, antiepileptic medicines and an immunosuppressant, and its advice is direct: if you are on a treatment, tell your doctor that you use CBD or intend to.
The mechanism is explained in our article on CBD interactions with medicines. The CBD oils in the catalogue are consumer products, sold at the displayed prices and never reimbursed.
Frequently asked questions
No. Listing as reimbursable requires a marketing authorisation, and a CBD oil sold as a consumer product has none. Having a prescription leaves that unchanged.
Epidyolex, an oral solution of cannabidiol authorised in the EU since 19 September 2019. Prescribed by a neurologist or a paediatric neurologist for rare forms of epilepsy, it is reimbursed at 65%.
Yes, at 100%, but only for patients who joined the pilot programme before 27 March 2024. Their cover lasts until three months after the HAS opinion, which was still pending in September 2026.
Only when your contract says so explicitly, in a wellness allowance for instance, since no rule requires it. Get a written answer before you buy.
No. The place of purchase does not change the product: sold in a pharmacy, a CBD oil is still a consumer product with no marketing authorisation and no reimbursement rate.
Written by the Phytogrammes team
Each journal article draws on cited primary sources: ANSM, EFSA, EUR-Lex and peer-reviewed publications. Product profiles are distinguished from documented laboratory results. Our approach.
Article published on . CBD is not a medicine.