After handing in 630,000 signatures calling for a referendum on cannabis, Italy’s cannabis referendum campaign will not move forward to trigger a referendum.
Last month, the signatures on the Legalizziamo! Cannabis Referendum campaign were verified as Italian citizens by the Court of Cassation. This verification of the signatures confirmed that the petition was were sufficient to call a referendum in the spring.
However, the referendum has now been blocked by the Constitutional Court which stated the campaign would force the country to violate its obligations for the prevention of trafficking drugs.
The Legalizziamo! campaign – which led on the topic of cannabis but aimed to decriminlise the cultivation of all psychotropic substances such as psilocybin – has stated it “will not stop” its battle.
In an online public statement the campaign group stated: “This is not a defeat of us and of the hundreds of thousands of citizens and citizens who signed up for legal cannabis. Today’s first and foremost is a defeat for the Institutions that are no longer able to comprehend a major part of this country.
“It is the failure of a Court that cannot guarantee Italians a constitutional right, of a Parliament that has been unable to smoke the mafia business for thirty years.
“It is the failure of Institutions like the Presidency of the Chamber that had committed to calendar the proposed popular initiative laws, including that on cannabis. It’s a defeat for those parties that talked about legal cannabis in the election campaign forgetting about it right after.
“Only the mafia wins today… Now we’ll take a few days to figure out how to relaunch the fight for legal cannabis and we promise you: we won’t stop this time either.”
Regarding the rejection of the referendum, Legalizziamo! published a statement commenting that: “President Amato also stated that the title of the referendum was misleading and did not correspond to the clippings actually proposed by the promoters. In particular, he argued that the name indicated was “cannabis referendum” despite the fact that two of the three interventions instead concerned all substances and not just hemp.
“In reality, the title of the referendum, as ratified and deemed correct by the central referendum office of the Supreme Court is: “Partial repeal of criminal provisions and administrative sanctions on the cultivation, production and illicit trafficking of drugs”.
Speaking with Cannabis Wealth at the launch of the campaign, Guido Silvestri, a board member for campaign-backer Volt Italia, commented that there was “…a high risk that Parliament will not be able to approve a text definitively, leaving patients unprotected and six million cannabis consumers in the hands of the Mafia.”
The campaign has been spearheaded by Forum Droghe, Meglio Legale, Antigone, Luca Coscioni Associations, Società della Reagione, and supported by parties including Volt Italia, Possible, Italian + Europa, and the Communist Refoundation.
The referendum campaign was rejected alongside a campaign for a referendum on euthanasia.
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