Italian hemp stakeholders are fighting back against government initiatives that risk wiping out hemp-derived cannabinoids including CBD.
A decree that took effect Aug. 5 placed CBD on the country’s list of narcotic drugs, forbidding products taken internally by consumers. While the decree presumably exempts CBD cosmetics from the ban, the Ministry of Health later issued a series of confusing circulars to medical, pharmacist and veterinarian associations which put even those products in question.
The ban, if approved, would have a devastating effect on supply chains that make and sell CBD-based products in the dietary supplements and herbal medicine sectors – and possibly cosmetics, stakeholders have said. The risk to CBD cosmetics comes despite CBD having been approved for inclusion in Cosing, the European database for cosmetic preparations in 2021.
Associations fight back
Trade associations Canapa Sativa Italia (CSI) and Imprenditori Canapa Italia (ICI) have filed appeals over the CBD ban with a Regional Administrative Tribunal. The two groups presented experts who testified that CBD is safe and carries no risk of abuse. ICI commissioned a report it said dismantles point-by-point the opinions of government health agencies.
“CBD is safe, and in the last few years alone there have been at least twenty studies that reiterate that this cannabinoid is not a narcotic and has no risk of abuse,” Mattia Cusani of CSI told Dolce Vita.
Clear legality in EU
Perhaps more importantly, CSI has also filed a complaint with the European Commission, because the Italian measure would violate European Union rules on competition and the free movement of goods.
In a legally binding decision applicable across the EU, the Commission declared in 2020 that CBD is not a narcotic and may be legally traded in and among member states; raw hemp flowers may also be traded if they are under the EU THC limit of 0.3% or less. The ruling was based on a celebrated European Union Court of Justice finding to that effect made earlier in the same year.
The European Commission has said it is investigating the matter.
Locking up flowers
The parallel amendment to ban hemp flowers would block plant tops from “import, processing, possession, transfer, distribution, trade, transport, dispatch, delivery, sale to the public and for consumption, even in semi-finished, dried or shredded form” – effectively shutting down all commercial activity involving hemp flowers – even those with low or no THC content.
The amendment would become part of the country’s 2023 Security Law, a sweeping measure that strengthens police agency powers and creates harsh criminal penalties that could be applied to violations of the ban.
Sold as buds and known as “cannabis light” in Italy, hemp flowers are restricted to 0.3% THC in the EU. However, Italy observes a 0.6% THC barrier, still far below an amount that would produce the effects associated with a “high.”
Dark determination
The conservative government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni seems determined to wipe out EU-legal CBD and other cannabinoids as well as hemp flowers in Italy. Her government has opposed the legalization of recreational marijuana and her political party, Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy), has consistently expressed concerns about the potential social and health impacts of legalizing marijuana.
The Meloni government maintained the 0.6% THC national limit for industrial hemp, which theoretically makes CBD production more efficient because CBD rises in proportion to THC. That advantage, however, is negated by the out-and-out ban the government is seeking on hemp flowers and cannabinoids, and the desire to maintain strict control over what it mistakenly considers to be “psychoactive” substances.
The government has also said it intends to prevent hemp from being used as a cover for the illegal marijuana market in Italy and will encourage strict enforcement of all cannabis laws.
Long battle
Hemp flowers have come under attack in Italy since at least early 2022, when the State-Regions Conference – a platform for cooperation among central and regional governments – updated language in a 2018 decree to classify hemp as strictly a medicinal plant. Four cannabis associations filed suit, and the decree was annulled one year later by the Regional Administrative Tribunal of Lazio, which ruled it went against European law.
CSI and ICI are among six Italian cannabis groups that have also launched a petition aimed at reversing the unfriendly hemp policies. And European Parliament members (MEPs) from Italy’s 5-Star Movement (M5S) political party have called on the European Commission to intervene.
By HempToday with reporting from Cannabis Terapeutica; Dolce Vita