🇮🇹 Italy makes a key step towards the legalization of all hemp-derived products
“Cannabis with a THC content inferior to 0,6% is licit and can be cultivated, used in alimentary and cosmetic products, as well as smoked. Further uses not mentioned specifically are not forbidden”.
Such is the judgment released this 31st of January by the Corte di Cassazione, the Italian Supreme Court. This decision overrules the process of seizure of goods initiated by the Macerata Procurement Office towards a 28-year-old who had begun selling “cannabis light” flowers. This is a key piece of jurisprudence clarifying the grey zones in the field of cannabis-related legislation still left over by 2016’s n.242 law, seen by many as the crucial starting point of Italy’s path towards legalization.
Why is this judgment this important?
While the aforementioned law was, by all means, the first baby step done by Italy to boost and encourage widespread cultivation of hemp, it was notoriously unclear: for example, it mentioned explicitly cosmetic and alimentary usage but glossed over a clear definition of whether recreational use of THC-low cannabis was legal or not. For this reason, this decision sweeps over a big share of the doubts investors were having as to whether investing in CBD in the Italian market was reliable.
Moreover, the doubt was entertained by an earlier decision by the Court, which suggested an symmetrical interpretation of the law. One in which the 0,6% THC limit was only valid for cultivation, and not for commercialization of any derived product. De facto, this more recent judgment shows a more-than-significant shift in views that it is hard not to link with a wider change both in the Italian and in the more general Western world. Canada and Luxemburg’s recent full-on legalization, coupled with the numerous other countries who have de-penalized consumption, allowed prescription of cannabis-based products, or enabled hands-free development of hemp-related markets such as the one for CBD, is sure to have been a factor.
A society-led change
Not only does this sentence bolster the already burgeoning Italian cannabis-market: it is a direct consequence of a progressive modification of mindset that cannot help but bode well for cannabis’ future in the country. Just this January, the ruling party, Movimento Cinque Stelle, deposited in the Senate a proposition of law to take the country towards legalization. While the chances of the law actually being approved are very slim, it goes to show that the debate is getting more and more mainstream.
In the words of Alessio Mantero, the senator responsible for proposing the bill to the Senate: “Legalization would allow a reduction of the costs linked to penal repression, and would absorb a significant share of the profits linked to the business”. In a country which is still plagued by the omnipresent threat of organized crime, such argument does strike a point, especially when, as of 2017, the National Anti-mafia Commission clearly invited the State to “legalize, because prohibitionist policies have failed”.
While the tide is turning, and awareness is rising, even the most optimistic of political analysts would find it hard to predict Italian legalization to happen within the next couple of years. But at least, this month’s news reassures and bolsters producers, investors, and consumers of CBD (cannabidiol) cosmetics, THC-low marijuana, or one of the many other derived products. And this is clearly a step forward.
There’s still a long way to go to co-create smart regulation for all CBD products in Italy.
While industrial hemp, just like in other EU Countries is fully legal in Italy, CBD finished products (vaping, cosmetics, food) are meeting with a lack of a clear regulatory framework. For instance, just two weeks after the very positive Corte di Cassazione judgment, the executive power through the Health Ministry stated that food containing CBD cannot be made in Italy.
To ensure the highest level of safety for users and professionals and boost economic development, Italy needs to come up with a specific and coherent regulatory framework for hemp-derived products with CBD. This is why we will launch ACTIVE Italia this spring.
If you’d like keep an eye on the Italian market and all other major EU markets, you can write to laurene@tradeactive.org.
At ACTIVE, we strive to bring a safe and regulated product to all users and professionals as CBD continues to grow. In Europe, we want to work with the largest number of professionals along the value chain to address safety concerns such as concentration, dosage, and labeling. If you share the opinion that it is essential to empower European companies to join together to develop the legal framework for CBD products; we want to hear from you (laurene@tradeactive.org).
