The use of medical cannabis and its pharmaceutical derivatives is legal in 17 European countries, including Italy. In some of these countries only the use of pharmaceutical cannabis derivatives is allowed—not recreational cannabis or home growing. Europe has been regulating hemp growing for commercial purposes for some years now (generally within the textile industry), allowing plants containing 0.2% THC or less.
Italy is likely to become the first European country to legalise recreational marijuana, as well as one of the pioneers of legal home growing, joining Spain and the Czech Republic. This week, the Justice Committee of the Italian Chamber of Deputies adopted a bill to decriminalise recreational use and allow growing up to four marijuana plants at home.
Mario Perantoni, chair of the committee and co-signer of the bill, announced that “this reform decriminalises the cultivation of no more than 4 female plants at home,” as reported by local newspaper ANSA.
Legalisation and Civil Liability
This bill provides for a reduction in sentence in the case of minor offences, but it also increases punishment for crimes related to the trafficking and possession of cannabis for sale, with the maximum sentence increasing from 6 to 10 years.
MP Riccardo Magi, representing +Europa, presented the bill on the Chamber floor and stressed the importance of the outcome if the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate were to adopt this piece of legislation—consistent with Italy’s Supreme Court rulings.
According to Magi “this is a trend that was adopted on a large scale in the United States and has thus created 300,000 new jobs. Additionally, the legal market has replaced the illegal one, providing remarkable benefits for the health of citizens who are able to trace the chain of production.”
“Cannabis home growing is essential for patients who must make a therapeutic use out of this—generally unavailable—plant, as well as fighting illegal dealing and its concomitant criminal implications,” claimed Perantoni.
