Italy has passed a decree that prohibits the cultivation of CBD crops without authorisation from the country’s Ministry of Health.
CBD cultivation has been legal in Italy since 2016 after a unanimous vote in parliament. However, this month the Conference of State and Regions adopted a Ministerial Decree which now prohibits the crop’s cultivation.
Farmers, which until have been allowed to grow crops containing a limit of 0.2 to 0.5 per cent THC, will only be able to cultivate hemp crops unless given authorisation from the Ministry of Health. The ruling mirrors the current law surrounding the cultivation of higher THC cannabis crops for medical purposes.
With CBD available in shops across the country, the move is one in complete contrast to the direction of the rest of Europe, bar France, which recently passed a decree banning the sale of CBD flowers to consumers.
It will also put the entirety of Italy’s CBD supply chain at risk, says president of Italy’s cannabis referendum committee ReferendumCannabis and co-founder of Associazione Luca Coscioni, Marco Perduca.
Speaking to Cannabis Wealth, Perduca commented: “This has always been in the back of the centre right’s mind.
“The Ministerial Decree which is another vehicle to make law – even if it’s more on the administrative rather than and the lawmaking level – in which they re-included plans for reducing CBD under the regular rules set by the text on all drugs.”
ReferendumCannabis is currently trying to trigger a referendum to amend the wording of this text which would enable the personal cultivation of psychotropic substances.
“This will imply for those already in the business and the newcomers, to seek a permit from the Ministry of Health, which per se will not be a problem. But why would you have to ask, or re-ask permission for a well-established enterprise, to a ministry that has nothing to do with the oils, soaps and edibles that are produced using some CBD and a very minimal percentage of THC?”
Perduca highlights a debate is set with the president of the Agriculture Committee on the matter.
“It’s an interpretation of the law. It is not opinion-makers that make interpretations of the law – it is a judge. So, if you have the police that come to your shop, or to your house or to your farm and would like to know more on what you are producing or selling, they can confiscate everything and block your activity until further notice.
“This is an additional burden on an already not-working system of justice. It is also a sort of CBD scare that has been launched against in particular shops and entrepreneurs – about 10,000 people that work in 3000 Small and Medium Enterprises which generate around €40m per year.
“It’s an important part of our agricultural economy, and it’s mainly young people that invest in these kinds of enterprises.’
Together with Leonardo Fiorentini, member of Forum Droghe, Perduca stated that the discussion of the decree took place days following the first meeting between the Ministry of Health and the country’s cannabis patient associations to discuss supply requirements.
They stated: “The version in front of the delegates risks canceling, if not sending to jail, the entire cannabis light [CBD] sector in Italy…
“The World Health Organization has repeatedly recommended the exclusion of the properties of CBD from banned substances, some of these were collected by the UN Drugs Commission which in December 2020 canceled cannabis from the IV table of the 1961 Convention with a vote favourable of Italy.
“To insert this submission of production to the rules of 309/90 with a Ministerial Decree, as well as going against common sense, is legally very questionable. Certainly, we need a regulation that clarifies what it can be cultivated and how to guarantee the quantity and quality of therapeutic cannabinoids necessary to guarantee the therapeutic plans of tens of thousands of people: products with a certain threshold of CBD must be treated as drugs, those below as supplements, as is already the case today for many other substances also in other EU states.
“We appeal to the competent Ministers to amend the Decree to art. 1 paragraph 4. If not, we will organize a coordinated response between patients and entrepreneurs to definitively send anti-scientific and ideological measures to the attic.” [translated from Google]
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